SUTTON NEW TOWN ATHLETIC V AFC SURREY
6 3
THEIR FINEST HOUR (AND A HALF)!
This was the 3rd friendly of the new season, and having been beaten 6-2 and 4-3 things could only get better, and they did! Despite being 2 leagues below the opposition Sutton comprehensively beat them 6-3. The only minor criticism was that 2 of AFC Surrey’s goals were soft, and the score should have been 6-1!
With a couple of regulars missing, the manager chose an experimental line up, with the versatile Tony in defence, and more controversially, Dan Yeoman in defensive midfield a la Makelele.
This turned out to be very effective formation, and the match got under way with Keiran missing a good chance in the 2nd minute. AFCS conceded a corner 2 minutes later which was cleared. Sutton’s attacking intent continued and a long distance shot from Bas went wide.
Against the run of play, an innocuous attack from AFCS led to the opening goal, with the defence turned and the keeper exposed. A couple more chances fell to Sutton, including a decent shot from Keiran, which was saved, followed by another shot from Dan. Dan then reverted to his defensive duties and cleared a good attempt by AFCS.
In the 19th minute a powerful long distance shot from Bas was deflected in by an AFCS defender to make it 1-1.
The manager then made a tactical change and moved Luke to his more familiar left back, and Tony to centre back. This proved to be an excellent decision, as the quick and versatile Tony was able to show his skills both with timing of tackles, positional sense and an excellent range of passes.
Soon after, Keiran was fouled, and was down for a minute but got up, and in the next attack had a strong shot hit the post. The next attack led to Sutton’s 2nd with Keiran setting up John Edgar for a long awaited goal.
Further shots from Nathan and Keiran were saved by the AFCS keeper. On 34 Dan, in attack mode, forced a corner but it was headed over.
With a trademark defensive lapse by Sutton, the defence were turned for a simple tap in for AFCS to level at 2-2. For the rest of the half chances were traded, the most notable being a long distance lob from Dan, and an AFCS shot hitting the bar.
At half time, the manager substituted James for John Edgar, Tom for the industrious Andy, and Mark K for Keiran.
James was soon in the thick of the action terrorising the AFCS defence, with the help of Nathan, now in his more familiar striking role.
5 minutes into the half, and for the best goal of the game, James threaded a pinpoint shot into the bottom right corner from 10 yards to make the score3-2.
Ben Singh came on for Michael in the 55th minute, and provided some steel in defence, with a few more attacks coming from AFCS.
Shots from Nathan, Tom and Dan all missed, but in the 60th minute Dan Yeoman headed in Mark K’s throw to make it 4-2.
AFCS were not beaten yet and continued to counter, going close from a corner. The excellent Dan came off for Andy in the 62nd minute, and Keiran came back on for Mark A soon after.
In the 68th, another soft goal was conceded to make it 3-4.
A decent shot from Andy went over before Nathan restored the 2 goal lead bundling the ball in following good work from Keiran. Shots from Tom, Andy and the energetic James all went close. Also a couple of chances from AFCS were made, but Phil in goal kept them out.
The irrepressible James Murray made it 6-3 with 6 minutes to go. It’s never over till it’s over and from a good attack from the tiring AFCS, Ben S headed what looked like a cert off the line.
What was to darken an otherwise superb day, with 3 minutes to go, James, who had played excellently, decided that he would make an attempt at un-powered flight and attempted to fly. Unfortunately, he crashed to Earth with a bang, damaging his shoulder in the process, and will be out for up to a month, which is a big blow for the team and him.
Michael came back on as sub for the remaining 3 minutes, and the game finished 6-3.
This was the the best performance by Sutton ever, and augurs well for the coming season.
There is more work to do, particularly on defence but this team is now showing some real promise to challenge for honours this season.
Report by Robert.
