report by Tony Dolbear
For the second time in three home games Sutton came out on top in an exciting five goal clash at Gander Green Lane on Saturday to move in to the Ryman League's top four. This wasn't quite a comeback to match the victory against Chesham but the end was no less thrilling as U's, having seen Aylesbury's Kesie Ibe grab an equaliser four minutes from time that seemed set to deny them the victory they deserved, went straight to the other end and grabbed back the points thanks to a superb goal from Nick Bailey, his first for the club in senior competition. Having shrugged off the long term loss of Danny Hodges to record such a good win at Purfleet on Tuesday U's had to contend as well on Saturday with the absence of Mark Watson, as influential at one end of the pitch as Hodges is at the other, but they created the first chance of note in the 19th minute when Danny Bolt created space for himself inside the penalty area but then pulled his shot wide of the post. Aylesbury too had to contend with adversity as they had to make two substitutions inside the first 25 minutes, but they achieved the breakthrough as they cut through U's defence with ease, Ibe running from halfway and putting Chris Bangura through for a comfortable finish. U's responded superbly and were level within three minutes as Matt Fowler hooked back a cross from the byline that Matt Hanlan at full stretch could only divert high back towards the edge of the penalty area, but Scott Corbett met the falling ball with a good volley that beat Gary McCann. The former Sutton keeper kept his team level a minute later with a superb close range save after Hanlan met Darren Beale's cross with a thumping header, and as U's finished the half strongly Aylesbury substitute Scott Honeyball was booked following a clash with Bolt, whose annoyance with the incident led to his own yellow card for dissent two minutes later. Bolt has other ways of gaining revenge, though, and five minutes later wasn't a good time for Aylesbury to concede a free kick within 35 yards of goal. It wasn't quite in the class of his effort against Ford, but it was on target and with McCann reacting late the ball rattled in to the bottom corner of the net. With their noses in front U's ought to have gone on to sew things up as they had much more of the game than their visitors, whose sole contributions to the early stages of the second half were the fouls that earned bookings for Mark Burgess and Adam Campion. The goals wouldn't come, though, as Bolt saw a speculative effort from the left hand touchline drift just wide after McCann had come outside his area to dive at Fowler's feet, Fowler flashed a shot across the face of goal and had another volley saved, and Ryan Palmer volleyed just over from a Bolt corner. Aylesbury realised they were still in the game, and with Pape saving well from Gareth Risbridger's header and Ibe blazing over from inside the penalty area their equaliser, when it came, was on the cards. U's failed to clear a free kick controversially awarded against Beale, and Ibe made amends for his earlier miss with a powerful shot. It wasn't enough, though, as within a minute Bailey collected the ball on the left, drifted in past a couple of challenges, and drilled a low shot from 20 yards in to the bottom corner of McCann's net amid wild celebrations. Those celebrations were almost costly, as U's were still congratulating themselves when Aylesbury restarted, but from the quick attack Risbridger headed over the bar and Matt Gray's late booking for dissent could not put a dampener on a memorable victory. Sutton: Pape, Beale, Hollands, Palmer, Ottley, Bailey, Bolt(Honey 88), Corbett, Fowler, Hanlan(Gray 75), Gonsalves. Subs n/u Timothy Aylesbury: McCann, Gordon(Burgess 20), Houghton(Honeyball 25), Sloma, Okikiolu, Campion, Williams, Risbridger, Bangura, Ibe, Baker(Maskell 51). Subs n/u Joe, Lovell Referee: C Rolfe Attendance 588