Billy Keeps R’s in The Hunt

Brightlingsea Regent headed to Surrey to face Leatherhead, a team 6 points better off in the table and 4 places higher.

Regent were fresh off their first home victory, whilst the hosts had lost their previous two matches.

The visitors started the brightest, with their first real chance coming after 13 minutes, when Billy Hunt charged down Will Seager’s clearance allowing Hunt to advance towards the box and setting up Aaron Condon to strike at goal, but this was dealt with by the Tanners Stopper Zaki Oualah.

7 minutes later the hosts could have been in front, a dangerous corner centred to meet the head of Jerry Nnamani directed to the far post, but Ricky Griggs was on hand to clear off the line.

Moments later Regent lost possession allowing Travis Gregory to shoot over from distance after a great driving run from Jeremiah Amoo.
The R’s come close immediately after with some great work from Hunt to go by his man on the by-line, crossing for Joe Yaxley to strike on the edge of the box but his effort was brilliantly saved by Oualah once again.

On the half hour mark Hunt brought the ball down and turned well, striking from distance himself with his cannon left foot forcing Zaki Oualah to parry. Just as Morisi Gelashvili looked to get onto the rebound the Tanners keeper managed to recover and grab the ball in time. HT 0-0

Regent made a change at Half-Time as Rocha Fosker replaced Harry Morgan, and almost immediately after the restart Rothery’s men could have been in front. A great diagonal ball from the skipper Matt Cripps got Aaron Condon through on goal down the left side but from the tight angle his effort was well saved once more.

Finally, on the hour mark Regent got their deserved reward. Billy Hunt who had been superb, chased down a ball that held up in the wet conditions as the Tanners keeper tried to usher it out for a goal kick. Hunt managed to get his foot onto the ball stealing possession, from the awkward angle Hunt still had a lot to do, he got his head up and curled the ball into the top corner of the net, a worldie of a strike by the R’s top scorer! 0-1

The hosts changed their formation, introducing more attacking options as they searched for the equaliser. On the 75th minute, a great cross was met by the towering head of Nnamani but this was off target and Regent were let off.

The Tanners threw the kitchen sink in the last 10 minutes with a series of corners as the R’s defended for their lives. The Referee added 7 minutes on but the R’s remained resilient and dealt with everything that was thrown at them with James Bradbrook commanding his area extremely well!

The final whistle finally sounded with the R’s holding onto a sweet victory away from home!

The Regent back 5 very excellent with our Skipper Matt Cripps leading his guys to victory.

The R’s are back in action this Wednesday as we travel to high flyers Lewes, but confidence will be high with back to back victories and with performances witnessed today, they show that they can beat anyone in this division!