Leiston triumph in five-goal thriller with AFC Sudbury following news of popular forward Romario Dunne joining Brighouse Town emerging
AFC Sudbury will begin a run of three successive Saturday home games off the back of a mixed week on their travels in the Pitching In Southern League Premier Central.
Marc Abbott had been looking for a reaction from his side from their disappointing 1-0 Emirates FA Cup defeat at lower-league AFC Dunstable when they visited Spalding United on Saturday. And he duly got it with a highly-pleasing 3-0 victory in Lincolnshire with all the goals coming in the second half, the 73rd minute opener from Joe Neal followed by a brace from Callum Page (76, 90’).
Their first away points of the season left them heading across the county up to Leiston looking to make it three league wins on the spin. But, despite making a dream start via Josh Allen’s third-minute goal, following good work from Neal, they came out on the wrong end of a five-goal thriller at Victory Road.
Two goals inside the space of a minute, from Jamar Loza and Ben Fowkes just ahead of the quarter-of-an-hour mark suddenly turned the game on its head.
And Chris Wigger and Darren Eadie’s side found themselves carrying a two-goal cushion into the interval after James Bradbrook spilled a George Quantrell shot in the wet conditions over his line in the second minute of stoppage time.
Suds came out in the second half looking for a way back into the game and gave their travelling supporters hope of gaining something from it when, with 14 minutes left on the clock, Tom Dickens scrambled in a flicked on free kick at the far post to reduce the deficit to one.
Homegrown teenage talent Liam Pearce went close to grabbing his side a late share of the spoils but saw his shot in the fourth minute of five signalled to be added turned out for a corner via a fine save from William Johnson.
It saw AFC drop to 11th in the table, after seven matches, ahead of hosting the current two joint leaders in successive weekends. The first of those is Stamford on Saturday (3pm), who like AFC Telford United have won five, drawn one and lost one of their seven opening fixtures. The Daniels were 3-1 victors at home to Barwell on Tuesday.
Dunne finds new club after relocation
Meanwhile, popular forward Romario Dunne, whose departure over the summer had not been announced by the club, has joined Pitching In Northern Premier League East outfit Brighouse Town, who are based in west Yorkshire, following a relocation.
The former Manchester City trainee, who has also represented Hadleigh United, joined the Yellows in the summer of 2021 from National League South outfit Braintree Town.
After a promising start to life at The MEL Group Stadium, he suffered an anterior cruciate ligament (knee) injury which required surgery and a long period of rehabilitation.
But following a promotion-winning campaign that he had watched on during his recovery period as he built his fitness up with AFC Sudbury Reserves in the Thurlow Nunn League First Division North, he bounced back and helped Marc Abbott’s side to retain their Step 3 status against the odds last season, carrying the captain's armband on a number of occasions.
