Jayden Harris spoke of his satisfaction after his side’s hard-fought 2-1 victory over his old club, Eastleigh.
The midfielder, who turned out for the Spitfires during a brief loan spell in 2023/24, played a key role in what proved to be a crucial second league win of the campaign, with a direct contribution to David Ogbonna’s opening goal, before putting in an determined, hard-working shift on the left of Sutton’s frontline.
“I think the game went well” he said. “There was a bit of a nervy last 20 minutes, but I think overall we dominated them.”
“I think we passed the ball well, defended well. And it just shows that even though that when I was passing the ball more, we’re still gritty in the 50-50s and you can still see a game up.”
The midfielder could claim an assist, having got on the end of a superb team move by the left flank before driving forward and seeing his low shot saved by Nick Townsend, but t fortunately fell kindly into the path of Ogbonna to finish and notch his second goal in as many games.
“I think the goal, it just shows that what we’ve been doing in training, you know, getting it off the centre back, passing it out and running.”
“You need to focus on the next action – as soon as you pass the ball, don’t stop, just keep running, and that’s what it was. I think another time I put it away, but even then it just shows that David [Ogbonna] is there just to put it in. It just shows that we’re listening to what he [Chris Agutter] is saying, taking it on board and putting it into games.”
Confidence and intensity have become key themes under the new boss, with Harris commenting on how he’s found it since the arrival of Chris Agutter.
“I’ve found it really good under him [Agutter], you know, I think utilising all of us really well, to be fair, and I think it shows in the games. We’re dominating the ball, we’re always going to score and we’re going to score more goals now.”
“I think eventually he’ll start conceding zero and that’s the main thing because we’re always going to score goals.”
“He demands a lot more and the thing is like that’s probably about 50% of it, we’ve still got a long way to go, and he’s just going to keep saying, do more of it.
“I think we will – we’ve done it for the first 60 minutes, eventually it’s going to be 80 minutes, 90 minutes, 100 minutes.”
Having battled back from a serious Achilles injury, Harris has been on a long road to recovery, and after adding a 15th league appearance to his name this term, he reflected on his personal journey.
“I think it just shows the hard work I’ve put in, you know. I mean, since that injury, I just kept my head down, done my rehab.”
“I’ve still got to do exercises every day just to keep on top of it, but I’m just glad to be back out there and feel like basically myself again, you know, just getting in amongst the goals and assists in all these games. And to be honest, I just want to complete as many games as possible.”
With another big game to come on Saturday against Morecambe, a side who sat one place above Sutton prior to last night’s win, it is set to be a important test on the Lancashire Coast as the U’s look to finally jump out of the bottom four.
“We’re always looking forward to it. Just want to get on with the next game, get ourselves out of that zone and then push up the table. That’s the aim, really.”
