report by Tony Dolbear

Going in to the last 20 minutes of Tuesday's Ryman League encounter at Gander Green Lane, if Sutton had been offered a point from the game they would have gladly taken it. Struggling for any momentum and trailing to the softest of goals, they seemed on course for a disappointing end to their run of three consecutive victories. Then came a double substitution, with Matt Hanlan and Danny Bolt making way for Paul Honey and Dave Timothy, and Matt Gray pushed up front, and the injection of fresh legs provided the impetus for U's to claim the unlikeliest of victories. The game had a bizarre start as Bishops Stortford, despite the fact that they have been visiting Sutton off and on for 30 years, turned up with an all yellow kit and could only avoid a clash by borrowing U's change strip of green and white. They then proceeded to frustrate U's with a hard working performance that prevented U's playmakers creating the chances that had come in the previous games. It made for an uninspiring first half, but U's compounded their own discomfort by gifting the visitors a 21st minute lead in the first piece of goalmouth activity at either end. A high ball hoisted in from the left touchline shouldn't have inconvenienced Andy Pape unduly, but under pressure from Russell Williamson he failed to hold on and the ball ran loose to Trevor Paul, whose shot beat the covering defenders. Eight minutes later it could have been 2-0, Pape's punch from a left wing corner being volleyed back by Williamson but Lewis Gonsalves this time deflecting the ball to safety. Sutton found it impossible to keep the ball for long enough to pose any real threat, but either side of half time Bolt did show what he could do if he escaped the attentions of his markers, lifting a superb pass over the defence for Gary, whose shot was well saved by Micy Desborough, and then early in the second half playing through another fine pass to free Hanlan, deputising for the injured Mark Watson. Again, though, the shot that resulted failed to beat Desborough. That it was generally not Bolt's night, though, was underlined when he had a free kick charged down, and apart from a Nick Bailey volley that went just wide it seemed more likely that the visitors would increase their lead and secure their first away league win since August 20th. Freddie Hyatt curled a shot just wide, Paul Fewings had a left footed effort clawed away by Pape and then saw a close range header blocked, and referee Colin Rolfe had a very long look at a challenge by Pape on Rob French before waving away Stortford's penalty claims. With 16 minutes to go came the changes, and within a minute Honey had seized on a half cleared corner to put Matt Fowler through to shoot against the legs of the keeper. The equaliser soon came, though, created by Gray with some neat skill and a superb cross from the left which was met by Bailey with a header that found a way between Desborough and his post. Having combined for the winner on Saturday and now responsible for a goal here, the former youth team colleagues struck again five minutes later, Bailey this time cutting through the visiting defence in a superb run from the halfway line that for a moment promised a sensational individual goal. Instead he teed up Gray who fired in a thumping shot from 20 yards that Desborough could only turn aside, and Fowler followed in to score his first goal since October 5th to the delight of the U's fans who have warmed to his non stop efforts even when things haven't been going for him in front of goal. Shell-shocked, and not quite able to believe they were losing a game of which they had had reasonable control ten minutes earlier, Stortford were unable to recover and U's moved up to 5th place in the Premier Division table.

Sutton: Pape, Gray, Hollands(Brett H-T), Palmer, Brooker, Bailey, Bolt(Honey 74), Corbett, Fowler, Hanlan(Timothy 74), Gonsalves. Subs n/u D Beale

B Stortford: Desborough, Dorrian, Gilim, Taylor, Keepence, Southam, Hyatt, French, Fewings(Hayes 74), Paul, Williamson. Subs n/u Langer, Wall, O Beale, O'Neill
Referee: C Rolfe Attendance 419