SPORTING CRABS v SUTTON NEW TOWN ATHLETIC
8 3
Sutton were looking to avenge last week’s defeat by Crabs, and started brightly enough. Neither side produced much in the opening exchanges, with Sutton unable to get many shots off despite Keiran and James giving Crabs the run around. At the other end Crabs had chances but their shooting was wayward. In the 11th minute stand in goalkeeper Dan Yeoman made a great save with the Crabs attacker being knocked out from the ball hitting his face.
In the 15th minute James got the ball 25 yards out on the right wing and hit a beautifully flighted lob over Crabs keeper for 1-0.
The match continued with Crabs having a slight territorial advantage, but with James and Keiran for Sutton looking more dangerous. In the 28th minute Andy was surprisingly booked for a strong but clean tackle. Up to this point the ref had had a good game, but from this decision onwards made several poor calls. The half continued with few good chances, although John Edgar could have scored from a header, and Crabs had a couple of chances cleared by Ben and Luke as well as a couple of good saves from Dan.
The half ended at 1-0 Sutton.
Perhaps the most important turning point of the game was that the influential Alex was unable to continue due to a pulled hamstring. For the second half Sutton had to shuffle the defence
bringing on Conor for Alex. Sutton’s defence was looking shaky and after a couple of attacks Crabs got the equaliser in the 50th minute. Within a minute Sutton were back in the lead with Keiran scoring from James’s assist.
Crabs were targetting Andy and for one of the few good decisions awarded Sutton a free kick which Keiran took and hit the wall.
Dan made another good save from a throw, and following that another attacking throw from Crabs went straight in without touching anybody and the ref correctly disallowed it.
In the 58th minute following a Sutton attack, Crabs countered scored the equaliser with the Sutton defence awol.
Dan made yet another strong save to keep the score level.
In the next minute, a goalmouth mix up allowed Crabs in for their 3rd.
Yet another good save from Dan kept Sutton in it. In the 64th minute the bruised Andy came off for Nathan.
In the following minute a dangerously high tackle in the area on Keiran led to a Sutton penalty, and captain Bas stepped up to coolly score the spot kick. 3-3.
Yet another mix up in Sutton‘s defence led to Crabs getting the lead back in the 68th. In a tactical change Phil Smith came on for Michael in the 72nd. The match continued with Crabs controlling midfield and Sutton’s defence looking shaky, although Sutton had a couple of half chances from Keiran and Nathan.
In the 80th minute, Sutton’s defence went into meltdown and conceded 3 goals in 6 minutes with some terrible defending. Sutton had another couple of chances with a shot from Phil saved, and a Bas chance going wide.
To add insult to injury, Sutton conceded a penalty in the 90th minute which Crabs converted. The game finished at 8-3.
This was a shocking end to a game which Sutton had unbelievably led up to the 58th minute!
The only defender coming out of the game with any credit was Dan Yeoman. The team still needs much work on defence, and the upcoming Cup game on Sunday may provide a welcome opportunity to get back on track.
Report by Robert
