Following Good Friday, not so Good Saturday

It was a disappointing result for the Yellows, as we failed to make up ground on Hitchin and stay four points from safety. We made a couple of changes, one of them being that new signing Simeon Jackson started on his debut. We had Bradbrook in goal, Lewis replaced Oluwatimilehin, and partnered Cawley, and Dickens in the back line. In the middle, Ololade dropped out, Tarpey replacing him in the wide left position, the rest of the midfield was unchanged, Pinnington, Turner, and Hunter. In attack, Romario was out through suspension, so Jackson started, and he was alongside Allen, and Page. On the bench, Joe Neal made a return to the squad, a very welcome return as well. Oluwatimilehin, Bradley, Ololade, Philp sat alongside him.

It was a promising start for the Suds, Simeon Jackson was played through three minutes into his debut, but he was denied by a fantastic stop by the goalie. Two minutes later, Tarps ran round the defenders with some quick feet before slipping through Simeon, but his shot was blocked well. The match then became a bit scrappy, with a lot of long ball being played. With 15 minutes to go of the half, the visitors, against the run of play, found the opener. It came from a long throw into the box, which bounced about before Johnathan Edwards smashed into the roof of the net. However, we came straight back, Jacob made a darting run down the right-hand side and cut inside, before unleashing a fabulous strike into the near post’s bottom corner, to equalise for the Suds.

Half-Time: AFC Sudbury 1-1 St Ives Town

In the second half, the match started a bit flat, but it wasn’t for long, as St Ives received a penalty for a trip, with question marks surrounding whether contact was inside the box, but the ref said it was. Edwards stepped up and almost passed the ball straight down the middle for his second. We looked to fire back again, and Jacob went incredibly close but was denied by a wonderful save by the goalie. There was a very promising moment, as top scorer Joe Neal came back from injury with just under half an hour to play. With five minutes to go, St Ives got a third. Another long throw, and this time the ball flicked off of Afo's head across goal and beyond the despairing dive of Bradders into the net. We did get a goal back though, Josh Allen on the breakaway found himself in front of goal 25 or so yards out and he hit an unstoppable shot right into the bottom corner spectacularly. As we looked to find a late equaliser, St Ives broke, Edwards found himself one on one with Bradders and he went round him and tapped into the back of the net, completing his hat-trick.

Full-Time: AFC Sudbury 2-4 St Ives Town

Well, disappointing, it is going to be tough now for the rest of the season, starting with Needham on Monday, but we are going to have to do our part, there is something to play for, so let’s give more noise, suck the ball into the back of the net, but most importantly, Believe.

UP THE SUDS

By

Isaac Mennie