Ryman Premier League

3 Sutton United v Harrow Borough 3

Sutton clawed a deserved draw in injury time to prevent another bad result. United played most of the game with determination to win, which they have failed to show in recent games.

Sutton got off to a great start when Danny Bolt saw his free kick saved and rebound back to him. Bolt acted quickly to volley the ball into to the top right corner well past the keeper. The lead was almost lost a minute later when Pat Gavin stole in at the back of the defence and went one on one with Howells but Gavin placed his shot wide. The lead was lost two minutes later when the Sutton defence stopped waiting for the offside flag but the linesman didn’t flag which allowed Gavin enough time to square the ball back to Howe who had an easy finish for the equaliser. Both teams fought equally for the next twenty-five minutes with few chances falling to either side until the thirty-third minute when Bolt played a great ball over the top to Rob Haworth who controlled the ball well and ran into the area before trying to slip the ball under the keeper unfortunately Hook was able to get enough of the ball to divert the shot wide. Two minutes later Leon Woodruffe was able to skip easily around Ryan Palmer and flicked the ball over the on coming Howells before nodding the ball over the line to put Harrow two goals up. Woodruffe could have added to the lead on forty-one minutes when he found himself in enough time and space to get a good shot at goal, which was well saved by Howells. The resulting corner was cleared only as far as Andrew Rose who struck a wonderful shot, which was curling and dipping in on the goal but Howells pulled off another brilliant save.

Sutton came out in the second half more determined to win and almost equalised straight away when Harlow played Haworth into the area. Haworth beat two defenders before being brought down in the area but no penalty was given. Two minutes later Bolt’s quickly played ball to Nko Ekoku allowed Ekoku to run to the edge of the pitch and swing in a good cross which was too high for Haworth but Paul Honey managed to get a header on target and beat Hook for his first senior Sutton goal. Harrow could have equalled it five minutes later when Woodruffe beat Howard for pace and took a shot on goal and again Howells was there to save. On fifty-six minutes Sutton came close to taking the lead when Harlow put in an excellent ball into the area for Rob Haworth to dive forward and head the ball past Hook but the shot rebounded off the post. Harlow might have put Sutton in front when he ran into the area with enough space to get away a good shot unfortunately he scuffed his shot which came close to being stabbed home by both Haworth and Whitmarsh but the ball was just an inch too far away. A Pat Gavin free kick was curling into the net but another fine save by Howells kept the scores equal. On seventy-five minutes Danny Bolt had three attempts to put United ahead after being put thru by Whitmarsh. Bolts first two shots were saved at close range by Hook; Bolt’s third attempt was chipped over the keeper but cleared off the line by a Harrow defender. A minute later Whitmarsh saw his diving header cannon back off the post after a good cross by Nko. Ten minutes from time a cross from the left fell to the unmarked Gavin whose header was pushed wide by Howells. The corner was swung in and Gavin again unmarked this time saw his header go in to put Harrow three-two up. With four minutes of injury time played Danny Bolt was able to cross the ball into the area, which looked to be going to Haworth at the near post so the Harrow defenders close in on Haworth. The cross however was too high for Haworth and fell to the now unmarked Matt Gray to head past Hook. Sutton where celebrating escaping from there tenth defeat of the year but the Harrow bench wanted to know why so much injury time was given. Sutton play Aldershot on Tuesday night hoping to carry on with the way they played.

Elation Final minute equaliser

Good team performance

Good solo performances by Howells, Haworth and Bolt

Deflation Some bad defending allowing Harrow to score

The state of the pitch didn’t allow for good passing football