NEXT SEASON WILL BE DIFFERENT!
In fairly typical fashion, Sutton O’Neills started by taking the game to the opposition. The first corner of the match in the 5th minute went to Sutton, as did the next but nothing came of either. One of many threatening runs by Nathan ended with a foul but, again nothing came of the free kick. The Wombles had a shot go wide on 11, and 2 minutes later were given freedom of the pitch to score their first.
As usual Andy Dodson worked his socks off to keep Sutton in it despite being behind. Both sides were misfiring in front of goal but, again with Sutton in the ascendancy the Wombles scored their second.
Despite several chances, including a point blank header from Duncan Garnett the score remained at 2-0 until half time.
After 10 minutes of the second half, Sutton were unable to find a way through the Wombles defence, so the manager changed the formation and brought on Ben Donaldson for Robin Garnett. Sutton continued to press for a goal, although at the other end Richard Long had to make some difficult saves.
The breakthrough came on 61 when an excellent through ball by Phil Smith put Nathan Ross in to score Sutton’s first.
With 25 minutes to go, the manager Jon Baldwin made another tactical substitution and brought on Alex Cordes for Phil Smith.
Despite recently recovering from injury, Cordes immediately started to show his class and coolness, in the 73 minute attacking from the left flank and playing with the opposition’s defence before slotting home for Sutton’s second. A betting man would have backed Sutton to go on and win, but again, against the run of play they conspired to let the inferior opposition in to score a soft third goal.
The hard working Andy Dodson came off on 75 for Dave White.
Sutton pressed hard for a goal but the match ended with the Wombles winning 3-2.
The story of the season for Sutton has been to outplay almost every opposition, but concede soft goals.
This is a relatively new team and a lot of confidence can be drawn from this season, and with a little work on defence in the close season, this team will be challenging for honours next time.
