Beaten by Bilston
Andrew Delaney
A Joe Gildea brace was not enough for Sutton as Bilston Town scored three in a pulsating match to overtake Sutton in the table.
Sutton produced one of their best performances of the season that deserved something from the match, as they hit the woodwork twice and were denied by some great goal keeping from Bilston’s Kai Lloyd.
Sutton went ahead in the 18th minute when Kieron McConville squared the ball for Gildea to find the bottom corner from six yards.
Jake Short equalised for the visitors when he fired home a low free kick in the 26th minute that went under Sutton’s wall to beat Reiss Wagstaff in goal. Short came close again, later in the half, when he headed a corner wide of the target.
United then had a great chance to regain the lead with a fantastic counterattack that saw Tom Massey denied by the crossbar before Jonny Grigg’s effort from the rebound was cleared off the line by a Bilston defender.
Sutton did edge ahead in the 40th minute, as Gildea spread the ball wide to Sam Price on the left wing and a neat one-two with Massey on the edge of the box gave Price space to pick out Gildea and his powerful shot was almost saved by Lloyd before the ball spun back into the net.
It was a strong first half from Sutton, but a lack in concentration either side of the break saw Bilston’s Adam Nazir score two goals that turned the momentum over to the visitors. His first goal in the third minute of added time at the end of the first half was calmly taken, when he found himself unmarked in front of goal.
Nazir had his brace when he headed home a cross from the right within thirty seconds of the restart to give the visitors the lead for the first time in the match.
United pushed hard for an equaliser with Bilston defending superbly, particularly when they went down to ten men due to Simcox serving a ten-minute sinbin. Lloyd made some impressive saves to deny Gildea, first with a free kick and then a shot inside the box that Lloyd blocked with his legs. Matt Bishop’s header was tipped onto the cross bar and in a tense finish to the match, Bishop had a shot from the edge of the box that Lloyd comfortably held, allowing Bilston to take away a hard-earned three points.
Next Saturday Sutton travel to OJM Black Country for their second meeting of the season, looking to overturn the defeat back in August.
Team: Sutton United
1. Reiss Wagstaff (c)
2. Jonny Grigg
3. Jake Murrell
4. Mark Moore
5. Matt Bishop
6. Sam Simmonds – 86’ Harrison Coe
7. Kye Billingham-Belle – 50’ Sef Semlali
8. Tom Massey – 82’ Will Buchanan
9. Kieron McConville – 56’ Ethan Hanks
10. Joe Gildea
11. Sam Price
Management/Assistants:
Richard Heath
Liam Burke
Matt Gough
Ryan Lugg
Amelia Small
Derek Culling
Team: Bilston Town
1. Kai Lloyd
2. Joshua Simcox SB
3. Aaron Weston (c)
4. Mitchell Evans – 21’ Lee Wood – 82’ Brandon McConnell
5. Ben Kendrick
6. Hayden Hall
7. Eesa Sawyers – 17’ Angelo Franco – 66’ Levi Simms
8. Jake Short
9. Soms Sibanda
10. Adam Nazir – 82’ Harrison Clarke
11. Ethan Pearce
Management/Assistants:
Mike Dunn
Jake Smith
Aaron Archer
Ryan Westley
Charlie Butler
Match Officials: Matthew Broadhurst, David Wood, Kevin Carroll
| Sutton United | Statistics | Bilston Town |
| 2 | Goals | 3 |
| 15 | Attempts | 11 |
| 8 | Attempts on Target | 6 |
| 55% | Possession | 45% |
| 6 | Corners | 1 |
| 9 | Fouls Committed | 7 |
| 1 | Yellow Cards | 3 |
| 0 | Red Cards | 0 |
| Player | Appearances | Goals | Assists | Opp MOTM |
| Joe Gildea | 9 | 7 | 1 | 2 |
| Leyton Hines | 5 | 4 | 1 | 1 |
| Sam Price | 5 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| Tom Massey | 9 | 1 | 3 | 1 |
| Sef Semlali | 10 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| Joe Delaney | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| Jon Grigg | 10 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Brad Gregory | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Thomas Cullen | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Kaine Donald | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Lewan Tobin | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Will Buchanan | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Kye Billingham-Belle | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Reiss Wagstaff | 10 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Tion Pearce-Copeland | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Lewis James | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Harrison Coe | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Jake Murrell | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Will Jones | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Kieran McConville | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Mark Moore | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Matt Bishop | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Remi Bell | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Ryan Delport | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Ethan Hanks | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Sam Simmonds | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Daniel Cooper | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Matt Hurrell | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | 19 | 16 |