Match Centre

The entertainment continued at the VBS as Sutton scored four for the second time in a week, and three at home for the fifth time since Chris Agutter took charge at the start of October, shrugging off an early Gateshead goal to move further away from the bottom four and consign the Tynesiders to a fifth consecutive Enterprise National League defeat. In a hugely enjoyable game to watch, in which Gateshead played a full part, Sutton seemed to have grabbed the initiative with two goals in the first five minutes of the second half, but Dom Telford’s immediate reply ensured that the result would be in doubt until Jack Taylor stormed forward in the eighth minute of stoppage time to give the afternoon a memorable finish.

Sutton had a problem before kick off, with Brandon Njoku pulling up injured in the warm up giving Kane Crichlow his first league start since the defeat at Rochdale in August, and things didn’t get any better as Gateshead took the lead inside the first five minutes, Kian Pennant turning on to a cross from Aidan Elliott-Wheeler and hammering a shot past Jack Sims, whose inclusion in place of Tommy Reid was the only other change from the line-up at Truro last Saturday.

It took a while for Sutton to recover from the early setback, Kai Jennings twice shooting wide from good positions, but just after the half hour mark a sweeping move from right to left ended with David Ogbonna cutting in and hitting a shot which looked to be heading wide until Jayden Harris diverted the ball in to the net with a deft header.

Having levelled, Sutton nearly went in front immediately as Lewis Simper’s thumping volley was brilliantly turned over by Brooks, not the last time the keeper would come to Gateshead’s rescue, and a low cross from Junior Eccleston just evaded a lunging Crichlow. At the other end a similar incident saw Pennant just fail to reach David Ferguson’s cross.

The first five minutes of the second half proved the decisive period as U’s came out from the break on the front foot and within thirty seconds of the restart Jake Taylor, Simper and Harris linked well to release Eccleston on the right and he laid the ball back to Simper, who won last season’s Goal of the Season with an effort against Gateshead and who set up the possibility of a repeat result with a stunning dipping, curling shot from 25 yards out.

Four minutes later and Eccleston was away again, this time after a fine piece of play from Crichlow and a quick pass from Simper. Eccleston reached the penalty area before pulling the ball back for Harris, whose first shot was blocked on the line by Kenton Richardson but not his second.

Gateshead quickly restored their hopes as Jacob Butterfield’s low shot from outside the penalty area hit the post, and then Sims, with Dom Telford reacting well to force the rebound over the line, but they struggled to put an increasingly solid Sutton defence under sufficient pressure to grab the equaliser. Indeed but for Brooks, who superbly denied Kai Jennings and Simper, Sutton would have sewn the points up earlier than the eighth minute of stoppage time when Jack Taylor, looking suspiciously offside, broke clear on the left from Eduino Vaz’s pass and ignored any thoughts of heading for the corner flag to surge in to the penalty area, hold off the challenge of Elliott-Wheeler, and slot the ball inside the far post before disappearing in to a huddle of celebrating fans.

There was still time for George Vorster, enjoying a successful time on dual registration at Burgess Hill, to make his league debut as a substitute before the final whistle.

Sutton: J Sims, J Eccleston, Jack Taylor, H Muller(sub A Jones 81), E Pruti, Jake Taylor, K Jennings, L Simper, K Crichlow(sub E Vaz 81), J Harris(sub C Bell 81), D Ogbonna(sub G Vorster 90+10). Subs n/u W Tizzard, M Dabre, T Reid. Booked: Jake Taylor, Muller.

Gateshead: T Brooks, M Melbourne(sub B Williams 64), D Ferguson, A Elliott-Wheeler, K Richardson(sub W Flint 70), K Hurst(sub H Chapman 64)(sub C Bone 86), K Adom, J Home, D Telford(sub F Nouble 85), J Butterfield, K Pennant. Subs n/u J Grayson, P Leech. Booked: Telford

Referee: Ross Martin

Attendance: 2,327(30 away)