Despite putting in a high-quality performance, Brightlingsea Regent suffered an agonising defeat to Bowers & Pitsea on Saturday, ultimately losing two-one to the South Essex side.

It was all change in the starting eleven from Tuesday, with Ben Sargeant, Travis Richards and Will Mitchell entering the lineup, alongside new signing David Ogbechie, whilst Joe Wason, Luca Terminiello, Charlie Durling and Charlie Collis (due to injury) dropping out.

Both sides began the fixture with opportunities from corners during the opening minutes; however, neither side was able to convert these chances and break the deadlock, being cleared or wasted on every occasion, without any serious threat of breaking the deadlock.

Bowers were first to go close to hitting the target, through a quickly taken free-kick to the edge of the box, finding Jayden Silcott-Brown comfortably unmarked, but he failed to accurately direct his shot, firing well wide.

However, it was Brightlingsea Regent who opened the scoring in the 19th minute. Harry McDonald's layed back pass allowed Matt Tricker to fire in a deep cross into the box, perfectly locating Dan Rowe unmarked, who volleyed past the outstretched arm of Bowers goalkeeper Samuel Nwabuko to bag his third goal of the season.

Off the back of conceding, Bowers went inches away from equalising down the opposite end seconds after the kick-off. Manny Shana dribbled into the box with ease past the Regent backline, ultimately being let down by a poor finish by Jayden Silcott-Brown from tap-in range.

Manny Shana acted as the creator once again for Bowers, pinging in a low cross into the far post to the onrushing opposition forward, fortunately being prevented from equalising through a last-ditch tackle from debutant David Ogbechie.

Bowers were nearly the masters of their downfall minutes later, a severely overcooked back pass from centre-back Evangelos Empochonstif left goalkeeper Samuel Nwabuko scrambling to keep it from going in, however was able to narrowly save the embarrassment and clear for a corner, stumbling in the dust in the process!

The Bowers keeper was once again at centre stage of the action. A deflected shot was headed into the path of the goalscorer Dan Rowe, whose half-volley was immensely saved by Nwabuko, ultimately making up for his earlier mishap.

The second half's opening opportunity fell to Bowers. Thanks to some fancy footwork down the wing from Ire Adeogun, he teed up Tala Lo Seye to whip in a cross, which was unable to find the desired connection from Kojo Apenteng's rushing header, despite packing plenty of power, going well wide.

Both sides defences held firm for the following fifteen minutes, allowing little to no clear-cut chances to be produced at either end of the pitch. Regent retaliated by making two substitutes on the 65th minute mark, with Joe Watson and Luca Terminiello replacing Jenson Mulqueen and the goal scorer Dan Rowe.

A rapid break from a Bowers corner allowed the substitute Joe Watson to drive forward, dribbling past Manny Shana, and find Will Mitchell unmarked, whose deflected shot led to a serious handball appeal from the Regent bench and players, however, the referee remained uninterested.

Despite pushing for a second goal, Bowers ultimately capitalised on a mistake in the 78th minute to level the terms. Matt Tricker failed to effectively shield the ball to ensure a goalkick, which was pounced upon by opposition substitute Josh Colyer, squaring it straight to an unmarked Jayden Silcott-Brown to place it into the far corner.

The hard work was unfortunately put to waste in the 85th minute. Defender Matt Tricker caught the legs of Bowers' Max Harbrow inside the box, giving Bowers a perfect opportunity to take the lead from the spot. Although Roan Tucker guessed the correct direction, Kojo Apenteng's spot-kick contained the right amount of placement to avoid the diving goalkeeper, sealing the three points for the away side.

Regent pushed for a late equaliser, however, it was too little too late. Brightlingsea Regent return to action on Tuesday night, as AFC Sudbury comes to North Road.