HEAVY DEFEAT FOR SUTTON
BY ANDREW DELANEY
Sutton suffered only their fourth defeat of the season in a disappointing 5-3 loss away at Kenilworth Sporting.
Sutton conceded four goals in a frustrating first half and whilst the same had happened against Birmingham United about six weeks ago when Sutton made an impressive comeback to win that match, this time it proved too much of a hurdle, despite a much improved second half performance.
Sutton began well enough, with Leyton Hines and Jonny Grigg both seeing shots saved by the Sporting keeper in the first ten minutes. Nevertheless, it was the home side who took the lead from their first corner of the match, that was initially headed clear by Brad Gregory, only for Jacob Dodds to find the bottom corner with a shot from the edge of the penalty box.
Shortly after, Sutton’s keeper, Reiss Wagstaff, was involved in a collision with Dave Freeman and suffered a knock to his ribs. And with Wagstaff still feeling the effects, the home side pounced to score another goal when their number 10, Jack Low, played a one-two with Harry Wilson to strike inside the near post.
United did pull a goal back when Joe Gildea pinched the ball off the keeper and slotted into an open net and despite the home side’s protests that the keeper had both hands on the ball, the goal was allowed.
It was then Sutton’s turn to feel aggrieved when Sporting were awarded a penalty for a questionable foul in the box and Tyrone Wilson tucked the spot kick home to restore their two goal advantage.
It was to get worse for Sutton just before the break when a wayward pass played straight into the path of Low and he took full advantage to fire home his second of the match.
Wagstaff could not return for the second half and without a substitute keeper, Finlay Ballantyne stepped into goal for Sutton. They also looked to their bench in a bid to turn the match around with Shane Smith coming on and debut appearances for Aaron Evans and Freddie Cockerill. And it paid off with an early second half goal when Gildea found the bottom corner of the net at the second attempt from Joe Delaney’s cross.
However, further opportunities proved difficult to come by as Kenilworth defended well, with perhaps the best chance falling to Remi Bell who saw his header brilliantly tipped behind by the diving Finn Osbourn.
For Kenilworth, their best chances this half were coming from set pieces and sure enough, Tyrone Wilson struck home from a corner eight minutes from time to seal the win for the home side.
Sutton did manage a consolation goal in the 88th minute, when Gildea threaded the ball through for Smith to cross and Evans netted his first goal for the club from six yards.
Next weekend Sutton travel to high flying Division Three side Coventrians in the semi-final of the Saturday Vase.
Team: Kenilworth Sporting
1. Finn Osbourn
2. Harry Wilson – Will Hawkins 72’
3. Cameron Welsh
4. Chris Green
5. John Agbo
6. Sam Delaney
7. Jason Evans (c) – Leo Franklin 83’
8. Jacob Dodds – Jamie Bird 64’
9. Tyrone Wilson
10. Jack Low – Chris Jones 66’
11. Dave Freeman
Management/Assistants:
Martin Ashcroft
Dan Burke
Luke Hopkins
Team: Sutton United
1. Reiss Wagstaff – Aaron Evans 45’
2. Pete Bannister – Shane Smith 45’
3. Finlay Ballantyne
4. Kaine Donald
5. Brad Gregory
6. Josh Duggan (c)
7. Remi Bell – Matt Hurrell 70’
8. Jonny Grigg
9. Leyton Hines – Freddie Cockerill 45’
10. Joe Gildea
11. Joe Delaney
Management/Assistants:
Richard Heath
Liam Burke
Louis Singh
Match Officials: Kenneth Cox, Michael Evans, Michal Kalisz
| Kenilworth Sporting | Statistics | Sutton United |
| 5 | Goals | 3 |
| 11 | Attempts | 10 |
| 8 | Attempts on Target | 6 |
| 35% | Possession | 65% |
| 8 | Corners | 9 |
| 5 | Fouls Committed | 8 |
| 1 | Yellow Cards | 1 |
| 0 | Red Cards | 0 |
| Jason Evans | Man of the Match | Kaine Donald |