Match Report

Not for the first time this season, Sutton were within touching distance of a hard-earned and deserved away win, only to be forced to settle for a draw. The feeling of disappointment didn’t quite match Aldershot’s 95^th minute equaliser three weeks ago, but Bobby Grant’s 88^th minute penalty, after Craig Eastmond had been sent off for punching away Shaun Pearson’s goalbound header, was still a bitter pill to swallow after a battling performance seemed set to be rewarded by Harry Beautyman’s goal just after the hour. Until Pearson met Luke Young’s corner with a crunching header that forced Eastmond in to drastic action, Sutton had done enough to leave the home supporters venting their frustration at their side’s effort, and even the late equaliser didn’t stop an audible chorus of boos at the end of the game.

With Dale Bennett and Will Randall still sidelined, and Dylan Kearney and George Tuson-Firth added to the injured list during the week, U’s were well organised and worked hard, and with Jon Barden outstanding in front of the back four and earning the man of the match award from BT, they made it difficult for Wrexham to create much in the way of attacking threat and only once in the first half was Jamie Butler seriously tested, when Grant, who won the man of the match accolade from the home team, found space to shoot from just outside the penalty area and Butler dived to push the ball away.

It was Sutton who came closest to going in front in the first half when David Ajiboye jinked his way between two defenders and past a third before hitting a low shot that Christian Dibble pushed away, with no U’s player able to capitalise on the rebound. Soon afterwards Jamie Collins met a Beautyman corner at the far post and forced the ball goalwards but it was scrambled away with U’s captain protesting that it had crossed the line, but getting no support from the assistant referee who was well placed, and no subsequent inspection of video footage providing a conclusive view one way or the other.

Having left the field to a chorus of boos at the break, Wrexham came close to a breakthrough early in the second half when Mark Harris’s run took him past two defenders but Butler was able to make a relatively comfortable save from the resulting low shot. It was a sign of how the game was going for them, though, that two substitutions were made before an hour had elapsed, but before Jason Oswell and Devonte Redmond had a chance to have an effect Sutton had the lead. The original attack came from Ajiboye on the right, but when his way was blocked he laid the ball back to Eastmond, who crossed deep to the far post. Kenny Davis produced a fine header back across goal and Beautyman hooked it between Dibble and his near post.

It was no more than U’s deserved, and for much of the rest of the game there was little hint that Wrexham would deny them a third away win of the season, but with just two minutes of the ninety to go the ball skidded wide of the post from a Barden tackle on the edge of the penalty area, and from Young’s corner Pearson climbed to head powerfully goalwards and Eastmond’s spectacular save sent the ball over the bar. It was an inauspicious way for his 200^th Sutton appearance to end, and didn’t prevent the equaliser as Grant, having been forced to wait while U’s made a substitution, buried the penalty to Butler’s left. A clash between the players as Grant tried to retrieved the ball ended with a booking for U’s keeper, and both Tom Bolarinwa and Ajiboye, the latter for time-wasting at a throw-in he didn’t realise he was supposed to be taking, were also booked during the five minutes of additional time as Wrexham sensed the chance of a winner but U’s held out for the point that was the least they deserved.

Wrexham: C Dibble, M Carrington, J Jennings, L Young, S Pearson, M Chambers, B Grant, L Summerfield(sub P Rutherford 80), M Harris, A Wright(sub D Redmond 58), B Tollitt(sub J Oswell 58). Subs n/u D Szczepaniak, A Barton.

Referee: Simon Mather