Brightlingsea Regent travelled to Hertfordshire to take on Enfield Town, with both sides victorious on opening day. The R’s were handed a blow in the warm-up when Captain Chris Ribchester was forced to pull out through injury. Jamie Bennett come into the starting line-up whilst the team sheet remained unchanged from Saturday’s victory.

The R’s started really bright and took the game to the hosts but failed to make the breakthrough with solid pressure. After just 6 minutes, the first chance fell to Max Booth who flicked his goalward effort wide of the target after Ken Feyi created space to centre down the right.

11 minutes in Jake Clowsley squared his defender up, dropped his shoulder, getting his effort on target but Nathan McDonald saved well.

The R’s felt hard done by when the Referee denied a claim for a penalty! A goalward strike from Charlie Durling clearly struck the outstretched hand of Jeremiah Gyebi (See Photo) but he wasn’t having any of it and waived away the protest.

At the other end, Muhammadu Faal had his first chance of the match as he squeezed through with great skill to force a save from Charlie Turner towards the edge of the box.

Enfield Town then hit Regent with a sucker punch with 5 minutes of the half remaining, Percy Kiangebeni’s innocuous low strike on the edge of the area spung out the hands of Turner and rolled into the net. 1-0 Half-Time!

Regent come out the second half with a push for an equalizer, Ken Feyi thought he had it when a lovely, floated cross from Marcus Gouldbourne met the attackers head on the back post, but it went agonisingly wide! Feyi then protested that he was pulled to the ground, but once again the Hertfordshire based referee, was waiving it away!

On the hour mark, the R’s were forced into a change when Ken Feyi picked up an injury and Lewis Byrne-Hewitt replaced him.

The hosts then had the better of the play from then on as Tom Austin had to make changes to the system in search of that crucial leveller.

Turner was called into action producing a fantastic save from Percy Kiangebeni as his effort looked destined for the goal and moments later another fine save stopped Muhammadu Faal doubling the deficit.

The R’s really pushed in the final 10 minutes but just could not create that moment of magic, which saw Thompson and Durling practically playing as strikers as they loaded the ball into the box!

Town killed the game off in injury time on the counter, when substitute Ebrima Sawaneh, with practically his first touch slotted into the net on the back post as the R’s were committed forward. 2-0 Full-Time

The Regent players gave their all and will find themselves hard done by not to have found the net. They certainly deserved something out of the first half performance. Nevertheless, lots of positives to take on board going into Saturdays match with Leatherhead.

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