Jon Meeney commented on the importance of the squad getting minutes in their legs, having watched on from the sidelines as Sutton beat National League South side Hampton & Richmond Borough.

An own goal from former Sutton academy player Ben Mason set the U’s on their way, with strikes from Jaiden White and Jack Wadham sending them into the break with a 3-0 lead, and was followed by second half goals from Dillon De Silva and Brandon Njoku either side from a consolation goal from Harry Gardner to secure an impressive 5-1 victory.

After guiding the U’s to victory alongside Head Coach Steve Morison, Meeney spoke to SUFCtv about the final 90 minutes of pre-season.

“Just really happy that everyone’s been able to come through cleanly, healthy and with valuable minutes to the to the whole squad. So, now we can just recover and then start our preparation on Monday for the start of the season.”

“Like I said earlier in pre-season, they [the players] have come back in really good shape, come back with a really good mentality. You know, the players that stayed, the players that have come in, like I say, we do our due diligence. Ultimately, we’ve managed them over the course of pre-season, we’ve implemented the way that we’ve wanted to play. We still want to grow with that, but physically they’re in good shape.”

“We want to keep the intensity, it’s part of our identity, but also we can’t always go after the ball. We can’t always press high, etc, so we just need to recognise when we can, when we can’t, and what that looks like, but that will all come as we mature over the course of the season.”

After falling short of a comfortable win earlier on in pre-season against Crystal Palace Academy due to a strike from Adler Nasciemento and an own goal from Jack Taylor late on, Meeney was thrilled to maintain the advantage at the Beveree Stadium, even despite conceding midway through the second half.

“Obviously, today we conceded one, but then scored another” he said, “we maintain that advantage that maybe show the progress that the squad is putting in.”

“Yeah, disappointed to concede a goal but again, that wasn’t really anything tactically, it’s more so just like mentality. Stay tuned in, you’re comfortable within the game, keep doing the things that got you into that position, stay secure on the ball, make sure we have good shape on the ball, around the ball, everyone’s connected and and don’t take liberties.”

Two of the five goals scored in Hampton saw new players on the scoresheet, with White bending home a spectacular first Sutton goal midway through the first half, while Njoku opened his Sutton account on his debut when he met the rebound from Wadham’s initial effort.

“I thought Jaiden White over the course of pre-season has started to grow and and find his feet. He can do certain things on the pitch that you can’t you can’t coach, you want to get into positions to show that, but what I was impressed with him today was actually his buy-in to what we do against the ball and the positions he needs to take up if we are engaging and pressing or if we are holding a certain shape and position on the pitch.”

“I thought he’s been really buying into that and yeah, like I said, at the end of the day, when Naders has run his race within the game, you bring on fresh legs and that’s what Brandon [Njoku] can do. He can keep the backline honest and that keeps the intensity and the energy levels high.”

With one more week of preparation ahead of the 2025/26 opener at York City, Meeney highlighted the application of every player within the squad during pre-season, as well as touching on what is in store over the next seven days.

“Their attitude, their application as a collective has been brilliant” he said”.

“We’ve absolutely buzzed off them as staff but now, like I say, we recognise what we’ve done well, things that we can improve on, things that we can add and we just build for all the different opportunities to grow over the course of the season, and just keep maintaining that belief, that focus.”

“We will recover now, do all the things that we need to do regarding the recovery. We will come back in on Monday and analyse this game regarding what went well.”

“We will have a normal week of preparation, aiming to be our best version come 3pm next Saturday.”