A James Gale strike ten minutes from full time saw Altrincham come from behind at the J. Davidson Stadium, condemning Sutton United to a fifth defeat of the season.
Sutton opened the scoring with one of their first real chances of the game, as a deep ball from Lewis Simper was cleared as far as the returning Liam Vincent, who combined nicely with Jayden Harris who reached the byline before cutting the ball back, where Ashley Nadesan cutely flicked the ball home his first league goal of the campaign.
Despite taking both the lead and the momentum into the interval, Altrincham equalised just after the restart when Elliot Osborne’s cross was headed home by Jimmy Knowles, and Phil Parkinson’s side came close on a number of occasions soon after, with Gale most notably being denied by Jack Sims with a point blank save following a rapid counter-attack, coming moments after Nadesan was stopped himself by an excellent Luke Hutchinson save.
With ten minutes to go though, Altrincham completed the turnaround when Sims superbly tipped Tom Crawford’s powerful strike onto the crossbar, though he could do nothing about the rebound with Gale finally getting the better of his opponent, tapping home the decisive goal at Moss Lane.
Defeat in Greater Manchester sees Sutton make it two losses in a row and five for the season, and they will be looking to bounce back with a week now without a game, hosting Tamworth on Saturday, 13th September.
Steve Morison – who served a touchline ban after being booked on Wednesday night against Boreham Wood – made three changes to the starting XI, with Vincent returning from suspension along with Aaron Jones and David Ogbonna coming back into the XI in place of Junior Eccleston, Jayden Harris and Brandon Njoku, although a late change saw Harris maintain his place in the team with Edon Pruti dropping out due to a groin strain.
A slow start to proceedings saw neither side produce a chance of note during the opening 15 minutes, with Altrincham going closest when Gale almost got in behind, forcing Sims to produce a superb last-ditch intervention outside his penalty area to get the ball clear.
Fortunately though, the first real chance to fall the U’s way turned to gold, as Nadesan got off the mark for the competitive campaign after scoring seven goals in pre-season.
Simper floated a ball into the box which was cleared, but Vincent recovered the ball and played a neat one-two with Harris to send the midfielder to the byline. Harris then cut the ball back into the middle, where Nadesan got a toe to the ball to flick it beyond Hutchinson after 22 minutes.
This saw Sutton take momentum into the first half and they perhaps should have doubled their advantage moments later. After an Osborne drive was quickly charged down, Simper raced back up the other end, covering almost the entire pitch in his pursuit of a second goal before opting to go alone with Harris and Nadesan in support, but he was unable to get the desired contact on his effort.
Altrincham then almost levelled in spectacular fashion as a corner came close to curling all the way in, forcing Sims to claw the ball away from danger, before the U’s number one got in the way of a powerful Gale effort soon after.
Despite the Robins showing some warning signs, Nadesan almost doubled his tally on the stroke of half time when Harris once again reached the byline before cutting the ball back to the former Gillingham man, who’s effort was blocked by Alty skipper Lewis Baines.
However, his opening effort after 22 minutes was enough to send Sutton into the interval ahead.
In search of a second win of the season, Sutton will have hoped looking for a fast start in their pursuit of a second goal, and they almost found it in fortuitous fashion when an early chance saw Hutchinson pass the ball straight to Harris, who curled a low effort inches wide.
Altrincham responded well though, with substitute Crawford heading over the crossbar from close range, minutes before a leveller did come the way of the hosts, as Osborne clipped a cross into the middle where Knowles was able to flick a header past Sims just five minutes after the restart.
This preceded two openings for both sides in a blink of an eye, with the two goalkeepers producing a couple of superb stops. First, Harris slid the ball through to Nadesan who was denied by an acrobatic, outstretched save from Hutchinson from point blank range, with Nadesan’s attempt to flick the ball back to a Sutton player proving to be in vain.
Alty then quickly broke away up the other end with Kahrel Reddin sliding the ball to Gale in acres of space to pick his spot, but he could only force Sims into a strong stop of his own.
A swap from the visitors then saw First Team Coach, Jon Meeney, replacing Morison as the lead role in the dugout for the afternoon, opt to bring Njoku on in place of Harris in their hunt for the lead, although it was Alty’s change of Sam Reed for Lewis Banks which had the most immediate impact.
After Harry Phipps had produced an outstanding sliding block to deny Knowles, Reed raced towards the byline moments later before drilling a low ball into the path of Gale who perhaps should have finished off an excellent team move, but his tame effort was comfortably gathered by Sims.
Gale did soon get the better of Sims though, who will have been bitterly disappointed after brilliantly turning Crawford’s vicious effort onto the crossbar, but Gale was well placed to tap Altrincham into the lead.
Altrincham almost extended their advantage when a free kick from Knowles was fired into the wall, with Crawford eventually firing wide of the target from close range, moments before Vincent tested Hutchinson with a powerful volley at the other end.
Alty continued to push for a third goal though, with Reddin dancing through the Sutton defence before curling a shot down the throat of Sims with four minutes to go.
Eight added minutes gave Sutton a lifeline though, and Simper almost levelled things up in the first with a powerful drive from distance that forced Hutchinson into an excellent diving stop, moments before acrobatically volleying over the crossbar, and this was all the U’s could muster as they fell to a fifth defeat of the campaign.
Altrincham: Hutchinson; Banks (Reed 63’), Baines (Crawford 46’), Osborne, Marriott, Gale, Ward (Barnes 46’), Knowles (Kirk 89’), Reddin (Weaver 89’), Golden, Sassi
Sutton United: Sims; Vincent, Phipps, Simper, Nadesan, Taylor, Jones (Eccleston 74’), Ogbonna (Odelusi 78’), Wadham, Harris (Njoku 64’), Boutin
Photo Credit: Paul Loughlin
