Sudbury let the lead slip in 4-3 home defeat to Nomads

EAST MEN’S LEAGUE

DIVISION TWO NORTH

Sudbury 3

Cambridge Nomads 4

Sudbury let leads of 1-0 and 2-1 slip as they suffered a narrow 4-3 defeat at home against Cambridge Nomads at the weekend.

After a few poor results, Sudbury were looking to get back to winning ways and went in front on 10 minutes.

The hosts were awarded a short corner, with the strike coming back to Will Chrystal who fired past the keeper to give them an early lead.

Sudbury looked confident in their play but let it slip when a swift counter attack ended in a goal for the visitors.

Dan Birch fired home into the bottom corner as Sudbury bounced back to take a 2-1 lead, but another lapse in concentration allowed Nomads to score again just before half-time.

The hosts had a stern team talk and came back out ready to put the game to bed, but within 10 minutes of the second-half starting they found themselves 4-2 down.

Cambridge had a player green carded for an aggressive tackle, which was upgraded to a yellow card for dissent.

Sudbury now had the upper hand as young Freddie Flowers got his first taste of first team hockey.

Nomads returned to a full 11 players and pushed for a fifth goal to kill the game off, but a swift break away from Chrystal, who found Brendan Mayers inside the D, finished with him being wiped out by the visiting goalkeeper.

Sudbury captain Adam Bullock stepped up and dispatched the flick in the bottom corner to reduce Cambridge’s lead to 4-3.

The hosts pushed for an equaliser in the last 10 minutes but came up short, as the game ended in a 4-3 defeat.

n Sudbury II were also on the losing end at the weekend as they suffered a 7-2 defeat to Harleston Magpies III.

The hosts got off to a woeful start as two goals were shipped in the opening 10 minutes, and despite the best efforts of Tim Blackburn and Martin Sexton to marshal the side, Sudbury went into the break 4-0 behind.

Sudbury improved after the break but continued to concede, however the determination of the team shone through as two consolation goals from Leigh Bevan reduced their arrears to 7-2.

n Sudbury III slipped to a 4-1 defeat against Harleston Magpies V, despite having clawed themselves back to 2-2 after being 2-0 down.

After going into the break trailing 2-0, Sudbury fought back in the second-half with goals from Simon Hardingham and Andy Brame making it 2-2.

But with Sudbury pressing harder in search of a winner they lost their shape and it allowed Harleston to score twice to secure a 4-2 win.

n Sudbury IV remain top of Division Seven North East following a 1-0 win at Dereham V on Saturday.

After a goalless first-half Tim Lucas played a ball through to Paul Rolfe, who unmarked slotted home to score the decisive goal.

Sam Clements was the star of the show and took the man of the match award, while Mark Dudley was rewarded with a clean sheet after stepping in to play in goal.