New Year High Five
Andrew Delaney7 Jan –
Sutton United made a fantastic start to the new year with a convincing 5-2 victory over AFC Bridgnorth at Coleshill Road Stadium.
Sutton made three changes to their starting line up with Joe Gildea returning to the front line, Tion Pearce-Copeland replacing the injured Matt Bishop and Lewan Tobin starting in place of Tom Cullen who departed the club this week.
Mark Moore almost opened the scoring for Sutton in the 2nd minute when his header from a corner was cleared off the line by defender Camron Lyness. Nevertheless, Sutton went ahead from their next corner as Alex O’Keefe’s near post delivery was deflected into the net.
Despite the early goal, Sutton were sluggish in the first half and should have been punished by their visitors who threatened on the counterattack. Callum Briggs, Ben Wood and Luke Morris all had efforts go wide of the target, before Connor Byrne denied Jonathan Millinchip just before the break.
Sutton upped the tempo in the second half and were rewarded with another goal in the 54th minute when Gildea’s squared pass was drilled home by substitute Sam Price.
AFC Bridgnorth pulled a goal back in the 63rd minute when Morris was threaded through the middle to find the net with only Byrne to beat.
United were finding more chances in front of goal this half, with Gildea denied by two strong saves from Lewis Riley and an audacious effort from the halfway line that almost hit the target, before he finally found the net in the 69th minute. Substitute Will Jones, was instrumental, as he won the ball in the middle of the pitch to then send Price sprinting down the right flank, before delivering the perfect pass for Gildea to slot home from six yards.
The Shropshire side seemed to run out of steam as Sutton finished strongly, with Tom Massey capping a solid individual performance with a well-taken goal in the 72nd minute and Price netting his second of the match a minute from time, as Jon Grigg threaded him through the middle to find the net with only the keeper to beat.
Bridgnorth bagged a consolation goal in the third minute of added time when Morris converted a penalty for his second goal of the match.
The win extends Sutton’s unbeaten run to seven matches and sees them climb up to sixth in the table ahead of their next fixture against second placed Cradley Town, next Saturday 13th January 3pm kick off.
Team: Sutton United
1. Connor Byrne – 79’ Kieran Hart
2. Jon Grigg
3. Alex O’Keefe
4. Mark Moore
5. Tion Pearce-Copeland
6. Lewan Tobin – 68’ Will Jones
7. Kyle Hayden – 45’ Sam Price
8. Sef Semlali – 73’ Lewis James
9. Joe Gildea
10. Tom Massey (c)
11. Joe Delaney – 45’ Kye Billingham-Belle
Management/Assistants:
Richard Heath
Liam Burke
Matt Gough
Chris Bratt-Rose
Amelia Small
Derek Culling
Team: AFC Bridgnorth
1. Lewis Riley
2. George Marsh
3. Camron Lyness
4. Ben Wood – 65’ Kian Hyde
5. Calum Hill – 73’ Mohammed Manzoor
6. Brett Taylor
7. Jonathan Millinchip – 57’ William Gibbons
8. Jack Snoddy – 65’ Ryan Hadley
9. Christopher Sterling (c)
10. Luke Morris
11. Callum Briggs
Management/Assistants:
Steve Barrow
Dom Heath
Ross Panton
Alex Heath
Match Officials: Kurt Bartlett, Joe Coyle, Mohammed Ahsan
| Sutton United | Statistics | AFC Bridgnorth |
| 5 | Goals | 2 |
| 16 | Attempts | 10 |
| 12 | Attempts on Target | 5 |
| 66% | Possession | 34% |
| 5 | Corners | 3 |
| 9 | Fouls Committed | 5 |
| 0 | Yellow Cards | 0 |
| 0 | Red Cards | 0 |
| Player | Appearances | Goals | Assists | Opp MOTM |
| Joe Gildea | 26 | 26 | 8 | 10 |
| Sam Price | 19 | 7 | 6 | 0 |
| Leyton Hines | 5 | 4 | 1 | 1 |
| Tom Massey | 27 | 3 | 8 | 2 |
| Sef Semlali | 25 | 3 | 3 | 1 |
| Tom Cullen | 14 | 3 | 1 | 1 |
| Kieran McConville | 15 | 2 | 3 | 0 |
| Matt Bishop | 18 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| Jon Grigg | 27 | 1 | 3 | 0 |
| Alex O’Keefe | 7 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| Joe Delaney | 7 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| Shane Smith | 8 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Kye Billingham-Belle | 28 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Brad Gregory | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Lewan Tobin | 15 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Jake Murrell | 14 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Ethan Hanks | 11 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Kyle Hayden | 8 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Ryan Delport | 6 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Kaine Donald | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Will Buchanan | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Shevron Channer | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Lewis James | 22 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Mark Moore | 21 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Reiss Wagstaff | 18 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Tion Pearce-Copeland | 17 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Will Jones | 17 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Connor Byrne | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Harrison Coe | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Ben Friel | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Pete Weston | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Remi Bell | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Sam Simmonds | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Hassan Said | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Daniel Cooper | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Louis Malin | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Matt Hurrell | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Matt Lewis | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Shakeer Abdelkhalek | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | 56 | 47 |