Another draw for Sutton
Andrew Delaney27 Dec 2023 –
Sutton United completed their third straight draw with a 2-2 result away at Paget Rangers.
Twice Sutton had to come from behind in a pulsating first half where a brace each for Paget’s De-Quarnai Williams and Sutton’s Joe Gildea, had both teams level at the break. Sutton created the better chances to win it in the second half but could not break down a resilient Paget defence.
There were two big decisions that went against Sutton, the first a penalty shout when Harry Parker clipped Joe Delaney’s ankle in front of goal, after Gildea had won the ball in the penalty area. And in the second half, a goal from Tom Massey was disallowed on a questionable offside decision.
Paget had a fantastic start to the match as they took an early lead when Williams ran in behind Sutton’s high line, taking the ball around the outrushing Connor Byrne and slotting into an open net.
United upped their tempo and came close to an equaliser two minutes later, when Alex O’Keefe’s shot sailed narrowly wide of the far post after ex Sutton keeper, Josh Bennett had saved at the feet of Jon Grigg.
But it wasn’t long before Sutton did pull a goal back, as Massey threaded a pass through for Gildea to execute a clinical finish across Bennett.
United then saw chances fall to Massey, Gildea and Grigg, but it was the hosts who scored again just two minutes from the break, when Sutton failed to deal with a free kick into the box and Williams reacted to find the top corner of the net with a well-placed shot from the edge of the penalty area.
Parker should have extended the lead for Paget when he headed over from close range after some good work on the right from Williams to cross the ball at the byline.
However, it was Sutton who found an equaliser three minutes into added time, when O’Keefe picked out Gildea at the edge of the box with time to curl a shot into the back of the net.
Neither side could find that winning goal in the second half. In a frantic couple of minutes, Matt Bishop headed the ball off his own goal line with keeper Byrne stranded, and a counterattack from Sutton saw substitute Jude Malsbury put his body on the line for Paget, to deny Gildea his hat trick.
Massey’s shot from the left was well saved by Bennett at his near post and Mark Moore’s header came close from a set piece, but it was the home side who almost nicked it at the death, when they won the ball high up the pitch and after a scramble in the penalty box, Byrne finally gathered for Sutton and the whistle blew for full time.
On Saturday Sutton return home to host Coventry Copsewood at Coleshill Road for final game of 2023.
Team: Paget Rangers
1. Josh Bennett
2. Levi Henderson – 70’ Gevick Lusamba
3. Delcio Neto – 67’ Nadeer Yasin Kahssay
4. Abdulmalik Lawal Olumegbon
5. Donald Egbon – 18’ Lateef Giwa
6. Joseph Lowe
7. Nathan Weir – 45’ Jude Malsbury
8. Harry Parker
9. Dejon Miles – 58’ Anthony Umoh
10. Ryan Butler
11. De-Quarnai Williams
Management/Assistants:
James Parker
Sean Feeney
Rob Francis
Peter Shearer
Dimitri Bachobvra
Team: Sutton United
1. Connor Byrne
2. Kye Billingham-Belle – 79’ Kieron McConville
3. Alex O’Keefe – 54’ Kyle Hayden
4. Matt Bishop
5. Mark Moore – 64’ Tion Pearce-Copeland
6. Pete Weston – 63’ Jake Murrell
7. Jon Grigg – 54’ Ben Friel
8. Tom Cullen – 54’ Sef Semlali
9. Joe Gildea
10. Tom Massey (c)
11. Joe Delaney
Management/Assistants:
Liam Burke
Richard Heath
Matt Gough
Chris Bratt-Rose
Derek Culling
Match Officials: Kieron Rogers, Zain Moheen, Mohammed Ahsan
| Paget Rangers | Statistics | Sutton United |
| 2 | Goals | 2 |
| 5 | Attempts | 16 |
| 4 | Attempts on Target | 10 |
| 35% | Possession | 65% |
| 1 | Corners | 2 |
| 18 | Fouls Committed | 8 |
| 4 | Yellow Cards | 1 |
| 0 | Red Cards | 1 |
| Player | Appearances | Goals | Assists | Opp MOTM |
| Joe Gildea | 25 | 25 | 7 | 9 |
| Sam Price | 18 | 5 | 4 | 0 |
| Leyton Hines | 5 | 4 | 1 | 1 |
| Tom Cullen | 13 | 3 | 0 | 1 |
| Tom Massey | 25 | 2 | 8 | 1 |
| Sef Semlali | 23 | 2 | 3 | 1 |
| Kieran McConville | 15 | 2 | 3 | 0 |
| Matt Bishop | 17 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| Jon Grigg | 25 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| Joe Delaney | 5 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| Shane Smith | 8 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Kye Billingham-Belle | 26 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Brad Gregory | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Alex O’Keefe | 5 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Jake Murrell | 13 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Lewan Tobin | 13 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Ethan Hanks | 11 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Kyle Hayden | 6 | 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 | 21 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Mark Moore | 19 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Reiss Wagstaff | 18 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Will Jones | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Tion Pearce-Copeland | 15 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Harrison Coe | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Connor Byrne | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Ben Friel | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Pete Weston | 3 | 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 | 50 | 42 |