Match Centre

Sutton picked up a second Enterprise National League win of the season, and moved off the bottom of the table, producing a fine first half performance to go in at the interval two up, and surviving a much less comfortable second half which saw Eastleigh pull a goal back from a penalty twenty minutes from time, but not able to find the equaliser that threatened. U’s could have made life easier for themselves had they taken several chances towards the end as Eastleigh looked for the goal that would have given them a point, but in the end U’s were able to celebrate a third consecutive league and cup win.

With new signing from Eastleigh Jake Taylor not included by agreement between the sides, Sutton named an unchanged team from the line-up that had beaten Telford in the FA Cup on Saturday and had the early goal when a neat passing move on the left put Jayden Harris through to send in a low shot that troubled Nick Townsend more than it should have done, the keeper only able to push the ball in to the path of David Ogbonna who gleefully tucked it in to the net.

More might have followed as Edon Pruti saw a looping header clawed away by Townsend,and an Ogbonna cross was diverted just wide by an Eastleigh defender, but this was a flowing and confident first half display from Sutton and just after the half hour mark the second goal did come, albeit from an inauspicious start as U’s gave the ball away inside their own half. A superb tackle from Pruti not only averted the danger, but also released Lewis Simper to burst forward, exchange passes with Ashley Nadesan, and slot his left foot shot beyond Townsend in to the corner of the net.

Eastleigh had been restricted to long range efforts from Lloyd Humphries, both failing to trouble Tommy Reid, and made a double change at half time, bringing on Jake Vokins and former Sutton defender Aaron Pierre, and it was Pierre who was a key figure at both ends of the pitch early in the second half, heading just wide after U’s had struggled to clear a corner, and then producing a well judged tackle to deny Harris a shooting opportunity after more neat approach work from Sutton. U’s then lost Pruti following a clash of heads in the penalty area, Hayden Muller dropping in to the back line as Alex Woodyard came on. Eastleigh were much more in the game in the second half, and were handed a route back when Muller bundled over Pierre at the far post from another corner, and Ciaran McGuckin buried the penalty in the corner of the net.

McGuckin came close to a leveller soon afterwards, sending a 20-yard shot just over the bar, and it set the scene for a nervous last quarter of an hour for U’s fans as Sutton lost possession too easily on a number of occasions, although they defended well when the ball came in to the penalty area and with Eastleigh’s touch deserting them in and around the box Reid wasn’t called in to action as often as he might have been. Indeed the closest to a change of scoreline came at the other end as Kai Jennings saw a shot tipped on to the post by Townsend, and substitute Brandon Njoku endured a difficult moment when he was tackled on the edge of the penalty area with Nadesan unmarked to his right, and having then been gifted back possession and left with just Townsend to beat sliced his shot wide. That it wasn’t his night was underlined soon afterwards when he blazed wide again shortly afterwards, with Nadesan again frustrated in support, but the errors in the end did not prove costly as U’s held on for a crucial victory.

Sutton: T Reid, A Jones(sub W Tizzard 70), J Eccleston, H Muller, E Pruti(sub A Woodyard 59), J Taylor, D Ogbonna, L Simper(sub B Njoku 70), J Harris(sub C Bell 84), A Nadesan, K Jennings. Subs n/u H Phipps, N Boutin, D Aziaya. Booked: Taylor, Nadesan, Muller, Reid.

Eastleigh: N Townsend, R Brindley, A Harris, L Humphries, L Fernandez, T Eweka(sub A Pierre H-T), K Evans(sub L Skinner 78), A Waruih(sub J Vokins H-T), H Saunders, C McGuckin, J Lundstram. Subs n/u S Davis, B Stone, J McNamara. Booked: Pierre, Vokins.

Referee: Emily Heaslip

Attendance: 1,759(67 away)

Photo Credit: Paul Loughlin