Coggeshall 3 Stowmarket Town 2
Stowmarket Town saw their 10-match winning run come to an end after being edged out by champions Coggeshall Town in a five-goal thriller at West Street.
Substitute Tom Monk scored the fifth, and decisive, goal for the Seedgrowers, six minutes from time to end Stow’s winning streak.
Ace Howell netted twice for Stow, taking his tally for the season to 12 goals, as Rick Andrews’ men went 1-0 up and then drew level at 2-2 after going 2-1 down.
Howell opened the scoring for Stow on 20 minutes, as Remi Garrett’s cross found him in the box and he slid in to finish past Coggeshall goalkeeper James Bransgove.
The hosts, who were crowned Thurlow Nunn League Premier Division champions after beating Felixstowe & Walton United on Tuesday, equalised seven minutes later through Conor Hubble.
Nnamdi Nwachuku then put the Essex side in front in the 70th minute, but Stowmarket responded almost immediately when Ipswich Town loanee Ellis Murrell played Howell through two minutes later to slot past Bransgove.
Both sides, who were both promoted from the First Division last season, went in search of the game’s fifth, and potentially, match-winning goal.
And it came on 84 minutes when a free kick was played long and into the Stowmarket box, where substitute Monk was on hand to net the winner.
It meant Stowmarket finished with a defeat in their final game of the season, but Andrews’ men can look back fondly on a productive first campaign back in the Thurlow Nunn League’s top flight.
Stowmarket finished third in the Premier Division, the club’s highest finish in 26 years and the second best ever in the club’s 66-year run in the Thurlow Nunn League.
Stow’s end of season celebration followed in the clubhouse on Saturday evening, where 56-goal striker Josh Mayhew and captain Ollie Brown shared the manager’s player of the season award.
Brown took the players’ player of the season award and Mayhew picked up the supporters’ player of the season prize.
James Graham (manager’s player) and Craig Brown (players’ player) were the award winners for the Reserves on the night.
www.eadt24.co.uk
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