Chris Agutter felt Sutton United delivered a strong response despite a narrow defeat away at Southend, producing a performance full of intensity, resilience and quality against one of the division’s promotion contenders.
A first half penalty proved to bring the breakthrough for the Shrimpers, despite Jack Sims doing his part in preventing Harry Cardwell from the spot, but couldn’t deny Gus Scott-Morriss from turning home the rebound, something which proved to bring a narrow defeat for the U’s.
Reflecting on a contest decided by fine margins, the Sutton boss was keen to emphasise how competitive the game was throughout.
“There were a couple of moments going against us and some moments going for Southend, loads to like, really, really good performance.”
“Miles better than what we were on Friday; loads of really good individual performances despite the condition of the squad, loads of positives, really good against a side that’s pushing for the play-offs.”
“That’s something that we’re bigger picture, we’re obviously going to aspire to. I thought we more than played our part in a very, very entertaining, decent game of football, played between, as I said, two good teams, which the two teams have been separated by incredibly small margins.”
With recent heavy defeats still fresh in the memory, Agutter acknowledged the contrast in performance levels but was clear that standards remain uncompromising.
The Head Coach also pointed to the ongoing injury situation as a significant factor, highlighting individual efforts from players who are far from fully fit.
“We’re incredibly disappointed. We came here with the belief that we could win and I think our performance certainly showed that.”
“The Walton [& Hersham] games and the Solihull [Moors] games are a reflection of team selection and the lack of squad depth, which I’ve banged on about for the past three weeks now. So, you know, we’ve ended up playing players tonight, again, that aren’t fully fit.”
“Hayden Muller has put in one of the best performances I’ve seen, individual performances I’ve had the privilege to see. I thought he was absolutely outstanding, and he’s produced that performance with half an ankle strapped up. Should he be playing? No. But that’s the situation we’re faced with. We need to add players, and again, the Walton and Solihull games, as I said, only highlighted that.”
“Whereas tonight, no surprise, we were very good when we were able to get closer to that starting line-up despite the fact that four or five of them shouldn’t even be out there because they’re not fit.”
The game’s major talking points centred around several contentious refereeing decisions, which Agutter felt went against his side.
“Their goalkeeper should be sent off for when he brought Brandon [Njoku] down outside the box. Unfortunately, eight and a half thousand people probably had an influence on the referee with that.”
“On top of that, there’s a handball, the most obvious penalty you’ll see, and then Lewis Simper gets dragged down as well, which is the second most obvious penalty you’ll see, and the penalty that he gives is debatable.”
“I think Jack Taylor looks like he’s got a toe to it, but that’s what happens when you come to grounds like this. It’s a hell of a place, fantastic support from Southend, hell of a following and they can certainly influence proceedings and unfortunately that’s what’s happened tonight.”
“As I said, it’s small margins and moments in the game which we’ve come out of on the wrong side of, which means we’re sitting here without at least a point.”
“I think JT has done the right thing. H[ayden Muller] and [Will] Tizzard have tried to squeeze and JT’s not sure. He’s gone with the runner. And as I said, it looks like he’s won the ball. I might be wrong, but from where we’re looking and also the angle that we’ve seen retrospectively, it looks like he’s won the ball.”
“So, in terms of what went wrong can’t really can’t really fault the players too much. It’s up to the referee to make a decision and obviously it wasn’t the way we wanted to end the year.”
Agutter reserved special praise for the travelling Sutton supporters, whose backing once again stood out.
“As I’ve said countless times, our challenge is to produce the same level of performance on the pitch that they give us off the pitch.”
“They’re brilliant, home and away, so positive. They’re with us and yeah, they certainly give us something to fight for, and I think that was reflected by the players. I can’t really be too critical at all. I really liked what we saw tonight.”
“Against Aldershot on Friday, we were rubbish but we put a point on board. Whereas tonight, we were really good for a majority of that game; need to test the goalkeeper more. I think we can play forwards a little bit quicker at times, but that’s me nitpicking.”
“I really liked what I saw, and it again only reinforces my belief in when we can get our best players out there, even if they’re nowhere near fit, they make us very, very competitive against a very good south end side so I think our support, magnificent, has been ever since I’ve been here, and I think when we get this team out there playing like that, that’s a team out there that does those guys justice.”
