The 2025/26 Enterprise National League season is on the horizon, with Sutton United all set for another competitive and exciting year at the top tier of non-league football.
In this four-part series, we will delve into each opponent the U’s will face throughout the campaign across the next four weeks, building up to the first day of the season where Steve Morison’s side will take on York City.
Truro City
Nickname: The Tinners
Founded: 1889
Stadium: Truro Sports Hub
Distance from Sutton: 260 miles
Head Coach: John Askey
Top Scorer 24/25: Tyler Harvey (28)
League Finish 24/25: 1st (National League South)
Last Meeting: Sutton United 1-0 Truro City (16th December 2017)
Truro City became the first team from Cornwall to ever be promoted to the National League, after former York City and Hartlepool United boss John Askey guided the Tinners to the National League South title last season.
The Cornish side secured the trophy in dramatic fashion, with the season finale seeing six teams vying for the title, but it was Truro who prevailed as a 5-2 win over St. Albans City sealed the title on goal difference at the expense of Torquay United.
Summer signing Jaze Kabia’s 16 goals made him a standout member of Askey’s frontline, although top scorer Tyler Harvey stole the headlines last term, topping the division’s goalscoring ranks with 28 strikes, four more than the second highest in Boreham Wood’s Kwesi Appiah, to win the Golden Boot, as well as being named in the National League South Team of the Season, before capping off a spectacular season with the division’s Player of the Season award.
Furthermore, Dan Lavercombe carried out an important role at the other end of the pitch, featuring in all 46 games behind a defence consisting of Christian Oxlade-Chamberlain, Zach Bell, Will Dean, Ryan Law and Connor Riley-Lowe, with Askey’s favoured back five system offering defensive solidity which saw Truro maintain the second best defensive record in the league (42), bettered only by Maidstone United (38).
The two sides last met all the way back in 2017, the longest wait for a reunion out of anyone else in the National League for the coming season; Craig Dundas got the only goal of the game late on as Paul Doswell’s side ran out 1-0 winners in an FA Trophy First Round tie.
Wealdstone
Nickname: The Stones
Founded: 1899
Stadium: Grosvenor Vale
Distance from Sutton: 40.6 miles
Head Coach: Sam Cox
Top Scorer 24/25: Alex Reid (17)
League Finish 24/25: 20th
Last Meeting: Sutton United 2-2 Wealdstone (15th January 2025)
It’s all change once more over in North London, with Sam Cox returning to the Grosvenor Vale dugout for his second stint in charge of Wealdstone.
Having previously taken caretaker charge in 2024, Cox takes on the role permanently following the departure of Neil Gibson, who exited the club mutually in May, having replaced Matthew Taylor after opting to join Solihull Moors mid-season.
Last season, the Stones cemented their National League status for a fifth successive season – their longest stint in the fifth tier in their entire 126-year history – after first half goals from Jack Cook, Kallum Cesay and Mustapha Carayol sealed a 3-1 win over FC Halifax Town on the final day of the season, prompting wild celebrations and a pitch invasion at Grosvenor Vale.
Key to their success last term was the appointment of Gibson, who guided the club to eight wins and four draws from his 20 games in charge, while picking up more wins and less defeats that predecessor Taylor, to achieve a significant turnaround which saw him stabilise the team. Loan signing Alex Reid also played a pivotal role in their turnaround, joining the club temporarily from Oldham Athletic in October, and again in January, to fire Wealdstone to safety with 17 goals.
Cesay also produced a string of impressive performances in the Stones’ backline and has since earned a move to League Two side Salford City, playing 39 times in a defence that included now-former captain Adrian Mariappa, Cook and Anthony Georgiou, while former U Enzio Boldewijn played more games than anyone else with 47 appearances to his name.
Woking
Nickname: The Cardinals
Founded: 1887
Stadium: Laithwaite Community Stadium
Distance from Sutton: 20.4 miles
Head Coach: Neal Ardley
Top Scorer 24/25: Harry Beautyman (10)
League Finish 24/25: 15th
Last Meeting: Sutton United 1-1 Woking (5th May 2025)
The closest club in the National League to Sutton geographically, Woking have begun a new era under manager Neal Ardley, who has had a notable impact since arriving in Surrey back in December 2024.
After beginning his tenure with an unbeaten run, his efforts were recognised when he was named National League Manager of the Month for April, having guided the club away from the drop zone in his four months in charge, ending the campaign with nine wins, 14 draws and just four defeats, a marked improvement on predecessor Michael Doyle.
