Dulwich Hamlet (1) 2 Bartley,14secs. Garland 55mins.

Sutton United (1) 3 Cleevely (o.g.) M. Watson, 79mins. Ugbah, 85mins.

Sutton made it to the second round of the league cup after a titanic clash with old rivals Dulwich Hamlet the outcome being by no means certain right up to the final whistle. After Saturday’s contender for worst game of the season it’s nice to report that this is certainly a contender for game of the season so far.

For United Nko Ekoku returned to the starting line up with Junior Haynes back on the bench. Otherwise it was the line up that manager John Rains seems to have decided is his best team at the moment.

If you missed the first minute you missed a goal. Dulwich played the ball forward straight from the kick off and Carl Bartley, Dulwich’s new signing from Croydon, turned inside the box and slotted the ball past Gareth Howells. The goal was officially timed at 14 seconds.

However this didn’t seem to disturb Sutton as within two minutes they should have been level. Nassim Akrour beating the offside trap to latch onto a through ball by Danny Brooker but ex Sutton favourite Les Cleevely made a fine one handed save. He also did well to push over a Mark Watson header from the resulting corner but ten minutes later he was guilty of gifting Sutton their equaliser.

There seemed little trouble as he received a back pass from a defender but he made a complete hash of a bouncing ball under threat from Mark Watson and failed to divert a wickedly spinning ball from going into his own net as he desperately back peddled.

Tony Chin came on for Dulwich after twenty three minutes as John Humphrey limped off and although Sutton had most of the play there were few clear cut chances in the rest of the half, Sutton failing to take advantage of quite a strong breeze.

The second half started fairly quietly but after ten minutes it erupted as Dulwich took the lead again. There seemed little danger as Peter Garland received the ball ten yards into Sutton’s half but he unleashed a volley that carried over a stranded Gareth Howells into the net.

Five minutes later there was an ugly brawl involving ten or twelve players as tempers flared after Nassim Akrour had been brought down. Incredibly, no action was taken. However soon after referee Allen began to brandish cards with gay abandon, Mark Garland for a tackle on John Ugbah as he was about to shoot, Steve Watson for what looked a fairly innocuous challenge and, to the great delight of the travelling fans Peter Garland, who had been back chatting the referee all evening finally pushed his luck too far.

This should not detract from what was an exciting second half with both sides having chances. Danny Brooker headed a corner onto his own post and Gareth Howells made two stunning saves one from a Richard Thompson shot and one from a Peter Garland free kick. With thirteen minutes to go Sutton took off Ekoku and brought on Junior Haynes and almost immediately Sutton were level. A good break from a position inside their own half saw Danny Brooker put Andy Salako away down the right and he picked out Mark Watson with a superb cross and the striker buried his header in the corner.

Nassim Akrour then headed against the bar from a Brooker free kick and within a minute an Andy Salako cross bounced off the top of the cross bar with Les Cleevely stranded. Extra time was beckoning but Sutton were not to be denied. John Ugbah made a driving run into the Dulwich half

played a one-two with Junior Haynes and hit a right foot shot beyond Cleevely into the corner. Unfortunately he was injured in scoring the goal and was replaced very soon after by Barry Blackman. Dulwich also replaced Lee Akers with Ben Hackett. There was still time for Peter Garland to force Gareth Howells into another fine save but despite there being nine minutes of injury time Sutton hung to progress to round two.

The Sutton line up was:

Gareth Howells, Danny Brooker, Andy Riley, Gwynne Berry, Richard Skelly, Steve Watson, John Ugbah (Blackman), Andy Salako, Nassim Akrour, Mark Watson and Nko Ekoku (Haynes).

Barry Laker was the unused Subs.

The Dulwich side was: -

Les Cleevely, John Humphrey (Chin), Tony Houghton, Lee Akers (Hackett), Russell Edwards, Mark Garland, Tim Griggs, Steve McKimm, Carl Bartley, Richard Thompson, Peter Garland.

Gary Hewitt was the unused sub.