Chris Agutter described Sutton’s dramatic draw with Braintree Town as an emotional night, full of character and resilience.

A late goal from Brandon Njoku sealed a crucial draw against their relegation rivals after going behind at the start of the first half through a Lewis Walker goal, and means they avoided being leapfrogged by the Iron, having gone into it above their opponents on goal difference.

“Emotional is probably the first word that comes to mind.”

“I’m incredibly proud of the effort and commitment of the players – their application and attitude to the task was outstanding.”

“At 11v11, I thought we were in control. We limited Braintree to a few counter-attacks and it reminded me a little bit of the Gateshead game.”

“I felt we were good with 11 men, but with 10 men we were absolutely brilliant.”

“We dug in, showed an incredible mentality, and I’m really proud of them. They deserve a massive amount of credit.”

Charlie Bell notably picked up his first red card of his senior career, and Agutter was clear but supportive for the young midfielder, and said there was no criticism of the player’s approach.

“It’s a red card. He’s jumped from a few metres away with a straight leg and caught him halfway up the shin.”

“I’m not going to be critical of Belly. He has to play with an edge. If 90 degrees is boiling point, he has to play at 89.”

“You can’t ask players to be combative and aggressive and then moan when they slightly overstep the mark.”

“He’ll learn from it and come back better. No issues from me.”

The Head Coach added that the response with ten men was what pleased him most, with the U’s putting in an outstanding shift during the second half.

“Brilliant. We’ve just said to the players that we need to go to that place 11 v 11 as well.”

“If you think back to the first game down there, Braintree were better than us and we were probably fortunate to get a draw. Tonight showed our progress.”

“We weren’t amazing, but we were dominant and in control.”

“With ten men, there are no grey areas — you have to find a way.”

“Everyone has to take responsibility and stand up.”

“I thought every player who stepped on the pitch was outstanding. They deserved at least a point for that period of the game.”

Despite wanting a win to move three points ahead of their rivals, the circumstances meant that Agutter had no doubt about how to frame the result as a point gained, rather than two points dropped, and he added that the challenge now is to replicate that intensity even with a full complement of players.

“Absolutely a point gained.”

“It’s 100% a point gained, and I believe it can be a springboard to a successful end to the season.”

“We’ve challenged the lads to go to that place even when it’s 11 v 11 — to make the extra run, play the extra pass, recover, back tackle. We can’t rely on anyone else to do it for us.”

Having opted for a slight reshuffle in the form of Kai Jennings and David Ogbonna being replaced by Kwaku Donkor and Charlie Bell, the Head Coach confirmed that the changes were made with freshness in mind, rather than it being purely tactical, while further changes midway through the game led to momentum being gained ahead of the late leveller.

“We needed to freshen it up. The Boston performance was the polar opposite of tonight, so change was needed.”

“It wasn’t a performance-based decision, just about managing tired legs and getting fresh ones on the pitch.”

“I thought Jayden Harris was excellent when he came on. He infuriates me – and probably the fans too – because when he’s good, he’s better than this level in my opinion.”

“The challenge for him is consistency. If he finds that level regularly, like he did in November, he’ll help us win a lot of games.”

Despite not securing all three points, the manager sees genuine reason for optimism, and with the table tightening and fixtures coming thick and fast, the mood remains determined.

“We’ve got 48 points to play for and 16 games left. You can’t not be positive off the back of that second-half performance.”

“My feeling is that’s what the Sutton United fans want to see — commitment, togetherness, work ethic, spirit and a gritty performance.”

“On Saturday we didn’t have that. Tonight we absolutely did. So it’s definitely a point gained.”

“We’ve got a run of fixtures that gives us an opportunity to climb.”

“There are plenty of reasons to be positive, and off the back of that performance, I’m feeling excited about the next nine and a half weeks.”