DELANEY’S DOUBLE SPARKS SUTTON’S COMEBACK
BY ANDREW DELANEY
Ten-men Sutton came from behind to beat the nine men of Earlswood Town in an incident packed match at The Pavillions.
It was a game that was overshadowed by the three red cards and four yellows, on a busy evening for the referee. The first incident came in the 20th minute when Matt Hurrell brought down an Earlswood player on the edge of the penalty area and received a yellow card. Town’s Steve Ruck protested too strongly for the last man ruling and ended up with a red card himself, for dissent.
And within ten minutes, it went from bad to worse for the home side, as they were reduced to nine men when John Palmer received his marching orders for stamping on Joe Delaney.
United almost took the lead straight after, when Freddie Cockerell’s header was saved by keeper Tom Day and despite a scuffle in front of goal, Day managed to keep the ball from crossing the line.
Then against all the odds, Earlswood took the lead in the 38th minute, when Tom Kinsey ran onto a ball over the top of Sutton’s defence to lob over the out-rushing Reiss Wagstaff, and despite a strong question of off-side, the nine men were ahead.
The second half saw Earlswood defending their lead with all nine players deep in their own half, as Sutton probed for an opening. With Sutton pressing, Earlswood looked for an opportunity on the break and in the 65th minute Harry Street ran in behind Tom Massey; down went Street thirty yards from goal and Massey was dismissed.
United still had the man advantage and they kept pushing for an equaliser. The breakthrough finally came when Delaney converted a free kick from the right that he swung round the one-man wall, to bounce in at the near post.
Sutton kept up the pressure and they eventually took the lead in the 81st minute; Aaron Evans spread wide to Delaney, now on the right wing, and when his first cross was blocked, Evans gave him another go and this time he cut inside to deliver with his left foot and the ball evaded everyone to nestle into the back of the net.
Having defended stoically for so long, the home side now had to come out of defence to try and get something out of the game, and this opened spaces for Sutton to exploit. Delaney could have had a hat-trick but was denied by Day with two excellent saves. Instead, he settled for an assist, squaring the ball for Joe Gildea to tap in and make the points safe for Sutton.
With the light fading deep into added time, Gildea added a fourth when Josh Duggan set him up to run into the box and pick his spot for his second of the match.
Next Saturday sees Sutton travel to Fairfield Villa for their final league game of the campaign, kick off 3pm. (A hat-trick from Joe Gildea would finish his season with an impressive 40 goals!! No pressure Joe ?).
Team: Earlswood Town
1. Tom Day
2. Tom Millard
3. Brad Littlehales
4. Ashley Weeks – Joe Tobin 61’ – Matthew Pemberton 73’
5. Tom Reynolds
6. Reece Rawlings
7. Harry Street
8. John Palmer
9. Tom Kinsey
10. Louis Bridges (c)
11. Steve Ruck
Management/Assistants:
Tom Reynolds, Eddy Pitt, Callum Ingram
Paul McGuire
Team: Sutton United
1. Reiss Wagstaff
2. Brad Gregory
3. Matt Hurrell – Leyton Hines 45’
4. Finlay Balantyne – Jake Murrell 63’
5. Aaron Evans
6. Josh Duggan
7. Remi Bell – Will Jones 72’
8. Sef Semlali
9. Freddie Cockerell – Tom Massey 58’
10. Joe Gildea
20. Joe Delaney
Management/Assistants:
Richard Heath, Liam Burke, Chris Bratt-Rose,
Louis Singh, Derek Cullen
Match Officials: Simon Gudger, Abderrahmane Chourakane, Benjamin Gudger
| Earlswood Town | Statistics | Sutton United |
| 1 | Goals | 4 |
| 3 | Attempts | 16 |
| 1 | Attempts on Target | 11 |
| 20% | Possession | 80% |
| 0 | Corners | 4 |
| 9 | Fouls Committed | 8 |
| 1 | Yellow Cards | 3 |
| 2 | Red Cards | 1 |
| Man of the Match | Joe Delaney |