Sudbury End Soham's Winning Run

Both sides came into the game on the back of a weekend off after their games were called off due to waterlogged pitches. The Greens made just one change from the side that beat Dereham Town on New Years’ Day with David Prada returning in place of Dan Brown for the visit to AFC Sudbury, who had won just once in their last five outings, and were playing their first game following the departure of manager David Batch to St Neots Town.

The game started at a quick tempo, with Soham going straight on the attack from kick off, with Simpson making his way into the area before going down under a challenge but any appeals for a penalty were waived away by the officials. The game was flowing from end to end as shortly after Barker placed wide before up the other end of the field Garnham tipped Asensi’s strike from the edge of the area onto the bar. From the resultant corner, Stanley saw his goal bound effort blocked. The game continued in the same manner for the next ten minutes with Blackwell getting in front of Luque to place over before the hosts opened the scoring in the thirteenth minute when Ordonez failed to deal with Newby’s right sided delivery, punching it into the path of Ollie Berquez, with the striker finding the net off the inside of the far post. The goal lifted the hosts as they enjoyed the better of the play with Baker and Berquez having opportunities before the advantage was doubled in the 26th minute when Bromwich flicked on a left sided ball toward Newby, who played it back into the middle of goal allowing James Baker an easy finish from close range. Soham slowly started to get back into the game as Stanley received Ordonez’s kick, playing it into the path of Simpson, but after working his way into the area was denied by Garnham, before the Greens were awarded a penalty in the 37th minute after Luque was held back inside the area. Joey Abbs made no mistake from the spot, powering his kick past Garnham, who guessed correctly. Soham had one last chance to equalise just before the break when Stanley held his line to run onto Simpson’s throughball, but the striker knocked the ball past the advancing Garnham, but a defender managed to get back and clear before the ball reached goal.

Both sides had early efforts straight at the opposition keeper in the opening stages of the second half, before Sudbury secured the points six minutes after the restart when following a break from a Soham attack, Baker squared the ball across the area for Kris Newby to place wide of Ordonez. The hosts continued to press forward with Newby curling a shot wide of the post, before the midfielder and Baker just failed to connect with balls across the face of goal. With twenty minutes remaining, Baker cut in field having received a ball down the left to fire wide of the near post, before Ordonez got down to push away Newby’s strike. Soham’s chances had been limited although Asensi had a goal bound header blocked from a freekick, whilst Garnham did well to get back to push Simpson’s lob over his own bar, with Sudbury doing enough in the closing stages to see out the game and collect the three points.

Soham Town Rangers
E. Ordonez, A. Luque, L. Monk (D. Brown 46), R. Sharman, J. Gent, M. Bromwich, D. Prada, J. Abbs (S. Davis 74), M. Simpson, L. Stanley, J. Asensi
Unused: V. Torres, A. Gutierrez, K. Ofori-Gyasi

AFC Sudbury
M. Garnham, B. Robinson, L. Flynn, L. Yiga S. Kemp 70), R. Henshaw, C. Pope, K. Newby, S. Clarke, J. Baker (T. Rymer 76), O. Berquez, J. Blackwell (J. Wilkinson 70)
Unused: G. Doyle, A. Bevins

Score: (2-1) 3-1

Goals
STRFC: J. Abbs (Pen
AFCS: O. Berquez (13), J. Baker (26), K. Newby (51)

Yellow Cards
STRFC: M. Simpson (Foul 67)
AFCS: S. Clarke (Foul 61)

Attendance: 158