Our lineup was Bradbrook, Miles, Dickens, Henshaw, Turner, Cowling, Peters, Page, Pearce, Neal, Allen. On the bench we had four academy players, Clark (GK), Cox, Goode, Terminiello

The start of the match was rather scrappy, the home side had more of the ball, but failed to create any clear cut chances. Their best chances coming early on, as Ollie failed to get a strong enough connection on a loose pass from Spalding, and despite the poor pass it found the attackers - whose shot was well saved by Bradders. The best Sudbury chances of the half both fell to Liam Pearce, who was electric down the right hand side, but both times his shot towards the near post were well saved.

Half-Time: Spalding United 0-0 AFC Sudbury

In the second half, the ref seemed to lose his lenient approach, constantly handing out yellow cards; with Two Spalding players receiving yellow cards, and JT, Joe Neal, and Pearcey all being put into the book for the Suds. In one scenario, Pagey won a free kick, leading to a yellow card for Sherif, who also came off worse after the challenge. With Spalding having to play with 10 for the moment, Pagey swung in a delightful ball, and Ryan Henshaw headed across goal and into the top corner, to score his first goal since rejoining the club. Not long after, we doubled our lead: Provider turned scorer as JT’s powerful shot was deflected in by Pagey and it wrong footed the goalkeeper. There was a league debut for LUCA TERMINIELLO, as he came on for his first appearance since featuring in the Suffolk Premier Cup in the 22/23 season. Right as the board went up signalling five added on minutes, Liam Pearce found Pagey who emphatically finished with a half volley past the goalkeeper, who had rushed out of his goal. Pagey ran straight to the travelling Sudbury faithful behind the goal. Just before play was about to be restarted, Pagey was replaced by SAM COX, who came on for his first team debut. Not long after that, there was another Debut as JENSON GOODE replaced fellow Academy star Liam Pearce.

Three Goals, Three Debuts, Three Points and a Clean Sheet.

Full-Time: Spalding United 0-3 AFC Sudbury

By Isaac Mennie