Bishop Brace Beats Bears
Matt Bishop scored his first goals of the season to secure a 3-1 win for Sutton United against struggling Paget Rangers.
Sutton made six changes to their starting lineup, with Leyton Hines returning from injury and Jonathan Baka with his first start for the club and up against his old team.
This was a scrappy affair decided by three set-piece goals from Sutton. It was twenty minutes before either team had a sight of goal, when Abdul Touaiti’s effort spun over the cross bar for Sutton and Junior Enongene blasted wide from the edge of the penalty area for Paget.
Hines looked lively for United and came close to a goal when he cut inside from the left, only to see his effort well blocked by Paget’s Dominic Ellington.
However, on more than one occasion Sutton gave the ball away cheaply and could easily have gone behind if the Bears had found their shooting boots. Paget also came close from a set piece when Ellington was afforded far too much room in front of goal but headed over.
The best chances of the half came in the last five minutes, with Reece Gibson at the heart of them for Sutton. First, he hammered an effort just over the crossbar from eighteen yards, before delivering a tantalising cross from the right that just needed someone to get on the end of. The forward then saw an effort from a rebound going wide, after Sef Semlali’s shot from eight yards was well saved by the Bears goalkeeper, Owen Burton.
United finally broke the deadlock in the 56th minute when Harry Howard delivered a free kick from the left and Bishop, with his back to goal, set up fellow defender George Ray to fire home his third goal of the season.
Rangers then had a great chance to equalise when Dante Hesson won the ball just outside the penalty box before his curling shot went just wide of the target.
United did increase the tempo in the second half and doubled their lead in the 75th minute; Sam Jeeves floated a free kick from the halfway line into the penalty box where Bishop found the back of the net with a fantastic header.
Gibson then hit the crossbar as he chipped the keeper following a lovely through pass from Tom Massey, and Oli Jeeves was unlucky with his shot from the rebound that was brilliantly blocked on the line by a defender.
Sutton increased their lead eight minutes from time when Joe Gildea’s 30-yard free kick curled over the Paget wall and was saved by Burton, before Bishop reacted first to tap home the rebound.
The hosts earned themselves a goal in the 90th minute, as Greg Lewis parried an initial header before Ashawne Tucker slotted home from close range.
Next up for Sutton is an exciting trip to Cheshire where they take on Winsford United in Round Three of the FA Vase on Saturday 7th December at 3pm.
Team: Paget Rangers
1. Owen Burton – 86’ Charley Morgan
2. Deniro Edwards – 77’ Kyle Ambris
3. Raphael Johnson (c)
4. Dominic Ellington
5. Jordan Ambris – 77’ Krishan Gill
6. Hector Beta
7. McKenzie Humphreys
8. Pervez Nedale
9. Junior Enongene – 81’ Ashawne Tucker
10. Dante Hesson
11. Ricardo Heaven
Unused Sub: Brad Gregory
Management/Assistants:
Sean Feeney
Bola Awogboro
Daniel Pink
Team: Sutton United
1. Greg Lewis
2. George Ray – 58’ Sam Jeeves
3. Harry Manton
4. Matt Bishop (c)
5. Jonathan Baka – 68’ Zach Binns
6. Sam Simmonds
7. Leyton Hines – 58’ Tom Massey
8. Abdul Touaiti
9. Reece Gibson
10. Sef Semlali – 58’ Joe Gildea
11. Harry Howard – 58’ Oli Jeeves
Management/Assistants:
Richard Heath
Liam Burke
Adam Watson
Chris Bratt-Rose
Bobby Brittan
Derek Culling
Match Officials: Matthew Broadhurst, Simon Lane, Callum Finnegan