It wasn’t a match for the ages, but the Suds stayed strong to stop Barwell and win a hard-earned point. The Yellows made a few changes due to returns from suspensions, and a departure. Once again, the back line was unchanged. Bradbrook in goal, Oluwatimilehin, Lewis, and Dickens. The midfield saw a couple of changes, JT dropped out meaning it was a midfield of Brown, Hunter, Tarpey and Napa, and it was a completely different front three from the defeat to Alvechurch, Romario and Joe returned, and new signing Callum Page made his debut. A front three of Dunne, Neal and Page.

The Suds started off the better of the two sides, Pagey won a free kick with his first touches of the ball, before then heading wide from a tight angle. However, Barwell then sprung into life, and forced Bradders into action, as he made a good save, and the home side couldn’t capitalise on the rebound. There was then a heart in mouth moment, as Olu made a tackle just on the edge of the area, for which he received a yellow card, forcing Bradders to make a superb save to stop the free kick.

In the second half, it was a bit more one way traffic. The hosts hit the post from a fantastic curling free kick, and after that Bradders made a save of the season, as he leapt across the face of the goal like a cat to make a wonderful save. The closest we went in the second half, was when Rom went close, but his shot just went wide. The home side missed a golden opportunity, as a cut back across goal ended with the ball going over the building that had already had a ball nestle onto its roof. In the final minute, there was a free kick for the home side on the edge of the area.

After the game, Man of the Match, by unanimous decision from the Sudbury faithful, went to our Number One: James Bradbrook, who kept his third clean sheet in five matches. What a goalkeeper.

Well, a match where we rode our luck at times, but what a valuable point that could be. Especially after the sad news with Nuneaton Borough having to drop out of the league. We send our sympathy to all Nuneaton Fans and Volunteers, who were welcoming when we went there earlier in the season and fantastic when they came to us just under a month ago. We also know that the unfortunate news will lead to us losing six points. As Marc said post-match “We need to turn it into a positive.” That’s what we need to do: back the lads whenever we watch them, if you’re behind the goal, suck the ball into the net. We are Sudbury. You are the 12th man. They are doing us Proud.

UP THE SUDS

Isaac Mennie