Sutton can think themselves unlucky not to have got at least a point out of this game. For the first 10 minutes of the game they tore into Hayes and could have been 2 -0 up. The first chance falling to Dave Harlow in the box, whose dragged shot went just wide. The second opportunity was following a glorious through ball from Dave Harlow that left Mark Watson bearing down on goal , with defenders closing in on him He was faced with the decision of whether to square the ball to Sammy Winston or have a go himself. He , like all good strikers would, opted for the latter and the shot went agonisingly close to the Hayes upright. Hayes then made either a tactical substitution , or more likely, a substitution for a player who was not fully fit. Whichever it was , it did the trick and Hayes plugged the gaps that Sutton had been exploiting, this gave them confidence to push forward and Howells was again at his best for two fine saves. After 26 minutes Sutton should have made the break through. If you were a Sutton supporter you would have seen Sammy Winston power through into the Hayes penalty area , beat the defender for pace only to be bundled over for a penalty. If you were a Hayes supporter you would have seen a minimal , and innocuous contact between defender and attacker. Fortunately for Sutton the referee Mr Sing , saw it in Sutton's favour, unfortunately for Sutton Mark Watson , who took the penalty, must have sub consciously agreed with the home fans, as his well struck low kick cannoned off the base of the post. Both teams went in for the half time interval content with the 0-0 scoreline.
The second half saw Hayes take the lead. A fine cross from the left wing found leading scorer Charles ahead of the defence and able to slot home the ball giving Howells no chance. From then on it was mainly Sutton although the pressure was not often converted to real chances. Sammy Winston went off and Forrester came on . Harford , who had had a great game deputising for the injured Gwynne Berry in the middle of the defence, was pushed into midfield. Scot Forrester, on as a sub, almost levelled the scores after the obligatory boxing day pantomime mix up between keeper and defender allowed the youngster a sniff of goal. Again the ball rolled wide of the upright. Sutton threw everything forward for the final minutes but it was to late.
HOWELLS,RILEY,SKELLY,SEARS,,LAKER,HARLOW,DACK,HARFORD,WINSTON,WATSON, EKOKO SUBS: ROWLAND,FORRESTER,HUTCHINSON,BAKER