It was a second half performance to be proud of from the Suds, despite our defeat. Once again for the Yellows, we had an unchanged backline. Philp in goal, and Lewis, Oluwatimilehin, and Dickens playing in front of him. There were a couple of changes in midfield, Ben Hunter and Afolabi Ololade dropped out with Joe Tarpey and Romario Dunne coming into the lineup. However, it was Malachi Napa who adopted more of a midfield role in the wide position. A midfield of Pinnington, Tarpey, Turner, and Napa. In attack, we had one final change, as Joe Neal came out of the side and last week’s goal scoring hero Josh Allen started up top. So, Dunne and Page played either side of Allen. On the bench, we had Bradbrook, Brown, Hunter, Bradley and Oteng- strong, very strong.

In the first half, the home side started on the front foot dominating possession, and as they looked to get in front, Jacob Pinnington brought down Piggott, and the ref had no hesitation in pointing to the spot. I’m starting to lose count of how many penalties have been given against us this season. Storer stepped up... and he scored a very good penalty to beat James Philp, who went the right way. As we looked to compose, lighting struck twice as the home side broke quickly and despite trying to stop the counter, Webster smashed home to double the advantage of Telford United. James Philp made a good save to stop the match looking well and truly over. We went incredibly close to halving the deficit, but Josh Allen just didn’t direct his shot on target inside the penalty area, following a great low pass. Malachi Napa was causing real trouble for the Telford team as he brought out multiple flicks and tricks to attempt to get the Suds back into the game. After the exciting, and disappointing, start to the game, the match found itself slowing down and being in a bit of a rut, and the game stayed that way until the break.

Half-Time: AFC Telford United 2-0 AFC Sudbury

In the second half, we came out of the blocks fast, straight from kick off. The ball made its way to Malachi who drove towards goal before passing to Callum Page who managed to squeeze his shot into the bottom corner. That gave us a bit more confidence and we started to ask more questions of the home sides’ defence. However, Telford soon regained the two goal lead as Remi Walker unleashed a magnificent strike right into the top corner. Maybe we could have prevented it, but you can’t take anything away from the goal. However, as we looked truly dead and buried, Callum Page did it again with a very similar goal to his first - but even better. Once again from the edge of the box he hit his shot right into the middle of the top and bottom corner. Giving some hope to the Yellow fans in the designated away section. Unfortunately, we were not able to find an equaliser and we lost to a very good team.

So, another very strong performance in that second half. Unfortunate to concede so quickly but that’s the way it can go. Credit to Telford who were fantastic hosts and also are very good on the pitch. A very fun away day, at a club which should really be higher for the size of it. We look forward to hosting them in two weeks' time. Next up we have Tuesday night action against Kettering in a relegation six-pointer. Arguably one of the biggest games of our season so we are going to need a lot of you Yellows to cheer on the lads, especially for this run in.

UP THE SUDS
By Isaac Mennie