Josh Mayhew scored his seventh goal of the season and missed a penalty as we kept our lead at the top of the table of four points. On a day when Pele’s life was remembered by all involved with AFC Sudbury, resilience was shown by the team for the fourth fixture in a row. The first opportunity of the match went to the away side when Carter struck a low shot which was saved by Hughes, who had another solid performance, and cleared away by brown. Sudbury grew into the first half and were rewarded in the 20th minute when Stokes' delightful ball caused chaos in the East Thurrock penalty area and they failed to clear allowing the ball to roll to Mayhew who had one of his easiest finishes of his life to give Sudbury the lead and score his fourth goal in as many games, his seventh of the season. The former yellow Critchley then hit a stunning free kick which hit off the bar on the half-hour mark. Sudbury started the second half very well but struggling to create anything. In the 58th minute a concerning substitution for Sudbury as the captain Reece Harris was forced off with injury. Sak Hassan came on a few minutes later and injected some life into the Sudbury attack going a superb run but no chance came of it. With 10 minutes to play Stokes went down giving Mayhew the chance to finish the game off and score his second brace in three games, but it was well saved by Joseph in the Thurrock goal. That save came with a confidence boost for the away side as they piled on the pressure late on with two headers going off target one by the East Thurrock goalkeeper! However, after what seemed like an absurd amount of added time, we grinded out our seventh win in a row! Up the Yellows!

By Isaac Mennie