On a pitch that had a good covering of grass and had been recently watered AFC Reserves met a powerful Witham side hoping to get back into the winning way after a couple of draws and also their footballing style of play which had been unfortunately lacking recently.

From the onset AFC were on the attack taking the game to Witham with the game going from one end to other. Walton feed Ifield who then found Douglas whose quick break split the defence but he shot wide.

In the 8^th minute Witham had the ball in the net from a free kick but the gaol was disallowed for an infringement – a get out of jail. Then a few minutes later McKnight had to do some good defending to block out a threatening attack on gaol. Witham were putting the visitors defence under some pressure while lively Douglas and Guyon were being well patrolled by the home defence.

Lee Ifield was a thorn in the Witham side with his runs and distribution but he was not getting any protection from the Referee against the physical style of play from the home side.

Half way through the first half it was Sudbury who took the lead when Camillo Douglas picked up a lose ball and beautifully chipped a shot into the top of the gaol from around 40 yards – another great skilful individual gaol out of nothing.  That helped settle down Sudbury who began to play the ball around a bit and they could have added a second but a on target long swerving shot just went wide.

On 34 minutes Witham were back on terms when they attacked in force with Jake Gilder sending a low curving shot past Walton. Witham had a chance to take the lead four minutes later but good defending by Ben Bolton prevented this when he dispossessed Leftly. With two minutes to the half time whistle Witham took the lead when the referee ignored a foul on Lee Sharp and with the player down Witham cut into the area with Sudbury playing what they thought was due rather than the whistle and a clumsy challenge in the area led to a penalty being awarded – harsh? It was Mr Buda’s thought and what he thought he saw that counts. Stoneham sent the spot kick past Dave Walton into the bottom left hand corner.  So a rather disgruntled Sudbury side went into the dressing room at half time. – things need to be sorted!

Half Time: Witham Town Res 1  AFC Sudbury Res 1

AFC were still a touch disorganised at the restart but on 47 minutes Jacob Brown made a nice turn and lay off to Douglas whose run took on the cover and beat it with his cross being put out for a corner, which Chisholm took and his accurate ball was well met by Scott McKnight who powered his header home at the far post.

This lifted Sudbury with Douglas, Guyon and Brown putting a nice move together. But Witham’s Stephens was the dominant player in midfield and in the 61^st minute he found Derrick Leftly, the Witham captain, who turned Bolton and fired a low shot past Walton to restore the Essex side’s lead.

With 25minutes left Sam Cullivan replaced Ben Bolton with Theobald dropping back and Holmes going into midfield. While Sudbury settled Witham pounced but thankfully the shot was over the bar. In the 70^th minute Andrew Fisher came on for Devon Guyon and two minutes later AFC had a lucky escape when a Walton miss-kick was gathered in front of goal but somehow the ball was kept out. This was one of the few occasions when Sudbury came out on top with 50/50 balls.

Dave Walton had to make a save from the dangerous Leftly but with just over 10 minutes left Sudbury had a chance to get back on even terms when Holmes found Ifield but his shot was forced out and Lee Sharp put the free ball wide running in to try to score.

Sudbury were level in the 81^st minute  from a Chisholm corner with Witham’s James Brady heading into his own net when under pressure from AFC players. OG This seemed to rejuvenate Sudbury with Douglas and Fisher going close and there was some nice moves involving Holmes, Theobald and Chisholm.

Witham were still looking for the winner but Walton held on well to a low shot from Lloyd Owes.  It was Sudbury who got the winning goal in the 3^rd minute of stoppage time from a Lee Ifield run who fed Chisholm, who surged into the Witham area only to be brought down and the referee, Mr Buda, on the spot awarded a penalty from whichMark Theobald scored giving Dan Smith no chance.

What a finish to a competitive game and it showed that AFC Sudbury could battle out a victory when not on top form – hopefully they could take this good attitude into the remaining games in the run in to the end of the season and keep up their challenge for the title.

The Wizard Of Oz