SUTTON GRAB LATE WINNER

BY ANDREW DELANEY

A goal at the beginning and the end of the game earned a vital three points for Sutton in their final league match of the campaign against Fairfield Villa.

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The points were more important than performance, as Sutton ground out the win against a very good Fairfield side. They made the perfect start when Jonny Grigg put them ahead with less than two minutes on the clock, but it was the home side who then had the better chances and they deservedly pulled level early in the second half.

Sutton were far from their best and had their keeper Reiss Wagstaff to thank for keeping the score line down, but they dug deep to come strong at the end, when Joe Gildea’s cross forced an own goal from Villa that sent the league leaders home with the crucial three points.

Sutton scored with their first attack of the match, when Aaron Evans kept the ball in at the byline and set up Joe Delaney to whip in a cross for Grigg to finish from close range.

Fairfield then came close with a free kick that had Wagstaff stretching to tip over his crossbar, and that was closely followed by Alex Knight blasting wide of the post as the home side grew in confidence.

For Sutton, Lewis James had made some great challenges at the back only to be forced off with injury just before the half hour mark. Up front, United’s best effort came when Gildea’s shot from the edge of the box was saved by the diving Ben Maxwell, who then kept out the rebound from Grigg at a tight angle.

It was the home side who finished the half strongly, when Knight’s interchange with Parsons gave him space to shoot in the box, drawing Wagstaff off his line to block for Sutton.

Fairfield drew level early in the second half with a well-worked goal as they played out from the back, finding Knight on the right to cross the ball for Parsons, free at the back post to head in.
In response, United created very few opportunities to trouble the Fairfield keeper, their best effort coming from a set piece, when Josh Duggan’s superb delivery deserved better as the chance went wide.

Not many teams have outplayed Sutton this season, but Fairfield were enjoying most of the possession, with Sutton’s defence being tested and in the 70th minute, they came close to taking the lead when a dangerous cross aimed at Knight in front of goal, had Matt Hurrell making a crucial challenge before Wagstaff made a superb reaction save. And just two minutes later, Sutton were lucky when goal-scorer Parsons had another free header at the back post and this time he sent it wide of the mark.

It finally took a piece of class from Joe Gildea to give Sutton the win three minutes from time. United’s leading goal scorer, with a fantastic thirty-seven for the season, finished his campaign, not with another goal, but with a superb delivery from the left that ended up in the back of the net off a Villa player.

The win leaves Sutton at the top of the MFL 2 but their final position is now out of their hands as they await the remaining results from AFC Coventry Rangers and Knowle. Whatever happens, Sutton have had a fantastic season, winning 21 league games and scoring an impressive 104 goals. And with the league now finished Sutton can prepare for their final match of the season, with a County Cup Saturday Vase Final against Knowle on 20th May 2pm kick off.

Team: Fairfield Villa
1. Ben Maxwell
2. Daniel Martin-White – Magdy Ahmed 90’
3. Joshua Mussell (c)
4. Edward Quilty – Reuel Prescod 88’
5. Ricardo Dudley
6. Josh Gilmour
7. Anton Powell
8. Joseph Drake-Cervantes
9. Louis Andrews
10. Alex Knight
11. Oliver Parsons – Rene Adigbo 77’

Management/Assistants:
GJ Singh, Daniel Moses, Neil Martin,
Jazz Campbell

Team: Sutton United
1. Reiss Wagstaff
2. Lewis James – Pete Bannister 27’
3. Brad Gregory
4. Jonny Grigg
5. Jake Murrell
6. Josh Duggan
7. Aaron Evans – Matt Hurrell 60’
8. Sef Semlali – Freddie Cockerell 68’
9. Leyton Hines – Tom Massey 45’
10. Joe Gildea
11. Joe Delaney

Management/Assistants:
Richard Heath, Chris Bratt-Rose,
Louis Singh, Derek Cullen

Match Officials: Ewan Bates, Nathan Ind, Matthew Davies

Fairfield Villa	Statistics	Sutton United
1	Goals	2
12	Attempts	7
5	Attempts on Target	5
58%	Possession	42%
2	Corners	1
12	Fouls Committed	11
2	Yellow Cards	2
0	Red Cards	0
	Man of the Match	Joe Delaney