Sutton New Town Athletic 1 vs 3 Melfort Eagles

HOW TO WIN DIRTY!

Well you’d have to ask Melfort Eagles about that because they won the game.

Sutton New Town Athletic 1 vs 3 Melfort Eagles - match report photo

It seems that if a team puts them under pressure, their tactic is to resort to a bit of good old fashioned GBH. More on that later.

The manager of Sutton O’Neills decided to try an unusual tactic with Dan Yeoman and Bas Mathis at centre midfield, with Andy Dodson and Alex Cordes at centre back. Although this tactic was quite successful the players were more comfortable to revert to the traditional line up after 20 minutes.

The game opened up quite evenly but in the 3rd minute an ominous run by Harry Simpson led to a gold plated chance but he missed with Melfort’s keeper and defence nowhere to be seen. The match advanced with Melfort making a few chances but none very close to the target.

At the other end Harry Simpson and Ben Donaldson were starting to terrorise Melfort’s defence, going close several times. It only looked a matter of time before they scored, and Melfort must have thought the same as their challenges were becoming more and more aggressive. They clearly had to do something about Harry and Ben, and they achieved their aim when on 30 minutes their no 9 viciously and blatantly elbowed Harry in the face, breaking his nose. The excellent ref Graham Rodber was on top of the situation and showed their player a red card.  However, Melfort had achieved their objective and had broken up Sutton’s strike partnership.

Nathan Ross came on for Harry and he picked up where Harry left off running the defence ragged, but both he and Ben D had left their shooting boots at home and failed to capitalise on several good chances. There were a couple of good attempts at the other end with Richard Long pulling off some good saves.

The best move of the half came from a long pass down the right channel from Dave Henderson to Ben D, who beat a couple of men to set up Nathan but the ball was cleared off the line by Melfort.

James Murray at the unusual position of left back was beginning to catch the eye with crisp, clean tackling and excellent positional play.

As the half drew to a close Sutton missed another two open goals to go in 0-0.

How on earth could Sutton not be 3 or 4 up?

The second half got under way with Sutton attacking and having another good chance missed. On  50 minutes Andy Dodson had to give in to an injury and was substituted by Phil Smith.

3 minutes later James Murray went down challenging a Melfort attack, and instead of playing to the whistle, Sutton stopped and allowed a goal to go in unchallenged.

The match continued with neither side making much impression until in the 58th minute when Nathan was fouled in the box. Sutton’s chance to get back into the game, but an uncharacteristically soft penalty by Ben D was easily saved by the keeper.

After a massive effort for 60 minutes some of the Sutton O’Neills players were noticeably stunned to still be behind.

Ben D received a cut hand in a penalty area battle and left the pitch for a few minutes but came back to continue.

The next attack from Melfort proved decisive. Sutton’s defence opened up and the Melfort striker showed everyone how to score a simple goal. 2-0  to Melfort’s 10 men!    How did that happen!

4 minutes later Sutton’s defence opened up again for another simple strike from Melfort. 3-0.

The game wasn’t over yet and Robin Garnett was brought on for the hard working Henderson, and the pack were shuffled a bit. Sutton were not out of this game and despite tired legs still managed to miss 3 more open goals.

In the 85th minute Nathan found his shooting boots and scored a magnificent solo goal, battling through 3 defenders to beat the keeper. 3-1.

Everyone was tired by now and the match drifted to the final whistle with no further scoring chances.

I spoke to the referee after the game as I usually do, and he said to me,

“ How did you lose that game, you missed at least 4 open goals?” “ I dunno I said”.

On the positive side, Sutton had some good performances. Although responsible for one goal and part responsible for another, Aaron Holmes responded like a man possessed and put in a huge performance in the last half an hour.

After a long time in the shadows, and working hard in training, Richard Long had a good game in goal saving some pretty difficult shots. Maybe he should have saved one, but his defence let him down for the other two. Other mentions go to John Edgar for a lung busting effort, Alex Cordes for his coolness and ball control, Ben D for everything he does, and finally, man of the match James Murray. In 4 full games, he has played in 4 different positions, and each time showed his prowess as a passer, tackler and reader of the game.

Finally, the hospital managed to repair Harry’s nose and he will still be a pretty boy, although he cannot play again this season. Melfort’s player and captain came over to apologise afterwards, but they have to ask themselves, how far do you go to win a game of amateur football?

Report by Robert