Aldershot V Sutton - Match thread

[Del]

So today we make the relatively local trip to the shots.
Our record in recent seasons could do with improving.Lets put Saturdays defeat against Dover behind us and come away from the Recreation ground with 3 points !

[Amber Aleman]

Last year we lost Jamie Collins to a somewhat harsh red card and ended up losing 2-1 to one of the poorest sides in the division. Let's hope for better fortune this time.

My recommended pub is the Garden Gate (2 Church Lane East GU11 3BT), a friendly and comfortable local in a residential area just south of the town centre. It regularly serves beer from the Surrey Hills brewery, so you might find on their Shere Drop, CAMRA's current Champion Beer of Britain. About fifteen minutes' walk from the football ground via St Michael's Road.

[pinewalker]

Aug 26, 2019 9:06:01 GMT Del said:

So today we make the relatively local trip to the shots.
Our record in recent seasons could do with improving.Lets put Saturdays defeat against Dover behind us and come away from the Recreation ground with 3 points !

Perhaps we should let Aldershot play us off the park, while we con the referee into sending a home player off. Then U's could bag a goal and three points. Regular visitors will understand.

[Bournemouth U]

Well a point it better then none considering it feels like ages since we took any from The EBB Stadium

[Del]

Yes but dreadful to watch .Solid and organised we may be but devoid of flair !

Jarvis up front on his own most of the game with no other attacking player near him. Yes it was extremely hot out there but we are lacking that creative spark all teams need.
Aldershot were there for the taking if we had been more adventurous.

[ganderpoke]

Once again, plenty of sideways and backwards passing but nothing penetrating going forwards. Apart from the penalty did we trouble their keeper?
If that was our first choice midfield out there, then it sure needs an injection of creativity from somewhere. Over to you Matt.

[sallycat]

Does anyone know how Dan Matsuzaka is? We couldn't tell exactly what happened but it looked as if he was choking on something until an Aldershot player came to his aid and removed whatever it was. If that is indeed what happened, well done Connor Shields, you may well have saved a life today.

I know we always whinge about the facilities for away fans at Aldershot but this was a new low: I went to pour some milk into my tea and just spotted in time that it had expired in April 2019. They didn't have any more, so that was that. Hope nobody gets sick.

[pinewalker]

Aug 26, 2019 17:06:27 GMT Del said:

Yes but dreadful to watch .Solid and organised we may be but devoid of flair !

Jarvis up front on his own most of the game with no other attacking player near him. Yes it was extremely hot out there but we are lacking that creative spark all teams need.
Aldershot were there for the taking if we had been more adventurous.

And we so nearly took the points but for our ridiculous decision-making when indulging in 'game management' in the last two minutes.

To be fair it was an act of stupidity by Aldershot to give away a penalty by pulling a player back in their area, because U's did not look like scoring without help.  Having gone ahead through JCs spot kick and holding on without alarms to the lead, U's get a corner-kick in the 88th minute. Dundas (just on) and Tommy discuss it.  Go on - have a guess!  Yep, just the two of them upfield, everybody else drops back to the Sutton half.  It took U's 2 touches of the ball to lose it out for a Shots throw.  A long throw down the line and the ref gives a foul beside the dug-out. Aldershot free kick.  20 players in the 6 yard area Butler punches away twice, not cleared properly. Scramble. Aldershot score.

Entirely and utterly predicted by the U's fans.  Will the management wake up! We are pants at the hold it by the corner flag routine.  This season we are damned awful at defending set pieces that deliver a ball in the air into our penalty area.  So we know what our weaknesses are - why do we play to them?

[pinewalker]

Aug 26, 2019 17:48:54 GMT sallycat said:

Does anyone know how Dan Matsuzaka is? We couldn't tell exactly what happened but it looked as if he was choking on something until an Aldershot player came to his aid and removed whatever it was. If that is indeed what happened, well done Connor Shields, you may well have saved a life today.

I know we always whinge about the facilities for away fans at Aldershot but this was a new low: I went to pour some milk into my tea and just spotted in time that it had expired in April 2019. They didn't have any more, so that was that. Hope nobody gets sick.

I think Dan was knocked out by a blow to the temple: acccidental in a 3 way collision with one Shots player and Butler.  Shields did the right thing to prevent Dan swallowing his tongue.  The doctor called the ambulance service from the pitch, it was 40 minutes later the ambulance departed.

[halftimet]

Jarvis had an excellent game today but there was no-one around him to take the knock downs. I thought that might change when Wright came on but instead he was played wide right.. We give the ball away far too often and the wide players were hardly in the game. We need to change the shape if it is not working. Aldershot were poor but we were no better. A draw was a fair result. Apart from the penalty did we have a shot on target?

[johnnykwango]

A drab game. The only positive being that the tedious drummer in the home terracing gave up, presumably through boredom.
Big thumbs up to Shields, their number 10, who immediately spotted Dan M was ‘rather out of sorts’ after that collision.
Shame we couldn’t hang on but can’t complain at the draw.

Might not bother next season, but said that last time and the time before that.......

[davethegrave]

Well I didn't go but surprised to see so much negativity on here.

[os]

Aug 26, 2019 17:48:54 GMT sallycat said:

Does anyone know how Dan Matsuzaka is?

The info I have from SUFCtv who checked tonight, Dan is fine, awaiting scan results to confirm nothing is wrong 'hopefully' and they will let him out later tonight.

[baboonfish]

At this early stage it feels like we are a nailed on midtable side and as fans we may be in for another long and rather drab season. Conference football is a real slog! Midtable is fine by me but I'm not sure how much more of this I can actually be bothered to watch and I think our attendances will be well down on the last few seasons. Praying for a decent cup run to make things interesting.

[Amber Aleman]

Hardly a classic, but given the 30C heat, and that both teams were playing for the second time in three days, allowances should be made. There was some nice football played between the penalty areas, but testing shots on target were few and far between.

There were a few changes to the Sutton starting XI, some enforced. Dale Bennett was sidelined by the injury he picked up on Saturday, so Tom B dropped in at right back and George Tuson-Firth made his first start for us out wide. A recuperating Jamie Collins wasn't risked and so dropped to the bench with Dan Matsuzaka taking his place at centre back. Aaron Jarvis was preferred to Omar Bugiel in the lone striker role.

The head injury to Dan M was understandably the talking point of the first half, meaning that JC had to come on and play in a match he might have expected to sit out. He kept his cool when we were awarded a late penalty for a shove on Jarvis. But having grabbed a 1-0 lead we were unable to see out the four minutes of stoppage time, conceding a scrambled equaliser after failing to clear our lines. So still no wins at the Rec in the post-Rains era.

We're now 9th, five points above Aldershot who occupy the highest relegation spot.