Report by Tony Dolbear

On a miserable night seemingly borrowed from mid winter, Sutton slumped to a disappointing defeat at Earlsmead on Tuesday against a Harrow side desperate for points to stay out of the relegation zone. Turning round level at half time, and with the wind, rain and snow on their backs for the second half, Sutton would have expected to go on and win, but a well taken goal by Fabio Valenti early in the second half rocked them back, and although at times it seemed inevitable that U's would pull things round they couldn't put the ball in the net and paid the penalty. Sutton played well enough in the first half, but failed to turn that in to clear chances and went behind in the 31^st minute in freakish circumstances after Harrow's first serious attack of the game. A corner was cleared to Jon-Barrie Bates on the right, and his cross seemed to pose little threat to Gareth Howells, back in the Sutton goal after missing five games through injury. Seeming to be in two minds as to whether the ball was on target or heading for the side netting, Howells got in to a tangle by the near post and the ball ended up behind him in to the net. For a moment it seemed as though it might have gone through a hole in the side netting, but referee Mike Tingey and his assistant were quite happy that it was a fair goal. A strong run from ex-Whyteleafe striker Paul Scott might have produced a second Harrow goal but good defending forced him to shoot wide, and U's levelled four minutes before the break when Danny Bolt cut in from the right and hit a low shot that was on target even before Christian Hyslop's deflection took it in to the net, and installed him as the Premier Division's joint leading league scorer. Chris Boothe sent a long range effort just wide before the break, and early in the second half Bolt seemed intent on edging ahead of Aldershot's Gary Abbott with two low 20 yard shots which Hook saved none too convincingly but without the Sutton attack following in closely enough to punish him. Instead it was Harrow who went back in front as Valenti's superb first touch brought a high ball under control and took him past the covering defender, and he drilled a shot past Howells for his first goal since joining Harrow from Edgware. Harrow's response, perhaps surprisingly, was immediately to make two substitutions, while Sutton opted to keep with the starting eleven but they should soon have been level. Just after the hour mark Paul Whitmarsh met Bolt's corner with a crisp volley which seemed on its way in until hitting Rob Haworth in the six yard area, and three minutes later a good left wing move involving Richard Horner and Dante Alighieri ended with Nko Ekoku crossing and Whitmarsh connecting with a good diving header. Hook managed to scramble the ball away, and Sutton were looking to the assistant referee as the ball must have been desperately close to crossing the line, but as the rebound came out Whitmarsh had the chance to settle all arguments, only to fire over an open goal from six yards. It was a scarcely believable miss, and his night got no better as he miskicked after Haworth had nodded on a cross from the left. At the other end Howells saved a low shot from Derek Payne, and then held a fierce Pat Gavin header from a corner, but these were isolated moments in a half of mainly one way traffic. The goal didn't come, though, and the final frustration came in the last seconds as Ekoku's pace took him in to the penalty area and he fired in a low cross that somehow eluded about three team mates and rolled harmlessly out for a goal kick.

Harrow: Hook, Rose, Everitt, Lyons(Fontanelle 72), Hyslop, Walsh, Payne, Bates(Lewis 56), Gavin, Valenti, Scott(Hunter 60).

Sutton: Howells, Alighieri, Horner, Boothe, Palmer, Harlow, Bolt, Baker, Whitmarsh, Haworth, Ekoku. Sub n/u Gray, McCormack, Howard.

Referee: M Tingey                                                                    Attendance: 180