Ryman Premier Division
2 Sutton United v Basingstoke Town 1
By David Parker
Sutton played some of their best attacking football of the season as they ran out rightful winners of today's game, the only bad thing about this performance was that we weren't able to convert more of our chances and increase the score line.
In the first half Sutton went a goal down in the opening ten minutes when Gorman found space between the defenders and made time for a good low shot which found its way past Tommy Dunn in the United goal. The rest of the game went in Sutton's favour with Basingstoke barely getting another chance to score. United almost pulled level five minutes later when Paul Wingfield's cross was cleared as far as Paul Honey whose looping shot didn't dip enough and dropped just behind the goal. Sutton's best chance for an equaliser came after twenty minutes when Gonsalves put Akuamoah thru on goal. Akuamoah took the ball round the keeper but made the angle too tight and dragged his shot wide of the target. Five minutes later Paul Honey played a great though ball to Rob Haworth who beat the defender for pace and slipped the ball under the keeper only to see the ball go wide of the goal. Ten minutes before half time Haworth played the ball thru to Akuamoah who was held back by the last defender. The player was only booked and the free kick was deflected wide by the wall. Sutton were unlucky not to have gone into the break at least level after some good play in the first half.
With in a minute of the restart Sutton broke thru the Basingstoke defence when Akuamoah played the ball to Wingfield whose shot was blocked by the keeper. Scott Corbett tried to convert the rebound with a bicycle kick but failed the make contact. Wingfield's second shot was cleared off the line but Wingfield was first to react to the rebound and fired his shot into the goal. Minutes later Sutton could have gone into the lead when Corbett played the ball into the path of Paul Honey who beat off the challenge of the Basingstoke defence but shot wide. On the half hour mark a good one-two between Corbett and Haworth saw Corbett go one on one but again the ball crept wide. Basingstoke could have taken advantage over Suttons finishing when a ball from the left found Stuart Girdler who hit a good low shot that was well saved by Dunn. With five minutes left Sutton were throwing every thing at the goal trying to force an opening. It was Honey's ball over the top of defence that found the opening and allowed Corbett to run on and slot the ball past the keeper and into the net to give Sutton a well deserved win and extend their unbeaten league record to nine games.
SUTTON UTD 2 BASINGSTOKE T 1
For the second consecutive Saturday at Gander Green Lane Sutton turned a half time deficit in to victory, but whereas against Maidenhead the problem had been creating clear cut chances, this time it was the failure to convert those chances that kept U's fans on the edges of their seats until Scott Corbett finally achieved the double of beating visiting keeper Scott Tarr, and getting his shot on target, with six minutes left. Although they were slowly out of the blocks, there can be little other criticism of U's performance as they dominated the last three quarters of the game, and even Tommy Dunn, virtually unemployed after the first 15 minutes, played a key role with a brilliant, and crucial, save ten minutes from time. U's almost paid heavily for that sluggish start on an unpredictable surface that had dried out in the early spring sunshine and made any first time football an ambitious project. Only six minutes had gone when Toby Sumner's long throw eluded everyone except Jason Eaton, who volleyed in from beyond the far post, and four minutes later Efon Elad was only just wide from 20 yards. Then Eddie Akuamoah was put clear by Mike Mison's headed clearance, rounded Tarr but pulled his shot across the face of goal, and the tone was set for the afternoon. In the next five minutes Corbett had a shot saved and Rob Haworth twice went close, and by the interval U's could have had three penalties and might have been playing against ten men. The penalty claims became more convincing with each one, and if Akuamoah was unlucky not to be awarded a spot kick when he seemed to be tripped off the ball as a cross came in from the right, it was nothing compared to the nailed-on certainty that he was denied seven minutes before half time when neither referee Andy Harvey, or even more inexplicably his assistant Steve Waterson, reacted as Jason Bristow wrestled him to the ground inside the area. Akuamoah was also involved in the incident that saw Stuart Girdler lucky only to receive a yellow card when he hauled U's striker back, as it was hard to see who, other than 'keeper Tarr, stood between Akuamoah and the goal. The subsequent booking of Eaton for a challenge on Mison seemed something of a make-up decision, but if U's felt any major sense of injustice it was eased inside the first 30 seconds of the second half. Even this wasn't straightforward, as Corbett's persistence set up Phil Wingfield for a low shot which cannoned in to the air off Tarr's legs. In the ensuing scramble Corbett's acrobatic effort hit a defender and Wingfield's shot was somehow blocked by Tarr, possibly from behind the line, but any arguments were ended as Wingfield put his third shot through the debris from close range. U's should have been ahead soon afterwards, as Paul Honey shot wide after battling through two challenges, and then missed with a close range volley after finding Akuamoah on the right and keeping going to meet the cross at the near post. Haworth twice shot weakly when well placed, and when, with 16 minutes left, a fine move ended with Corbett exchanging passes with Haworth but then shooting agonisingly wide, it seemed as though the winner would never come. But for Dunn it could have been worse, as ten minutes from time substitute Tindi Christie met Ray Spence's cross early with a crisp low volley that Dunn managed to get down to and push away. Considering his earlier inactivity on an increasingly chilly afternoon it was a superb effort, and grew in importance when, four minutes later, Corbett controlled Wingfield's chip on his chest to beat the last defender and stabbed the ball past Tarr and this time inside the post to scenes of great rejoicing.
Sutton: Dunn, R Palmer, Gonsalves, Mison, Timothy, Honey, Wingfield, Corbett, Hammonds, Haworth, Akuamoah. Subs n/u Fowler, Gray, Seal.
Basingstoke: Tarr, Herbert, Sumner(Christie 50), Bristow, Wilkinson, Lisk, Elad, Girdler, Eaton, Gorman(Spence 74), Hayfield. Sub n/u Forbes
Referee: Andy Harvey Attendance 557