Grigg gets the party started
Jonny Grigg scored the first of seven goals for Sutton United in an emphatic win over Kirby Muxloe at Coleshill Road Stadium.
Both Grigg and skipper Tom Massey each netted a brace as Sutton produced an outstanding team performance to record their biggest win of the season. The best of the bunch went to Harry Howard who curled the ball in from the left of goal; Oli Jeeves came on to score with his first touch of the match; and Reiss Hick put Sutton in seventh heaven when he headed home his first goal of the season in added time.
Sutton were outstanding in the first half with Grigg getting them up and running after just four minutes, as he won the ball inside the penalty box to smash home past goalkeeper Charlie Andrews.
Leyton Hines came close to another with a shot from the left of goal, but was denied by a fantastic reaction save by Andrews, diving low at his near post.
United were looking strong going forward and they did double their lead in the 28th minute when Howard threaded a sublime pass through for Massey to pick up on the edge of the penalty area, and the Sutton captain then found the bottom corner of the net with an accurate finish.
For the visitors, they had found it difficult to get through a well organised Sutton defence, and both Jack Gunn’s eighteen-yard strike and a back post header from Karun Shankar, were comfortably caught by Greg Lewis.
The Greens increased their lead in the 37th minute when Hines laid the ball off for Howard in the penalty box, and with three Kirby players around him and now with his back to goal, he still managed to turn and curl the ball superbly into the far corner of the net, to send Sutton into the break with a commanding three goal lead.
Kirby made two substitutions for the start of the second half and they had two good chances on goal in the opening minutes, as Zakari Adams struck a low effort from the edge of the penalty box that Lewis did well to gather and a swift counter-attack saw Roman Watson-Quilter free at the back post but his effort on goal was straight at Lewis.
In contrast, Sutton were proving to be clinical in front of goal, and they soon increased their lead when Massey scored his second of the match with a header at the back post off a perfect cross from Abdul Touaiti.
Sutton made it five just four minutes later, when Harry Manton hooked the ball forward to halt a Kirby counterattack and substitute Oli Jeeves reacted brilliantly to run in behind the Muxloe defence and volley the ball over the keeper.
The sixth goal came in the 58th minute when Touaiti curled a 20-yard free kick over the Kirby wall before Andrews dived to make a strong save and when the ball spun off the post, Grigg reacted first to tap it over the line for his second of the match.
The visitors were pressing forward more this half as they attempted to run in behind Sutton’s defence, but Hick and Matt Bishop were superb at the back for Sutton. And when Luca Watson-Quilter did manage to break through for a one-on-one with Lewis, the Sutton keeper came out on top as he smothered the ball at the feet of the striker.
Adams then hit the cross bar for Muxloe with an audacious effort from close to the centre circle, and the ball bounced down onto the goal line before Lewis was able to gather.
However, it was Sutton who finished strongly with a seventh goal in added time as Hick scored with a wonderful header off Sam Jeeves’s corner kick to complete an accomplished team performance.
Team: Sutton United
1. Greg Lewis
2. Tion Pearce
3. Harry Manton
4. Matt Bishop
5. Reiss Hick
6. Sam Simmonds – 64’ Sef Semlali
7. Abdul Touaiti – 66’ Hayden Froggatt
8. Jonny Grigg – 70’ Sam Jeeves
9. Leyton Hines
10. Tom Massey – 70’ Joe Gildea
11. Harry Howard – 53’ Oli Jeeves
Management/Assistants:
Liam Burke, Richard Heath
Adam Watson, Chris Bratt-Rose
Bobby Brittan, Derek Culling
Amelia Small
Team: Kirby Muxloe
1. Charlie Andrews (c)
2. Roman Watson-Quilter
3. Jaede Timms
4. Josh Gunn
5. Curtis Boddy
6. Tyler Love – 46’ Adetomiwa Efunnuga
7. Mark Foster – 65’ Ewan Lilleyman
8. Jack Gunn – 46’ Tom Carroll
9. Zakari Adams
10. Karum Shankar
11. Lucca Watson-Quilter – 82’ Jake Carpenter
Management/Assistants:
Adam Parry
Rob Middleton
Nick Green
Jim Miles
Match Officials: Ewan Bates, Katrina Pritchard, James Noyce