Regent have a limited number of local derbies in this league and will want to forget this short trip down the A12 to near neighbours Bowers and Pitsea.

On a grey wet night they lined up in a changed strip of white shirts and black shorts with Charlie Turner in goal, O’Reilly, Thompson, Forrest and Gould at the back; Dunne, Kamanzi, Jake Turner, Byrne-Hewitt and Clowsley in midfield and George Bugg up front. Lartey, Crisell, Boyland, Abukar and Mudd were on the bench although Pip seemed to still be carrying the injury which had ruled him out of Saturday’s home game.

One of the few highlights of the evening for the Regent fans was the opportunity to try the excellent refreshments provided by the ladies in burger bar in the ground.

From the very start it was apparent that Bowers have developed their game since their trip to Brightlingsea six months ago and they began with an impressive level of pace and intensity. In contrast, Regent were slow out of the blocks and seemed unprepared for the slick passing and movement of the Bowers side.

Somehow, they survived the first ten minutes until Sartain dispossessed a Regent midfielder and was able to pass the ball into the corner of the goal. Two minutes later Monville added another, getting on the end of a cross from the left hand side.

Bowers kept zipping the ball around on the wet surface and kept excellent possession making multiple chances but not extending their lead until a break down the left gave Manor the chance to score the third after 35 minutes.

Seven minutes later another deep cross to the back post eluded all the defenders and Leahy got himself on the scoresheet.

As the first half came to a close Jake Gould was shown a yellow card for pulling back a Bowers player. Bowers pace and intensity had paid off in spades and they went in 4-0 up.

Second half
Regent made no changes in terms of personnel or approach at the interval although Elvin Lartey had spent most of the first half warming up along the touchline.
In the second half Regent had the wind and rain in their faces.

Five minutes in Rueben Mudd came on to replace Lewis Byrne-Hewitt to provide a bit more robustness in attack but shortly afterwards a failure to mark Manor at a corner gave him an easy chance to nod in his second.

Bowers continued to bombard the Regent goal with a series of corners until Jake Clowsley made Regent’s first attempt on the hosts goal which went wide.

A sixth goal was conceded when a goal kick was headed back by a Bowers defender and Monville ran through the defence to beat the goalkeeper and a seventh came from a neat routine from a throw in which led to a cross which gave Manor his hat-trick.

Match Verdict
Regent were unable to match Bowers for pace and passing ability on a wet 3G pitch. It was a least impressive performance since a 7-0 defeat to Leatherhead. They were not at the races.