SUTTON UTD 0 GRAVESEND & N 1

Sutton may narrowly have failed to disrupt Gravesend's championship challenge on Saturday, but there was enough in their performance to give their supporters encouragement, and it would not have been an injustice if a spirited second half effort had been rewarded with an equaliser. Most disappointing was the fact that the decisive goal was a soft one arising from a misunderstanding between Mike Mison and goalkeeper Tommy Dunn, who seemed uncertain as to who should deal with a low cross from the left and allowed Che Stadhart to nip in and roll the ball past Dunn and in to the empty net. Sutton wouldn't have chosen to go in to this game without two of their best players this season, but Eddie Akuamoah's back spasm and a recurrence of Dave Timothy's injury left them in that situation, and a calf strain ended Phil Wingfield's involvement after 35 minutes. That was five minutes after the goal, which had come just as Sutton were gaining a foothold in the game. They could have been down inside two minutes when Nick Burton miscued a chance wide as U's made a mess of clearing a corner, and again when Stadhart at full stretch shot wide from a low Jimmy Jackson cross, but it took a crucial block to keep out a Mison shot in the 18th minute after Matt Fowler had nipped in behind the defence following a free kick. The goal came exactly on the half hour, Jackson's quick break down the left coming after U's free kick had been cleared, and his cross causing the confusion that allowed Stadhart to score. Just briefly U's could have been over-run, but the arrival of Nick Bailey for Wingfield saw U's regroup and begin to give their high flying opponents a real battle. Bailey was extremely impressive in his league debut, and his first involvement saw him run at the defence and win a corner with a deflected shot. With another of U's teenagers, Matt Gray, bringing the best out of goalkeeper Jamie Turner with two testing crosses that he had to hold at full stretch there was a feeling that U's could get back in the game and for most of the second half there was nothing between the teams. Stadhart drifted a lob just over from 25 yards, although a goal would have been harsh on U's as referee Norman Appleby had impeded Scott Corbett in his attempt to intercept, but at the other end another fabulous cross from Gray somehow eluded three players at the far post, and then when Turner failed to make good contact as he went to punch away Corbett's free kick, Fowler's shot was blocked. Dunn did have to make one good save from a Craig Wilkins header after Stuart Hammonds had headed Jackson's centre across his own goal, but the busier defence was Gravesend's and it took two good interventions by the outstanding Francis Duku to keep them in front, first after Fowler had been put through and then in the last minute when Paul Honey's pass seemed to have created a chance for Corbett.

Sutton: Dunn, R Palmer, Gonsalves, Mison, Hammonds, Honey, Wingfield(Bailey 35), Corbett, Fowler, Haworth, Gray. Subs n/u Howard, Timothy.

Gravesend: Turner, Lee, Skinner, McKimm, Burton, Duku, Smith, Owen, Wilkins(Parker 72), Stadhart, Jackson. Subs n/u Williams , Barnett

Referee: N Appleby Attendance 689