On a day of much anticipation and buzz, the Isthmian League North 26/27 season finally kicked off with Regent welcoming Tilbury FC to North Road for the seasons curtain raiser.

It was Tilbury who got the game underway on a parched North Road Pitch due to the continuing drought and heatwaves, and it didn't long for Regent to get themselves stuck straight into the opposition with Jensen Mulqueen winning possession from a header within the first 10 seconds and sending the Tilbury midfielder to the floor with the ref stopping play to check for an injury before quickly resuming.

Regent we're quick on the attack and Dan Rowe won the first corner of the match in the 2nd minute after a good run up the wing, which brought in the seasons first rendition of "TAKE THE CORNER UP THE R'S" from the Regent Army standing in the Dot Milgate Terrace.

It was back and forth between the sides for a good spell of the first half, and Tilbury had their first major threat on goal in the 21st minute after captain Charlie Durling handled the ball to concede a free kick just outside the area, however the resulting kick went way over the bar and gave goalkeeper Roan Tucker no issues at all.

Another Tilbury free kick followed a minute later which was sent into box but cleared by a well organized Regent defense and sent up the park for Dan Rowe to win another corner from the counter attack which almost saw Regent break the deadlock, with the keeper fumbling the ball resulting in a scramble which saw us shoot over the crossbar from close range.

The latter part of the first half saw numerous set pieces and attacks from Tilbury which rarely threatened the Regent back 3, and it was Regent who had a good chance to go in at half time ahead when Tom Cottle-Wood was brought down in the 44th minute just outside the D of the box. It was Charlie Collis to take the free kick which was sent just wide.

At Half-Time the scores were evenly matched at 0-0.

An unchanged Regent got the second half underway and the first incident of the half came in the 52nd minute when Jake Clowsley was shown a yellow card for bringing down the Tilbury defender.

The first change for the R's came in the 54th minute when Tom Cottle-Wood left the field for Luca Terminiello, with Ryan Salter going more offensive with Joe Watson and Emmanuel Zion coming on to shore up the defense, coming on, on 65' and 70' minutes respectively to make their league debut's for the R's.

Both sides created chances as the minutes ticked on with Tilbury shooting over the bar and Regent narrowly missing from a headed shot from a corner kick on 75 minutes. Regent started to ramp up the pressure on Tilbury in the closing stages of the half with good possession and creating chances, best one being Joe Watson with some clever footwork on 84' minutes to move round the Tilbury defense before being dispossessed with Mekhi McKenzie latching onto the second ball and unleashing a powerful shot which went agonizingly wide before being subbed off for Ben Sargeant to get a fresh pair of attacking legs on for the dying minutes of the half.

As the clock hit 90' and added time came around the game looked set for a 0-0 draw, however, North Road were made to hold their collective breath as keeper Roan Tucker got tackled after a back pass from Emmanuel Zion only for Tilbury's Charlie Stimson to chip the ball over the crossbar of the empty net.

With a sigh of collective relief very much sighed, the referee blew the full time whistle and both sides shared the spoils on opening day. A much improved Regent side impressed on their league opener after the disappointment of the previous weeks FA Cup exit.

We now turn our attention to Tuesday night where we travel down to Canvey Island for our first away league match of 26/27.