2nd September 1997 Saturday's improvement was carried on tonight
at Earlsmead where two second half goals were enough to take Sutton back to the top of the
table. Harrow fresh from a victory at Dagenham on Saturday must have had high hopes of
winning this one too but, apart from one chance that fell to Mark Xavier just before half
time when perhaps he should of scored with a header, they never looked like breaking down
a solid looking Sutton defence which once again featured Gwynne Berry, Paul Clark and Sean
Daly at its heart. Indeed it was the Harrow defence which looked nervy early on and a mix
up between goal keeper, Andrew Quy and one of the back four nearly let in Matt Hanlon, who
had a fine game, for the opener. After he blocked the initial clearance the ball fell to
Joff Vansittart who unselfishly crossed the ball for Hanlon to head just over. However
defences dominated in general, and the only other real chance of the half came from a
corner just before half time when Andy Salako just failed to get a touch inside the six
yard box to a flick on from a corner on the right hand side. Sutton came out for the
second half playing down the slope and were in control right from the start and the only
surprise was that it took until the 53rd minute for them to open the scoring. A good
hanging cross from the right hand side being met by Joff Vansittart who rose above the
home keeper to head into an unguarded net. The second was soon to follow and this time
came down the left side as the result of another cross which was flicked on deceiving the
oncoming goalkeeper, the ball reaching the far post where Andy Salako cleverly controlled
it and hit a shot just inside the post . As Harrow became more ragged there were bookings
for Andy Alexander and Kenny Webster, his the most important, for a poor challenge on
David Everitt, which left him limping and resulted in him being substituted four minutes
from time by John Ugbah. Dominic Feltham and Dave Pattullo were the other Sutton
substitutes not used on the night. The full line up was Cleevely, Brooker, Daly, Berry,
Everitt, Clark, Dack, Watson, Vansittart, Hanlon and Salako. Newly promoted Chesham lost
for the first time tonight 2-0 at Basingstoke and it was in fact enough to drop them into
third place behind Sutton and Kingstonian who thumped St. Alban's 3-0 away from home.
Don't forget that due to the event's of last weekend, Sutton's next game is on Sunday at
3pm at home to Hendon. There was a very well observed minute's silence before tonight's
game.