Sudbury's F.A Cup adventure ran aground last night as Deeping Rangers prevailed in an exciting encounter at the MEL Group Stadium. A goal within the 1st minute for Sean Marks set the tone for an action packed evening but i doubt there can be too many complaints with the final result as Deeping were just sharper and more incisive in the final third.
Sean Marks slid home after good work by Critchley to notch our quickest goal of the season after only 51 seconds but just over 2 minutes later the scores were level after a left side corner was headed home by Murphy. Both teams had chances to take the lead soon after with Walker forced into a couple of fine stops and both Bennett and Marks denied for Sudbury. On 23 minutes Deeping took the lead when speedy McLeod ran through 1 on 1 with Walker and drilled a shot inside the keepers left hand post. Further chances came and went as Critchley and Hunter were also foiled by Elsom in the Deeping goal.
1-2 down at the break but you just knew there would be further goals. Deeping started quickly and were unlucky not to extend their lead when a fierce drive by Coulson cannoned back off the underside of the cross bar. On 52 minutes it was all square again as that man Sean Marks raced through onto a long ball that he calmly slid under the Deeping keeper. There was no saying which way the match would turn at that point.
On 63 minutes the thorn in Sudbury's side, McLeod was at it again, twisting beyond the Sudbury defence to fire past Walker once more.
Sudbury changed formation to a 4-3-3, King and Wight were replaced by Meyhew and Maycock but despite a fair amount of possession the Deeping door remained locked. Critchley hobbled off to be replaced by Ellis Girling, which meant Bennett switched out to the left hand side. Dettmar was denied from close range following good work by Girling but no matter how we huffed and puffed we weren't quite on our game and the next goal looked more likely to come from Deeping as Walker was called into action a few times. So 2-3 it finished and there can be no complaints. It's an expensive loss in terms of missed revenue but also the injury to Critchley. Hopefully he'll be back by the weekend but with Bailey Dennis and Harris both missing out tonight, the squad is getting stretched a little.