Ryman Premier Division

 23/12/2000

1 Sutton United v Heybridge 2

A poor performance all round from both teams made for a dull top of the table encounter. Both teams were unable to get out of first gear with only a handful of chances fell each side. The first real chance of the game fell to Sutton in the twentieth minute when a good Danny Bolt cross land near Chris Boothe who lobbed the ball over the keeper but the shot rebounded off the bar. Minutes later Danny Brooker was able to get the ball to Bolt who hit another good cross which again found Boothe but he couldn’t keep his header down. On the half-hour mark United showed poor defending when they allowed a Heybridge player to walk through and slot the ball past Howells.

In the second half Sutton started looking like they could go on to win the game although this proved only to be a short lived phase. It was in this spell that Sutton were able to get an equaliser. The goal came from some good work on the wing from Brooker who put in a good cross, which the keeper spilt in front of Harlow. Dave Harlow then laid the ball back for Bolt to hit a low powerful shot into the back of the net. Sutton then pushed forward more with both Thompson and Boothe striking only inches wide. With twenty-two minutes left Sutton seemed to take their foot off the pedal. Almost instantly Heybridge hit United on the counter attack with Simon Parker rounding Gareth Howells but he could only hit the side netting. Two minutes later Heybridge went around Howells again but this time Howells was able to recover and stop the shot. With only ten minutes left Heybridge won the game with Simon Parker scoring with a header from a corner. Sutton players and fans will hope the performance gets better for the boxing day game with Carshalton.