Brightlingsea Regent 2, Aveley 1

LOOKING to achieve a hat-trick of successive wins, Millers came unstuck and found themselves on the end of a cup upset as they bowed out of the Essex Senior Cup in the fourth round at Isthmian North Regent on Tuesday evening (19 November).

Regent have been in the upper echelons of their division and are challenging for promotion. The recent departure of previous manager Brett Munyard after five seasons and the appointment of club stalwart Ryan Salter as boss doesn't seem to have caused a problem.#

Aveley manager Dannny Scopes elected to give game time to players who have been on the fringes recently and that may have contributed to a disjointed start by the visitors, who the manager described a sloppy in the early stages.

Regent took advantage and pressed Aveley back, spurning a couple of chances before taking the lead on 23 minutes with Kenzo Shabazz-Edwards firing a low shot through a crowded box into the bottom corner.

The visitors didn't really threaten until the 42nd minute when Luke Allen picked out Ibby Akanbi, but his header flew over the bar and so Millers went in a goal down at half time.

And the deficit was extended on 58 minutes when Fletcher Alexander Hubbard found space in behind the backline after curving his run, and he slotted the ball into the net.

Six minutes later Aveley got on the scoresheet when and exchange of counter-attacks ended with Ibrahim Akanbi getting a chance which he converted.

Millers had occasional chances to grab an equaliser and force penalties but couldn't take them and had they done so even Scopes conceded it would have been something of a travesty, as he acknowledged the best side won on the night.

After the match he said: "I'm really really disappointed. There were no excuses in the preparation but if I am honest we started badly as a group and it went worse rather than better as it went.

"We must give Brightlingsea credit, they had some good young players. We can be disappointed with our output but they deserved to win.

"It was disappointing after being much better. We did make a few changes and used players who hadn't played much in the previous weeks. Now we have to put it to bed and move on."