Brightlingsea Regent vs Enfield

MATCH CENTRE

Enfield fell to their first league defeat of the season after going down 3-1 away at Brightlingsea Regent. Andre Embalo broke the deadlock for the home side midway through the first half before adding a second after the restart. Kieran Bishop pulled one back for Enfield late on but a goal from Jake Thompson in added time secured the points for Brightlingsea.

Neither side were able to trouble both goalkeepers in the opening exchanges in what was a cagey start. However, on 19 minutes, the home side opened the scoring. Defender Harry Critchley forayed forward before playing through Embalo, whose strike found its way past Jarvis Monk and into the bottom corner.

Regent continued to dominate in the first half and had opportunities to double their advantage. Firstly, Marlon Agyakwa’s curling effort was struck off-target before a few minutes later, Harry Honesty’s cross deflected inches over the crossbar. Meanwhile, up the other end, Enfield were beginning to threaten the Brightlingsea goal. Four minutes before the break, Jamie Dicks caught Lewis Greene off his line from distance, but his shot sailed just over the bar.

Brightlingsea, on the other hand, nearly made it 2-0 moments later as Bradley Russell slid the ball into Embalo’s path, but the forward hit the post. In the closing stages of the first half, Marcus Milner had a go from distance though his low driven strike proved comfortable for Greene. The home side went in at the break a goal to the good, but Enfield were still verymuch in the contest.

Eight minutes into the second half, Enfield had a great chance to level the scoring. Dicks played an excellent through ball to Aaron Greene, who found space on the edge of the area before the ball sailed over. Meanwhile, Honesty almost doubled Regent’s advantage but his shot was well saved by Monk. However, it wasn’t long until the home side made it 2-0.Agyakwa pulled the ball across goal towards Embalo, leaving the forward to tap in from close range.

Embalo almost made it a hat-trick in the 67th minute but could only strike wide. The away side were looking to get back into the game as Bishop crossed towards Sam Bantick, but the forward could only head over the bar but with 10 minutes to go, the E’s soon halved the deficit. Bantick hit the post from inside the area with the rebound falling kindly to Bishop, who rifled the ball into the roof of the net to give Enfield hope.

However, any hope of a potential comeback was extinguished by the home side as in stoppage time, Agyakwa’s corner fell to Thompson, who fired home to confirm the victory for Brightlingsea. Captain Danny Norton almost scored in the last minute of the match, but his shot was kept out by Greene to ensure it finished 3-1.

TEAM LINE-UPS:

Enfield: Monk, Milner, Warman, Gipson, Gorsvenor, Greene (Bantick 67’), Norton, Campbell, L. Johnson (Gebrai 53’), Arthur, Dicks

Goals: Bishop (80’)

Subs not used: Luther, Poku

Brightlingsea Regent: Greene, Critchley (Worrell 72’),Durling, Thompson, Littlejohn, Agyakwa, Russell, Embalo(Okunja 81’), Honesty (Davis 82’), Andrews, Harris

Goals: Embalo (19’, 58’), Thompson (90+1’)

Subs not used: Ombok, George