A second half turnaround sealed back to back wins for Sutton in the EFL Youth Alliance South Division. It was Northampton who started on the front foot, nearly scoring inside the opening seven minutes when a free kick on the far side travelled through several bodies before reaching Joshua Alonge, who smashed his effort past the left post. However two minutes later the Cobblers found the target, Tom Goodman laying the ball off to the skipper Harry Stephenson, whose low effort from the edge of D found the bottom left corner.

Sutton looked to respond quickly with a driving run down the right from Rashaad Drysdale, starting in his own half, but no one was there to exploit the opportunity at the back post. Stephenson nearly doubled his tally for the day, seeing his volley on the edge of the box soar over the bar. The hosts then found themselves in a vulnerable position when a ball over the top found Omotolani Bello, who was brought down by Alonge, the defender being cautioned. The free kick which followed the foul, taken by Ronny Ruiz, failed to beat the wall.

Sutton’s first genuine opportunity to strike back came in the 29th minute, when a weighted through ball from Bobby Sheargold found Drysdale who was clear, but instead of shooting he tried to cut the ball back onto his favoured foot and the claret and white shirts cleared the danger. A long throw from Dan Urpens was cleared to the edge of the penalty area and Ruiz’s effort on the volley went past the left post. Five minutes before half time Sheargold dispossessed Raffagelo Olveti on the edge of the area, driving into the right side of the penalty box but his low effort was saved by Jamie Morrison. Sheargold, who scored in the 2-1 victory at this ground last season, had another opportunity when Callum Lee found him but his effort from the edge of the area was straight at Morrison.

Glen Nichols expressed the half time message to “keep the energy levels up”, and to keep doing “ more of the same”. The message was clearly received, as within a minute Bello won the ball back inside the penalty area and his attempted cut back was blocked, leading to  a corner, and Adam Reeves’ delivery was headed home by Jay Coombes, netting for the second time in this competition. Twelve minutes later Sutton nearly completed the comeback, Bello winning the  ball and finding Sheargold on the left side of the D, his shot pushed away by Morrison.

On the hour mark Glen Nichols made a double change, Geri Katana and Sheargold making way for Leo Ginger and Jayden Obarotimi. The two substitutes were involved instantly. Bello released Ginger down the left hand channel, but instead of shooting he unselfishly found Obarotimi at the back post, but his effort only found the side netting, although the assistant’s flag was already raised. Glen Nichols stated that “ the sub contribution was really good today”.

With 25 minutes to play it was the visitors who looked most likely to take all three points. Ginger was next to try his luck, seeing his effort from 25 yards out fly over the bar, and three minutes later Sutton launched a swift counter attack, Klevis Muca’s long throw finding Ginger, whose fine crossfield pass just evaded Drysdale. On the 70 minute mark, though, Sutton struck gold as a corner from the opposite side was headed home by Reeves, scoring his first in the competition this season.

Northampton were running out of time and made a quadruple change with ten minutes left to play. Two of the substitutes combined within minutes as Max Goodacre set Harry Shipley away down the right, but no one  was able to benefit from the delivery. It was the hosts’ only chance of the half, with Glen Nichols expressing that  today was “reminiscent of recent performances, offering the opponents only limited opportunities”. Sutton nearly added a third in the second minute of stoppage time, as a ball from Bello found Josh Jenkins in the left channel and he took the ball around Morrison, but no one was able to get on the end of his cross for what would have been an open goal.

It was another successful away day for the U’s which saw a 200 mile round trip end with bringing three points back to South London. Sutton are next back in action in this competition next Saturday away to a Stevenage side currently third in the table.

Sutton : K Muca, C Lee, A Reeves, J Coombes, D Urpens, R Drysdale(sub J Jenkins 75), B Sheargold (sub J Obarotimi 59), G Katana(sub L Ginger 59), O Bello, B San-Norton, R Ruiz(sub D Ashia 75).

Report: Finlay Harris