Will Jääskeläinen was pivotal to the Cards’ success last term, establishing himself as one of if not the best goalkeeper in the entire division, with a clean sheet percentage of approximately 23% being notably higher than the league average. The Finland youth international helped to command a defence consisting of Dan Moss (who has departed for Rochdale), Tariq Hinds, Timi Odusina and Dion Kelly-Evans, while former U’s loanee Chin Okoli had a key impact following his arrival on loan mid-season, seamlessly replacing the impressive Cian Harries who joined Forest Green Rovers in January.
While the Cards weren’t necessarily free-scoring last season, their defensive solidity allowed the likes of Harry Beautyman, Lewis Walker, Inih Effiong, Matt Ward and Aiden O’Brien to maintain relative consistency in front of goal, notably Sutton legend Beautyman who top scored with ten goals last term after joining from Gander Green Lane in June 2024.
Sutton are unbeaten in their last seven outings against Woking, with last season’s final day draw ending a run of six successive wins that includes a memorable 6-2 victory under Matt Gray on New Year’s Day 2020.
Yeovil Town
Nickname: The Glovers
Founded: 1895
Stadium: Huish Park
Distance from Sutton: 131 miles
Head Coach: Mark Cooper
Top Scorer 24/25: Brett McGavin and Aaron Jarvis (7)
League Finish 24/25: 18th
Last Meeting: Yeovil Town 1-2 Sutton United (26th April 2025)
Yeovil Town narrowly missed out on a mid-table finish last term, but nonetheless enjoyed a successful return to life in the National League.
After achieving promotion from the National League South in their first season in the sixth tier since the late 1990s, the Somerset-based side ended the 2024/25 campaign with an 18th place finish, and key to their success was their away form, with eight wins and four draws on the road.
Long-serving manager Mark Cooper led the Glovers to survival on the final day of the season after Dagenham & Redbridge could only secure a point against Solihull Moors, leading to Yeovil’s safety in spite of a narrow defeat against York City.
Brett McGavin and Aaron Jarvis both scored seven goals along the way, helping to plug the gaps left by the mid-season departures of Ciaran McGuckin and Frank Nouble, while the performances of Sonny Blu Lo-Everton received many plaudits in the centre of the park, playing a key role in midfield alongside McGavin and Charlie Cooper, and will be a miss with the former Watford midfielder departing Huish Park this summer.
The Glovers will be looking up after Chairman Martin Hellier stepped down from his role, and they will now look ahead as their pursue a return to the EFL, a place they had spent 16 years in until relegation in 2019, and have added quality to their ranks in the form of James Daly (Harrogate Town), Tahvon Campbell (Solihull Moors) and Kyle Ferguson (Rochdale AFC) so far.
York City
Nickname: The Minstermen
Founded: 1922
Stadium: LNER Community Stadium
Distance from Sutton: 238 miles
Head Coach: Adam Hinshelwood
Top Scorer 24/25: Ollie Pearce (31)
League Finish 24/25: 2nd
Last Meeting: York City 1-2 Sutton United (18th January 2025)
Last season, York City mounted a serious promotion charge just two years on from their play-off-winning season in the National League North, with an emphatic second place finish.
Following the sacking of Neal Ardley in February 2024, the Minstermen named former Worthing boss Adam Hinshelwood in charge at the LNER Community Stadium who led the club to safety with 12 points from as many matches, before overseeing a remarkable rise up the league table, and saw them end last term just four points shy of a century, with their impressive tally bettered only by winners Barnet, who the fourth side in National League history to break the 100-point mark when they won promotion with 102 points to their name.
Despite missing out on automatic promotion, City still mesmerised the league with 29 wins from their 46 games, scoring 95 goals and conceding just 42, again bettered only by Barnet in both capacities.
Marquee signing Ollie Wright was the standout player in the Minstermen’s ranks, scoring more than 30% of their goals with a whopping 31, and was enough to win him the division’s Golden Boot and Player of the Season awards, as well as being named in the Team of the Season.
Mid-season recruit Josh Stones also played a pivotal part in their success, while the likes of Harrision Male, Ryan Fallowfield, Fagan Malachi-Walcott, Callum Howe and Joel Felix held down the fort at the back, with Male and Howe both joining Wright in the National League Team of the Season.
Despite their dominance throughout the campaign, York were left heartbroken, being forced to compete in the play-offs when Barnet secured promotion with a 4-0 win over Aldershot Town with one game to go.
In the play-offs, the optimism was quickly extinguished by a ruthless Oldham Athletic, who brought York’s season to a close at the semi-final stage as goals from Joe Garner, Vimal Yoganathan and Joe Pritchard saw Hinshelwood’s side fall to a 3-0 defeat, ending the EFL dream for another season.
The Minstermen have already been hard at work in correcting that though, with the signings of Hiram Boateng, Ollie Banks, Ashley Palmer, Mark Kitching, Ben Brookes and Greg Olley already adding a host of quality to their ranks in their pursuit of EFL status once more.
