Report by Josh Bailey
Sutton United Women were unable to replicate last week’s comeback as they suffered their first defeat of the season on Sunday, losing 2-0 to Dartford FC Women.
The two teams were evenly matched in a quiet opening 10 minutes, with the only clear chance falling to Dartford’s Leen Ekwo, who had space and time on the edge of the area but failed to apply enough curl on her shot, finding the gloves of Sutton goalkeeper, Megan Taylor, instead.
It seemed part of manager Lucy Clark’s game plan to frustrate and suffocate the Darts and for the first half, it worked, with neither side getting a desired foothold in the game.
The Kent-based side had the better chances, but openings were rare, and they never really tested Taylor.
For Sutton, chances were at an even greater premium, with their best opportunity coming at the end of the first half, when an in-swinging corner went over the head of Dartford goalkeeper, Jade Charlton, and connected with Zoe Walters at the back left post, who could only watch it go agonisingly wide.
However, after a positive first half, the second started disastrously for the U’s.
On the 54th minute, Ella Dolby’s cross looped over Taylor into the top left corner to put Dartford in front and in just few a minutes the home side had doubled their lead through Xayla-Rae Alberts, who tried her luck from distance, finding the top left corner, giving an outstretched Taylor no chance of getting a glove on it.
At this point, you would have forgiven Sutton for letting their heads drop, but in a flash, they were nearly back in the game, Milly Cutler rattling the post from six yards out, after doing superbly to get on the end of a Gabrielle Williams cross.
After a frantic five minutes, the game began to calm but Sutton struggled to assert their dominance and a way back into the game alluded the U’s. Clarke tried to change this, with a flurry of substitutions, but nothing seemed to work as Dartford’s grip on affairs only strengthened with every passing minute.
And after four additional minutes, at the end of the 90, the referee blew his whistle to condemn Sutton to their first defeat of the new campaign but in her post match interview, Clarke was only seeing the positives.
She said: “We battled hard, we worked hard and they know they’ve had a game. This shows the level we’re at now.”
Fortunately, the U’s have a short week and only have to wait a few days to put Sunday’s woes behind them, welcoming Millwall Lionesses to the David Weir Leisure Centre on Wednesday.
Sutton United Women: Megan Taylor (GK), Sophie Modak, Tessa Allen, Beth Humphrey, Zoe Walters, Eden Clark, K’Shaela Burch-Waldron, Millie German, Gabrielle Williams, Emma Spear
Dartford FC Women: Jade Charlton (GK), Abbey Davies, Lizzie Adams, Shauni Griffiths, Leen Ekwo, Xayla-Rae Alberts, Mya Lewis-Powell, Gabby Howell, Ellie Dolby, Amina Hanif, Mercedes Bromfield
