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HENDON 2 SUTTON UTD 1

Sutton chose a bad day to turn in arguably their poorest performance of the season on Saturday as it meant the end of any interest in the national cup competitions in the first week of November for the second season running. As last season, when they went out of the FA Cup at Bath and the FA Trophy at Weymouth, losing at Aldershot and Hendon is no great disgrace-both sides have good home records and not many teams will enjoy playing on Hendon's bumpy surface this season, but the nature of this defeat was disappointing. U's will point with some justification to referee Steve Tincknell's failure to punish, or perhaps see, the push on Chris Boothe that would have given them a penalty when the game was goalless, and could also claim that the official was less than generous with his time allowance at the end of each half, but had it not been for Chuck Martini's goalkeeping they would have been beaten by a distance by the time Paul Honey scored in the last minute with their first on target shot of the game. Hendon could have had the game sewn up inside ten minutes, but Martini saved well from Phil Ruggles and Michael Woolner, who both found space on the right, and then when Gwynne Berry was beaten by a horrible bounce Eugene Ofori burst clear, but again Martini was equal to the shot in a one-on-one situation. Having survived the early pressure Sutton competed well for the rest of the half without creating any real threat, but when Boothe was shoved over after 24 minutes as a cross came in from the right they were aghast at the referee's decision to wave play on. As it was they seemed set to reach half time level, with the prospect of showing more attacking flair playing down the hill after the break, but then Ryan Palmer did well to cut out a crossfield pass, only to misdirect his intercepting volley across the face of his own penalty area to Davis Haule, who ran at the defence, swopped passes with Ofori, and shot low inside the far post. Right on half time U's almost equalised in bizarre circumstances when Dave Hook had to tip over a badly directed cross from Ryan Palmer, and with good attacking football on this pitch looking much easier going down the hill there was still reason to think that U's could at the very least force a replay, which made their anaemic second half showing all the more disappointing. It was always Hendon who looked likeliest to score, and Martini made two more fine saves, the first when Bubb cut in from the left and hit a fierce 25 yard effort, the second from Paul Towler's header from a free kick 18 minutes from the end. By then Michael Mison had pushed in to midfield and Rob Haworth was on in place of Matt Fowler, but it made no great difference as U's still failed to trouble Hook. Still only a goal up, though, Hendon will have been mindful of U's recent habit of scoring in the 90th minute at Claremont Road and so their relief was considerable when, with two minutes left, substitute Ross Pickett was sent clear by a quickly played pass. Martini came to meet him and saved the first effort, albeit outside his penalty area, but he was spared what would surely have been a red card as Pickett knocked the rebound past him and forced it over the line despite Ryan Palmer's challenge. That relief was well founded, because Sutton immediately pulled a goal back, Honey placing the ball in the corner of the net with great deliberation after Danny Brooker's free kick had fallen to him beyond the far post, but the referee's final whistle the moment Hendon had restarted dashed any hopes of an unlikely comeback.

Hendon: Hook, Woolner, Clarke, Cooper, Towler, Street(Pickett 36), Ofori, Bates, Haule, Ruggles, Bubb(Burgess 87). Subs n/u Sappleton, Ngopwani, Shirley.

Sutton: Martini, R Palmer, J Palmer, Mison, Brooker, Honey, Berry, Boothe, Fowler(Haworth 68), Timothy, Akuamoah. Subs n/u Arkwright, Corbett, Murray, Dunn.

Referee: S Tincknell Attendance: 287

SUTTON UTD RES 4 OXFORD CITY RES 0

Defender Stuart Hammonds began his comeback from injury in Saturday's comfortable Suburban League win at Gander Green Lane. Hammonds, out since breaking his leg in January, played 73 minutes and set up U's first goal after just three minutes when his cross was chested down by Aaron Smith for Darren Delandro to fire home. Hammonds almost scored early in the second half, volleying Nick Williams' free kick just wide, but despite having to use regular defender Martin Dunne in goal for the whole game Sutton always had the look of easy winners and second half goals from Smith, Barry Seal and Danny Hastick meant that the scoreline reflected that impression.

Sutton: Dunne, Williams(Heuston), Dray, Hammonds( Loucas), Beale, Gonsalves, Moger, Smith, Seal(Hastick), Morris, Delandro.

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CARDIFF CITY YTH 1 SUTTON UTD YTH 2

Sutton's youth team continued their FA Youth Cup exploits on Thursday when they recorded their second away victory against Football League opposition in the space of eight days, and reached the third round of the competition, where they will be joined by the country's top clubs. After having to defend early on Sutton stunned their Welsh hosts with two goals in the space of seven first half minutes to take firm control of the tie. First Dean Hamlin's cross diverted off a defender and eventually fell for Kenny Gundlach to fire home, and then captain Graham Tydeman collected the ball in midfield and thumped an unstoppable shot from all of 30 yards in to the roof of the net. Cardiff pulled a goal back following a corner on the stroke of half time, setting themselves up to put U's under real pressure in the second half, but after Nick Bailey had gone close to making it 3-1 U's defended superbly. Bailey cleared a shot off the line following a corner, and after Cardiff had put three good chances wide, two headers following free kicks and the other hit in to the side netting, Sam Hewitt repeated Bailey's efforts by being in the right place to keep out a firm shot which looked set to force extra time. Sutton's victory was their fifth in the competition this season, all achieved away from home, and they must travel again in the third round. They have missed out on a game against the likes of Manchester United or Liverpool, and must visit Kidderminster in a game to be played by December 8th.

Sutton: Smith, Fontana, Marshall, Scannell(Hamlin), Drew, Hewitt, Bailey, Tydeman, Bridgeman(Gilbert), Imms(Gardner), Gundlach.