Bostik League North Division
Tuesday 19th December 2017
AFC Sudbury 1(0) Hertford Town 1(1)
(O’Connor 18’)
The Blues will obviously be very disappointed that the home side’s late equaliser prevented them of a win that would have moved them up to eighth place, and just outside the play-off positions, in what is turning out to be a highly competitive division. They can take heart, though, from what was for the most part a good performance that was probably worthy of taking all three points.
The Blues are now well aware that there are no easy games in this league and that the game is quite often never over until the final whistle is blown. In the closing stages of this game they had looked to be in control but they were caught by a quick breakaway and suffered the loss of two valuable points.
The opening exchanges had been closely fought with the Blues having the slight edge in front of goal. Tommy Wade had a header well saved in the 14th minute when the home custodian did well to tip the ball over the bar following Ricky Light’s free kick to the back of the box.
A goal was soon in coming, however, when, only four minutes later, Brett O’Connor cut in from the left following good build-up play between Ricky Light and Charlie Ruff, and curled the ball beyond the despairing dive of the keeper.
For the remainder of the half chances were few and far between with the hosts generally having slightly the better of the possession but being restricted to shots from outside the box that were easily dealt with by Blues keeper Charlie Mann. The closest either team came to scoring was in the 29th minute when Charlie Ruff fired narrowly wide after Tommy Wade had set him up with a neat lay-off.
The second half was an even tighter affair and, apart from a decent save by Charlie Mann in the 81st minute, neither team really looked likely to score. But, with only two minutes of the ninety remaining and the Blues looking comfortable for all three points, a quick break up the Blues’ right flank broke open the Blues’ defence and Ollie Peters levelled with a fierce drive that Charlie Mann did well to get a hand to but couldn’t keep out.
A disappointing outcome for the Blues but a point at the well-appointed Sudbury stadium was probably a decent result.
Team:, Charlie Mann, Ollie Sharman, Tyler Hatherly, Matt Thomson, Michael Toner, Dan Palmer, Ricky Light(Luke Foster 74’), Luke Illsley, Charlie Ruff(Phil Lowen 85’), Tommy Wade(Ben Andreos 81’) and Brett O’Connor.
Subs not used: None.
Match report by Ray Greenall