Sutton’s pre-season programme got off to an entertaining and encouraging start as they proved too strong for a youthful Crystal Palace side at Gander Green Lane on Wednesday. There were promising performances from all the new faces in the U’s line-up in a game that was decided by a spectacular moment of inspiration from Tom Davis just four minutes after he had come on as a substitute. Fouled thirty yards out after intercepting a Palace pass, Davis got the nod from referee Simeon Potter to take the free kick while the visitors were still organising their defence and sent in a wonderfully cleanly struck shot which flew past the surprised goalkeeper Lewis Page in to the back of the net. The goal was sandwiched by efforts from Sam Page and Andre Costa which hit the bar, U’s as impressive in the last twenty minutes as they had been in the first twenty, although Palace had enough of the game between those spells to make it uncertain as to which way it would eventually tip. Kennedy Adjei was the first of the summer signings to catch the eye, hitting a 20 yard shot which was pushed away at full stretch by Page, but three minutes later U’s had the lead. Jerson Dos Santos, lively throughout the evening, drilled in a shot from just inside the penalty area after Jason Goodliffe had headed a corner in to his path, and although a combination of Page and Matt Pearson kept the shot out on the line, the ensuing scramble saw former Southampton junior Tom Dunford tripped by Liam Bridgecott, and Dos Santos slotted home the penalty. U’s had two more shouts for penalties within the next ten minutes, firstly when Dos Santos went over under a combined challenge from Page and Jack Holland, then when Craig Dundas appeared to be hauled back by the arm, but both were waved away and Palace came more in to the game as the half went on. Wilfred Zaha was the visitors’ chief threat, and it took a brave block from Goodliffe to prevent him equalising from a low right wing cross three minutes before half time. Seconds before the break, though, Palace attacked again down the right, and although Zaha’s shot from Pearson’s cross was again blocked the ball this time fell to Nathaniel Pinny who lashed it past Scriven to score against Sutton for the second year running. U’s made several substitutions early in the second half, including an appearance for right winger Adam Slegg, released recently by Sunderland after three seasons on Wearside, and chances were few and far between. Fola Orilonishe put in one dangerous cross that was scrambled away, and at the other end Kieron Djilali shot low on the turn from the edge of the penalty area, the ball going just wide. The closest to a goal came when centre back Sam Page met a free kick from Dunford, whose dead-ball delivery was good all evening, with a powerful header which came back off the crossbar. Dunford made way for Davis a minute later and the substitute had soon struck the decisive blow, but after Scriven had made a smart save from Ibra Sekajja’s angled shot, Davis’s effort came close to being upstaged by Costa, launching a swift counter attack and running from just outside his own penalty area before cutting in and firing in a shot that clipped the top of the bar.
Sutton: K Scriven, S McKimm (sub R Jolly 61), S Young, J Goodliffe (sub S Downer H-T), S Page, K Adjei (sub A Slegg 50), T Dunford (T Davis 71), T Kavanagh, J Dos Santos, C Dundas, F Orilonishe (sub A Costa 68).
