AFC Sudbury manager Marc Abbott sees side that have lost their identity in Leiston Southern League and Suffolk Premier Cup defeats ahead of trip to AFC Telford United

Marc Abbott admits his AFC Sudbury side have lost their killer instinct and identity at a key time but remains confident they have the players in their changing room to avoid their Step 3 status being wiped out.

The Yellows suffered two contrasting defeats to Suffolk rivals Leiston across league and cup in the space of four days to leave their manager conducting a dressing room lock-in on Tuesday.

First, they saw a golden chance to claim precious points in their relegation fight in the Pitching In Southern League Premier Central slip through their fingers at home to the play-off chasers on Saturday.

AFC passed up the chances to add to Ollie Peters’ 18th-minute penalty before seeing Jamar Loza’s stoppage-time equaliser change the nature of Abbott’s half-time team talk.

He then saw his side surrender the lead to a 92nd-minute goal from substitute Kyran Clements, who was played onside to score from a one-on-one chance.

Tuesday’s Endeavour Automotive Suffolk Premier Cup semi-final at the Martello Ground, home of Felixstowe & Walton United FC, was a much more comfortable passage to victory for Chris Wigger’s side as Sudbury gifted them two goals in a five-minute spell mid-way through the first half.

Ben Isaacson’s desperate sliding recovery tackle caught Ben Fowkes down the side of the area ahead of the same player seeing his 22nd-minute penalty kick prove too powerful for James Bradbrook, who did get a hand to it.

A short free kick in Leiston’s half saw Joe Neal concede cheap possession which provided the throughball to send Fowkes in on goal before he slotted across the area for the unmarked Cameron Rayworth to sweep home.

With Sudbury unable to register a meaningful second-half effort at Billy Johnson’s goal, until Chris Lewis lifted over from six yards out 30 minutes in, Leiston’s late pressure inevitably yielded the final goal. In the 95th minute Bradbrook brought down Loza after his defence left him horribly exposed and he was then duly beaten from the penalty spot.

It ensured the club’s wait for a return to the county’s showpiece men’s cup final will reach at least 22 years.

Abbott, said: “I’ve no qualms. The best team won on the night and the best team have probably won both games.

“I think what they do in terms of counter-attacking and sitting a little bit deeper, I think they're very good at it, hence why they're seventh. I think you've got to give them credit.

“Look, obviously, we've just analysed the game in the changing room and had a good conversation and good chat about, again, the severity of the goals, I guess, and the timings of them and how they occurred, really. We're disappointed with that.

“But like I say, I think you've got to give Leiston credit.

“They played a real good game in terms of what they did and they've got threats at the top end of the pitch.

“For us, we're disappointed, absolutely. But I think that we have to react from this.

“We've just had a good conversation with the players and, yes, we move on to Telford.”

He went on to add: “We had moments but the difference between us and them; they’re killers, they smell blood and they can kill teams off in an instant at the moment.

“We lack that and we lack that nature of what we were about at the start of the season, up to the start of December, really.”

But ahead of taking his third-bottom side, now three points from safety, on their longest trip, to Shropshire to face fourth-placed title-chasing AFC Telford United on Saturday (3pm), he is far from throwing the towel in on the season.

“We still think that the players we’ve got are capable,” he said.

“We have to identify catching Lowestoft and then identify catching the next team above us.

“It’s going to be a little mini-league with nine games to go.

“We kept our composure last year when it got real tough and look, we’re going to need to rewrite that sort of history that we did last season.”

Meanwhile, holders AFC Sudbury Women take on lower-league Needham Market at The Millfield, home of Hadleigh United FC, for a place in the MH Goals Ltd Suffolk Women’s Cup Final tomorrow night (7.45pm).

It comes after Sunday’s 3-0 defeat at third-place London Bees left Luke and Stefan Mallet’s side in a mid-table seventh in the FA Women’s National League Division One South East table with six games to go.