No shame in Needham defeat

A lovely summers evening in Needham Market saw Sudbury take on higher league opposition in their penultimate pre season friendly of the 2019-2020 campaign. Needham lined up with a few familiar faces in ex Sudbury lads, Garnham, Baker and Parker. Sudbury lined up with a strong starting IX as the season draws ever closer.
The first half was largely a midfield affair with Sudbury failing to really trouble Garnham in the Needham goal other than a long range Detmar effort that was palmed wide. Needham found it hard to break down a resolute Sudbury back line and Walker wasn't called into action too much until a defensive error let in Neal to fire Needham ahead just after the half hour. That lead was almost doubled 5 minutes later but the ball crashed off Walkers left hand post and out to safety following another defensive gift.
The second half saw the start of the inevitable round of substitutions and the Sudbury lineup appeared to grow more youthful with every passing minute.
Needham started the second half strongly and just before the hour mark ex Yellow Craig Parker thumped home a drive from distance that left Walker clawing at thin air as it flew into the top corner. At this point you could be forgiven for thinking that Needham would turn the screw and push Sudbury further and further back but fair play to the lads, we started to speed up our attacking play a bit and with 20 minutes to go a fine finish from the edge of the box by 17 year old Freddie King reduced the deficit and put us right back into the game. Unfortunately the 2 goal cushion was soon restored when Neal fired home across Walker from just inside the box on 77 minutes. That saw the end of the scoring and a good natured and entertaining game drew to a close, Needham winning 3-1 but definitely having to work hard for it.