Coggeshall are one of the favourites for the league and it was always going to be a tough ask visiting them first game of the season but that's the way the fixtures came out and we were going to have to face them at some point. Well face them we did and at times it was a painful experience...literally. Paul Walker took a blow to the head midway through the first half and had to wear a bandage on his head Pudsey style due to a cut over his eye.
The match started fairly evenly but it only took until the 3rd minute for the home side to make their mark, McLeod firing home high into the net from inside the box with the first chance of the game. This seemed to set Sudbury back and it took a while to get back into their stride again. It wasn't helped by the break in play due to Walker's injury. Sudbury were guilty of losing patience and going long which with the wind blowing down the ground as it was meant possession was gifted away time and again. The usual supply routes of Bennett and Harris failed to get the service that the team thrives on and Coggeshall just used the ball better. Sudbury did fashion a Marks header that went over the bar and also a weaving run by Maycock that needed the trigger pulling much sooner and he was crowded out eventually. The 2nd goal came in the 38th minute when Nwachuku lobbed Walker with a fine finish and to be honest it wasn't a scoreline that flattered Coggeshall.
The second half played out a little differently than most expected. Coggeshall failed to get away as they had in the first half and Sudbury managed to work their way back into the game slowly. It was never vintage Sudbury, not the football that we all know we can deliver but it was functional and stopped the rot. The mummified Walker made a superb point blank stop from a close range volley midway through the half when it looked certain to be another goal for the hosts and then...we were back in it. Just after the hour mark, with Sudbury seeing more possession in and around the Coggeshall penalty area, Marks scuffed a shot when well placed, but Maycock was on hand to turn the ball back across goal and score our first goal of the season. King and Critchley replaced Hunter and Maycock with 15 to go and we switched to more of a 3-4-3 formation. Still we weren't playing with the panache with which we are more than capable but we were definitely back in it. Unfortunately we couldn't fashion a decent enough chance to get us back level and instead it was Coggeshall who scored the games final goal when Humble fired home for 25 yards in the final minute of regulation time to seal a deserved victory even if it wasn't quite as comfortable as it looked it was going to be.
The good news is we can put things right in 72 hours when we face Felixstowe on Tuesday evening at the MEL Group stadium.