Having frustrated League Two leaders Leyton Orient for over an hour, Sutton eventually went the way of most other teams at Brisbane Road this season as the East London side extended their lead at the top of the table to seven points.

Once Paul Smyth, the instigator of the majority of Orient’s few threatening moments in the first hour, had pounced on a slip by Enzio Boldewijn to break the deadlock with a fine shot from the edge of the penalty area, the home side were relatively comfortable and their victory was confirmed in unfortunate circumstances as Ali Smith sliced an attempted clearance in to his own net eleven minutes from time.

With Donovan Wilson ruled out with an ankle injury picked up against Colchester, U’s opted for an extra midfielder, with Smith and Harry Beautyman in the middle and Craig Eastmond just in front of the back four, while Josh Neufville and Will Randall occupied the wide positions. 

The game was less than two minutes old when O’s midfielder Idris El Mizouni was booked for a foul that prevented Omar Bugiel from launching a counter attack, and some referees might have ended El Mizouni’s involvement just four minutes later when he caught Eastmond with a heavy tackle, but referee Carl Brook decided on a lecture with captain Darren Pratley in attendance.

U’s hard work made it difficult for Orient to create anything of note until after the midway point of the half when Smyth produced some brilliant wing play to skip past Boldewijn and Joe Kizzi before firing in a cross that was turned wide on the volley at the near post by Charlie Kelman, and that heralded the home side’s best spell of the game. Kizzi did well to block Theo Archibald’s shot after Aaron Drinan had crossed from the left, before a surging run by Kelman from inside his own half was ended by Louis John right on the edge of the penalty area, with the referee deciding contact had been just outside the box despite Orient’s protests. John was booked, and the arguments were almost rendered irrelevant as Archibald crashed his free kick against the crossbar.

John threw himself in the way of a Kelman shot after more good work on the left by Smyth, but Sutton could generally feel satisfied with a job well done at half time, even if there had been little attacking threat, Rob Milsom’s deflected volley U’s only shot in anger although Neufville did threaten with one fine run from deep that was ended by a slightly heavy touch and a well-timed tackle from Dan Happe. The second half started in similar fashion, with U’s if anything having more of the game in the opening stages, but then Boldewijn failed to cut out Archibald’s pass from the right as it bounced up awkwardly and the ball ran on to Smyth, who stepped back inside Boldewijn and arrowed a shot in to the top corner of the net from twenty yards.

U’s immediate response was to replace Beautyman with Tope Fadahunsi, but apart from a couple of free kicks, one of which had to be scrambled away from Kizzi at the far post, there was little threat on Lawrence Vigouroux’s goal and Orient made the game safe eleven minutes from the end when substitute Craig Clay chipped in a cross following a throw-in, and Smith’s attempt to clear went horribly wrong as he sliced the ball over Jack Rose and could only watch as it dropped inside the angle of the far post and crossbar.

Sutton: J Rose, J Kizzi, R Milsom, J Neufville(sub S Hart 90+2), C Eastmond, L John, E Boldewijn, A Smith, O Bugiel(sub K Kouassi 90+2), H Beautyman(sub T Fadahunsi 67), W Randall (sub L Gambin 76) Subs n/u L Ward, C Dundas, C Kendall. Booked: John

Leyton Orient: L Vigouroux, T James, J Brown, O Beckles, D Happe, D Pratley(sub R Hunt 56), P Smyth(sub R Sotiriou 76), I El-Mizouni (sub C Clay 67), A Drinan, C Kelman, T Archibald. Subs n/u S Sargeant, S Ogie, J Wareham, S Duke-McKenna. Booked: El-Mizouni

Referee: Carl Brook

Attendance: 8,069(562 away)