F.A Trophy 5^th Round

2 Sutton United Vs Dover Athletic 1

Although Dover lost this game after a hard fought ninety five minutes of football their goalkeeper Paul Hyde lost it only twenty minutes into the game. Hyde began his usual antics in the Dover goal after Sammy Winston challenged him from Dave Harlow's cross, the keeper felt that Sammy challenged him illegally and proceeded to shout his abuse at the Sutton forward which the ref didn't take notice of. Ten minutes earlier Sutton took the lead with a soft goal when Newhouse put a weak cross into the area which some how found its way into the path of Sammy Winston who stretched to poke the ball home. After the goal Dover stepped up a gear to attack the Sutton goal , on the twenty fourth minute the ex Sutton player Vansittart placed his cross at the far post which made Howells come to collect, but the cross was to high and the ball went over to the impressive number seven Dave Clarke who only needed to head the ball down into the empty net ,but headed over the bar. A few minutes later Dover attacked again with another good cross into the area beating every Sutton defender but it also missed the Dover forwards chasing the equaliser. Five minutes before half time Dover won a free kick on the edge of the area, which they took quickly but the shot went well wide. Sutton's lead looked shaky and on the forty fourth minute, a great cross from Clarke was headed home by Neil Le Bihan. The keeper's goal celebration was the que for more abuse from the Sutton fans who felt that his bad temper was not something that should have been excepted by the ref. At half time both teams deserved to go in level.

The seconed half didn't match the entertainment level that the first half produced. Both teams only managed a few good attempts on goal. Dover had the better of the possession and continued to put their good crosses into the area but found no one to put the ball in the net. Although ex Sutton forward Joff Vansittart caused all sort of problems to the Sutton defence. Sutton took twenty minutes to break out of their own half . This lead to a long range shot from Danny Brooker which was spilt by the keeper but Hyde regained possession of the ball but he still couldn't regain his temper which five minutes later got him booked. Aiden Newhouse's late challenge on Norman led to a small confrontation between Dover and Sutton, which of course included the views of the keeper Hyde . The ref finally had enough of the hand bag style moaning from the keeper and booked him along with Watson and Newhouse. Ten minutes on Sutton had another long range shot from Harlow but his effort went wide. Dover continued to attack the Sutton goal but only had a few badly taken half chances were directed toward goal, which were easily taken by the defence. Nko Ekoku came on to replace Winston who battled on through most of the game with a bad knee and a dodgey arm. Nko took ten minutes to settle into to his position on the wing,but in the eighty eighth minute it was his fantastic cross into the area which beat the keeper, who stopped moaning for a few seconds, to flap at Nko's cross which was met by Aiden Newhouse who headed the ball back across the goal passed the keeper into the net to put Sutton into the quarter finals for the first time since 1994

Elation Beating Paul Hyde twice to get to the quarter finals

Deflation Lack of good chances created by both teams

Sutton United 1 Howells 2 Brooker 3 Skelly 4 Riley 5 Laker 6 Harlow 7 Dack 8 Newhouse

9 Winston (Ekoku) 10 Watson (Forrester) 11 Broderick

Dover Athletic 1 Hyde 2 Browne 3 Norman 4 Virgo 5 Shearer 6 Beard 7 Clarke 8 Wormull

9 Vansittart 10 Brown 11 Le Bihan