AFC Sudbury boss Marc Abbott hails ‘most complete performance’ as Lowestoft Town hammered 6-1 ahead of FA Cup trip to AFC Dunstable

AFC Sudbury manager Marc Abbott hailed his side’s ‘most complete performance’ of the season as they hit Suffolk rivals Lowestoft Town for six on Monday, stating it underlines what an ‘exciting side’ are capable of.

Kyle Haylock had replied to Josh Allen’s early opener to make it 1-1 just 18 minutes in before Ollie Peters struck (26’) to get The Suds back in front heading into the interval of the Pitching In Southern League Premier Central bank holiday clash.

The game hung in balance entering the last 20 minutes before AFC cut loose with Joe Neal’s 71st minute penalty followed by the first of two tap-ins from substitute Liam Pearce sandwiched between fellow academy graduate Peters claiming his second.

It issued the perfect response to Saturday’s 2-0 defeat at Stourbridge, with a goal coming in each half, to see Abbott’s side record their first victory of the campaign at the fifth attempt, having drawn three prior to their maiden defeat.

Ahead of Saturday’s trip to lower-level Bedfordshire outfit AFC Dunstable, who ply their trade in the Southern League Division One Central (3pm), in the Emirates FA Cup first qualifying round, he said: “Performance levels since the start of the season have been sort of in fits and starts, I guess.

“There's been some really good spells of good performance, but I thought yesterday was probably the most complete performance that we've had, which obviously enabled us to run away with a game.

“I think the biggest thing for us was we were relentless over the last 30 minutes.

“We were forward-thinking, forward-running and I thought the whole squad performance was outstanding, including the impact from the subs.”

Attacking midfielder Pearce, who has been at the club since the age of 12, was one of the latter and after graduating from the academy in the summer alongside centre-back Max Brownsdon (who now a third year), who made his senior league bow from the bench, got to celebrate his first two senior goals.

Abbott said: “Max and Liam have been around us from pre-season as well as a few other youngsters.

“I think that Max supported the team in terms of showing a brilliant, outstanding attitude over recent weeks being an unused sub.

“We know what he is capable of and it was good to see him in a bit of a local derby fixture, obviously the same with Liam, he's had to be an impact player coming off the bench. He's shown real good signs and it's great for him to sew the game up for us.”

The attention now turns to their entry game in this season’s FA Cup with Abbott keen to avoid a slip-up at a Step 4 side.

“We want some form of cup run,” he said.

“I'd say it's a fixture that, again, we're expected to win and it’s good that we're in that position.

“We’ll be preparing Thursday for Dunstable and we're gathering some information on them, but I think the main focus will be on us and reaching the levels that we reached Monday.”

Their opponents have won one and lost two in their league so far while winning 1-0 at Newport Pagnell Town to set up the cup tie.

Meanwhile, AFC Sudbury Reserves’ wait for a first win in the Thurlow Nunn League First Division North ended on Saturday at the sixth attempt, coming from 1-0 down at the break to beat visiting Holland FC 2-1 thanks to goals from substitutes Lleyton Chubb and Harry Moore. They host third-placed Diss Town on Saturday (3pm).