Connor Hall’s late strike meant Sutton came away with nothing in Jon Meeney’s first game in interim charge despite a hard-fought and close encounter with Brackley Town.

The Saints enjoyed the better of the first half but were unable to produce enough clear cut chances to open the scoring, with Bailey Hobson going closest after four minutes when he forced Jack Sims into a strong save.

Sutton then seemed to mirror Brackley’s first half in the second, dominating the affair without having the finishing touch in front of goal, but thought they had done enough work defensively to keep a second clean sheet of the season and end their winless run without a point.

However, after a goalless opening 85 minutes, Hall dealt the cruelest of blows with five to go when Sutton failed to clear a goalmouth scramble, with Morgan Roberts’ shot cannoning off Jack Taylor and into the path of Gareth Dean, who teed up Hall to send a low shot into the bottom corner and seal the three points for Brackley.

Defeat in Northamptonshire sees Sutton continue their quest for a second win of the season, and will be looking to bounce straight back on Tuesday night with a visit to Woking (Tuesday, 23rd September; 7:45pm KO).

In his first selection as Interim Head Coach, Jon Meeney made three changes to the side that lost to Tamworth in the U’s last league game, with Dillon De Silva, Noa Boutin and Brandon Njoku replacing Siju Odelusi, David Ogbonna and Ashley Nadesan.

Brackley will have been hoping to build on their National League Cup victory over Manchester United in midweek, and produced the first opening of proceedings when Hobson pulled a strong stop out of Sims with a powerful effort that needed to be tipped away, shortly before Justin Donawa saw a dangerous cross from the right flank cleared away.

The Saints kept up the pressure during the early stages with Will Armitage seeing a looping header deflect away via a touch off Taylor, and was followed by a good bit of attacking play moments later which saw Roberts evade Vincent, before sending a low cross into the middle that the hosts failed to turn home.

Meeney’s side were certainly under the cosh early on and struggled to get out their own half, almost gifting their opponents an opener when Roberts robbed possession near the halfway line, before driving forward and sending Matt Lowe through on goal, allowing him to send a tame effort down the throat of Sims.

Nonetheless, the U’s grew into the game and utilised cross-field balls to De Silva in an attempt to carve open Brackley’s backline. One such opportunity – a free kick from Aaron Jones – led to Lewis Simper having Sutton’s first shot on goal with a tame effort that the Saints were able to deal with.

Brackley responded well though and were forced to contend with a bit of luck falling Sutton’s way when referee Michael Barlow got in the way of a dangerous Saints’ attack, letting the visitors off the hook after a rapid counter attack from a Simper free kick led to Hobson latching onto a penetrative through ball. After reaching the byline, he stood the ball up to the middle where Zak Brown picked up possession on the edge of the box, but he was stopped in his tracks by the referee, with Brackley then unable to make the most of the drop ball.

Looking to bounce back from this let off, Sutton came close to an opener themselves when a long Vincent throw-in was cleared to the edge of the box, where Jack Wadham was well-placed to blast a shot over the crossbar, and was followed by another superb chance for the visitors moments later that saw Simper and Harris both have shots in quick succession blocked.

Jones found acres of space outside the box to run in to, and despite having a clear sight of goal opted to lay it off to Simper, who’s shot was deflected into the path of Boutin. The on-loan AFC Bournemouth man got the ball under control before sending Harris away down the left flank, with the midfielder seeing a shot of his own blocked away from a tight angle.

This preceded a tame shot from Jack Price that failed to trouble Sims on the stroke of the interval, with the referee soon calling an end to a cagey opening 45 minutes at St. James Park.

A double switch at the break saw Nadesan and Junior Eccleston replace Jones and Boutin, and the former was involved instantly when he headed a Brackley corner away just a minute after the restart.

Nonetheless, this indicated plenty of intent by Meeney who opted to pair Njoku with Nadesan rather than making a like-for-like swap, and led to some early attacking threat for the U’s.

This was followed by Harris sending a dangerous, swerving effort just wide of the target, shortly before Zak Lilly was penalised for a foul on the edge of the box, and led to a couple of quickfire shots by the visitors. Simper laid the ball off to Wadham on the edge of the box who whipped a curling effort on goal that was unintentionally blocked by Vincent, but the ball fell to Harry Phipps who struck a powerful effort that Brackley cleared away.

Despite starting the second half the more dominant of the two sides, Sutton almost gifted Brackley an opener when a dangerous low cross from Riccardo Calder was turned onto the crossbar by Taylor, with the ball bouncing back onto the goalline and resulted in a goalmouth scramble that the U’s were eventually able to deal with.

As the half wore on, both sides battled but struggled to produce many clear chances of note. A powerful Lilly header with 22 minutes to go saw Sims called into action once more, but proved to be one of a premium of openings as the clash reached its business end.

Meeney responded by introducing David Ogbonna in place of Njoku though, injecting energy into the frontline with 12 minutes left, while Brackley boss Gavin Cowan brought on last season’s top scorer Hall in place of Hobson, joining Danny Waldron on the pitch who entered the fray ten minutes earlier.

While at one point it may have felt like the deadlock was about to break, it seemed as though the two sides were destined for a goalless draw when De Silva struck a powerful drive just over the crossbar after receiving it in space from Harris.

However, Brackley stole the points from the grasp of Meeney’s side when they failed to deal with a late goalmouth scramble, with the Saints finally beating Sims at the final hurdle.

A deep free kick was headed back across goal by Lilly towards Hall, who saw the ball taken off his toes by Phipps, but he could only clear as far as Roberts who sent a powerful strike on goal which cannoned off Taylor from point blank range. The ball fell back to Hall though, who tucked the ball underneath Sims and into the far corner to break the deadlock with five minutes to go, and despite a hard-fought display, meant Sutton returned to South London empty-handed.

Brackley Town: Maxted; Roberts, Price, Dean, Armitage, Brown, Lowe, Hobson (Hall 77’), Lilly, Calder, Donawa (Waldron 65’)

Sutton United: Sims; Vincent, Phipps, Simper, De Silva, Taylor, Jones (Eccleston 46’), Wadham, Harris, Boutin (Nadesan 46’), Njoku (Ogbonna 78’)

Photo Credit:Paul Loughlin