Chris Agutter highlighted his pride in his players after Sutton secured their first win of 2026.
It was a performance built on grit, discipline and collective belief, with required to dig deep to secure a hard-earned 1-0 victory against Tamworth, with Davide Rodari’s first goal for the club enough to seal the the three points with 20 minutes to go.
“Dogged,” Agutter reflected. “It was workmanlike, industrious, with a little bit of quality.”
“Plenty of heart, plenty of application. The group was brilliant – whether that was the starting XI or the eleven that finished the game. As I said, with a sprinkling of quality. The goal itself is a brilliant team goal.”
“From a purist or coach’s perspective, it was a great goal.”
While the quality was there in moments, Agutter described the foundation of the win as coming from effort and intent, having had to battle hard throughout the entire 90 minutes against a side who are renowned for catapulting countless balls into the box, while the final moments saw Sutton tasked with remaining composed and focused as they sealed a win, one that the Head Coach described as one that stood out.
“We enjoy that,” he continued, “but like we said a couple of weeks ago, we’re only as good as our intent, our energy, our aggression, and how combative we are.
“We had spades of that today, and we needed it because Tamworth put you under real pressure.”
“Of all the wins we’ve had, that one is right up there. It was a proper, dogged, hard-working performance. I know the supporters will be proud of that and can really identify with everyone on the pitch. They gave everything, and we’re really proud of that performance.”
Rodari got the decisive goal, marking a super sub appearance by getting off the mark for the first time since making the move from Hampton & Richmond Borough, displaying the sorts of qualities in and around the penalty area that convinced Agutter to reunite with the Italian for a fourth time.
“I’m very happy,” he smiled. “He’s a decent finisher, a great bit of movement, and it was a finish that capped off a brilliant team move.
“It’s not just a goal in amongst a load of goals. It’s a goal that really matters – a goal that resulted in three points. So yeah, very pleased and very happy for him.”
“I like two up top, but we haven’t had many opportunities to do it because of injuries and unavailability,” he explained. “Now we’ve got three fit centre-forwards in the building, it gives us options.
Much of the final stages were spent under sustained pressure, with Tamworth forcing the ball into dangerous areas, though Agutter also touched on the opening few moments that brought one of the saves of the season out of Jack Sims, who superbly recovered before clawing away an Oliver Lynch effort that was destined to hit the back of the net, and with the U’s goalkeeper seemingly beaten.
“Tamworth were on top for a period, so being able to make those substitutions, change shape and pose a different problem was really important. Between Dav [Rodari], Brandon [Njoku] and [Ashley] Nadesan, it’s a really decent attacking threat. All three were very good today – not just in attack, but defensively as well.”
“They put the ball in your box more than Truro, and I didn’t think anyone could do that,” he said. “There’s real quality and method to it. They work good angles, they know exactly what they’re doing.
“I thought our first-contact defending was outstanding. We can improve on second and third phases of set-pieces, but overall I was very happy.”
“Jack Sims’ save… I might be exaggerating, but on first viewing I think it’s the best save I’ve ever seen live. It was ridiculous. I thought Simo, the backline and the whole team defended the penalty box manfully and deserved to be on the positive side of the result.”
“It [the clean sheet] was deserved,” he added. “They put us under real pressure and Simo came up with a couple of massive moments. If there’s a better goalkeeper in the league, I haven’t seen him yet. He won’t like me saying that — he’s quite shy — but I’ll do the talking for him. He was outstanding today and a key part of us moving forward.”
Beyond the performance, the result carried real weight, rising up a few places due to other results and creating a two-point gap to the bottom four, having picked up the first of the eight wins that Agutter said are required for survival last week.
“Very important,” he said. “At this stage of the season, it’s about putting points on the board. We’ve been playing well — very good against Southend, decent on the ball against York but not combative enough. Against Forest Green we were more aggressive but not as clever on the ball.
“Today reinforced what we said after York. Pretty football is fine, but commitment, aggression, mentality and intensity win you games. We had that in spades today, and that’s what led to three important points. If we keep showing that, keep picking up points, we’ll continue to climb.”
