Regent buried at the first attempt

Regent’s FA Cup journey began and ended on the last night of summer in Bury St Edmunds.

A capacity crowd of 400 crammed into Bury’s neat ground which shows their ambition to progress up the pyramid.

Regent lined up with Turner in goal; Osei-Asomah, Boyland, Jamie Bennet and Mo Gelashvili in a back four; Kamanzi, Barnett, Topley and Gilbert in midfield with Oti and Rocha up front. A sizeable bench consisted of Larty, Machaya, Mahon, Byrne-Hewitt, Crissel, Bugg and substitute goalkeeper Laurence Whymark.

Rumours of an imminent new defensive signing spread through the ranks of Regent supporters.

Bury looked a lot less physically imposing than many Premier League sides but then they had former million pound player Carlos Edwards to run the side on the pitch.

Regent kicked off and soon won two corner kicks which were let down by some poor delivery and from then on, all the action was in front of the Regent goal with Bury winning corners and Regent conceding too many free kicks in dangerous positions.

Some desperate tackling gave a clue as to what was likely to happen and after half an hour a defensive lunge brought down a Bury player in the penalty area and the referee had no hesitation pointing the spot.

Nobody protested and Bury’s Cemal Ramadan stepped up and showed no hesitation in dispatching a text-book penalty into the left-hand corner.

Bury felt so much in control that they started to run down the clock and rely on catching Khris Oti offside to reach the interval with their lead intact.

Two minutes added time were announced when good work in front of the dug outs allowed Jordan Barnett to give Khris Oti the sort of opening a centre forward needs and Oti made space and hit the ball into the roof of the net to level the scores at half time.

It was a good time to score and the Regent support were looking for an improved performance from their team in the second half.

Unfortunately, their hopes were not fulfilled because Regent were unable to deliver the ball into dangerous areas and couldn’t get through Bury’s off-side tactics.

With the referee intervening more frequently in the game, Bury won a free kick in a central position. There was a long delay whilst the referee spoke to various players in different parts of the pitch but booked nobody.

After what seemed like a very lengthy interruption in which Carlos Edwards could consider the options, his delivery enabled Bury’s Gardner to head the ball home to restore the lead.

A series of substitutions made no difference and Regent were unable to put any pressure on the Bury goal during the second half.

Match Verdict
This was a disappointing display by Regent which means that for the second year running they exit the FA Cup at the first hurdle.

Too many defensive lapses are putting them onto the back foot and chasing the game whilst forward players need better service to convert at the other end.

By Paul Ketchley