Stockport v Sutton - Match thread

[Amber Aleman]

Feb 2, 2021 22:19:02 GMT garethl said:

Do you mean whilst in the top league of non-league as assume we must (?!) have been further north than FGR in the Isthmian?

25 November 2003: Kettering 0 Sutton 1

[markf]

Good shout AA. Even so, still hardly oop north is it?

I went to that game on the coach. Horrendous traffic meant kick off was well past 9pm. Jon Nurse scored the only goal.

[markf]

Feb 2, 2021 22:36:56 GMT Amber Aleman said:

Feb 2, 2021 22:19:02 GMT garethl said:

Do you mean whilst in the top league of non-league as assume we must (?!) have been further north than FGR in the Isthmian?

25 November 2003: Kettering 0 Sutton 1

I was concentrating on the GMVC/NL tbh.

[sallycat]

Feb 2, 2021 22:49:52 GMT markf said:

Good shout AA. Even so, still hardly oop north is it?

I went to that game on the coach. Horrendous traffic meant kick off was well past 9pm. Jon Nurse scored the only goal.

I was talking about that game just the other day! What a weird evening that was

[markf]

It was hammering it down on the way there. M25 was at a standstill from around Staines to M1 turn off.

Coach headed up M40 and then across country.

A lot of home fans had gone home not expecting the game to be played.

[Andy K]

What a fantastic result. As frakey said with his superb stat, travelling away on a midweek evening has never really been a strong point for us, especially a 200 mile odd trip - I think even this season we've seen that (at Wrexham), but not only did we come away with a deserved 3 points, but kept another clean sheet. I think we knew already that in the pairing of John and Goodliffe we have possibly the best centre back duo in the league (with Coby when fit as a superb backup), but let's not forget Milsom who is having a great spell (which he had to to keep Wyatt on the bench) but a real unsung hero of the side to me is Barden who is up there as one of my players of the season.

Torquay losing last night was a bonus, but their form has been wobbly recently (winning only 2 of the last 6 against the relegation candidates Weymouth and Barnet) it doesn't surprise me too much. Our last 6 games (2 wins, 2 draws, 2 defeats) have been really tough - a resurgent Chesterfield and top of the form table Hartlepool being our defeats), but then drawing with the current first place and 4th place side and beating the current 5th and 10th place side really isn't something that we should take for granted and is a superb set of results for a small club like us.

Having a quick look at the table too, our home and away form are identical (W5 D2 L2 in each) and of course winning our 3 games in hand will put us on level points with Torquay at the top. Only one other side can do that, and that Solihull, down in 14th, but have SIX games in hand over Torquay.

After the trophy we have a run of games against sides (bar 1) all in the bottom half of the table, with BW being the toughest nut to crack with one of the best defences in the league. If we manage to go what we hope we can achieve by the end of this month we could be in a very good position indeed.

[Amber Aleman]

As the fixtures currently stand, seven of our next nine games are at home, with us only having to travel as far as Boreham Wood and Dagenham. Those games do come thick and fast, but, after the eight days the players have just had, spending less time on the road should be a welcome break.

Our next long scheduled trip (assuming the season continues) is to King's Lynn on 13 March - though, of course, if we get through to the Trophy quarter-finals then we could be drawn away on 27 February.

[markf]

Interesting to hear Matt G state that Hogan got the ball first. Just shows how angles can be deceiving and as a result how ref'get such decisions wrong. That's where VAR does its job. However, as we know, the modern rules of football allow that playing the ball doesn't mean a tackle is still not a foul; "not in control", "excessive force" etc.

As for the red card, I thought he had shown the guy a yellow and the red was for f&a language. If the red was for the foul then the ref clearly lost any resemblance of logical thinking and clearly dismissed the "double jeopardy" law. That's poor officiating.

[Andy K]

Feb 3, 2021 11:06:06 GMT markf said:

Interesting to hear Matt G state that Hogan got the ball first. Just shows how angles can be deceiving and as a result how ref'get such decisions wrong. That's where VAR does its job. However, as we know, the modern rules of football allow that playing the ball doesn't mean a tackle is still not a foul; "not in control", "excessive force" etc.

As for the red card, I thought he had shown the guy a yellow and the red was for f&a language. If the red was for the foul then the ref clearly lost any resemblance of logical thinking and clearly dismissed the "double jeopardy" law. That's poor officiating.

According to flash scores yesterday (which I know isn't the most reliable) Hogan got a yellow in the 57th min and another in the 58th which backs up exactly your assessment.

[sallycat]

Feb 3, 2021 10:32:30 GMT Amber Aleman said:

As the fixtures currently stand, seven of our next nine games are at home, with us only having to travel as far as Boreham Wood and Dagenham. Those games do come thick and fast, but, after the eight days the players have just had, spending less time on the road should be a welcome break.

Our next long scheduled trip (assuming the season continues) is to King's Lynn on 13 March - though, of course, if we get through to the Trophy quarter-finals then we could be drawn away on 27 February.

If we do get through, I think that means we have eight games scheduled in February. Not that they're by any means all guaranteed to go ahead, but I wonder when we last - if ever - played eight games in the shortest month. We've had a few busy Februarys in recent years with seven games, but no more. There have been times when that many were scheduled but February tends to be a difficult month for weather and pitch related postponements.

[banjo]

Well done lads, greate result! 'For ever amber'

[pinewalker]

Feb 2, 2021 22:04:28 GMT markf said:

First of all to concur re the comments about their stream. Excellent commentary and summarising duo. Camera work very good too.

What a brilliant team performance. Ok, we got a slice of fortune with the first goal then their skipper got himself sent off for debating what looked a nailed on penalty but even so. Considering the time the players have spent on a coach over the last 8 days to pull that out on a weather worn pitch against an in-form side is something else. Well done to all and another feather in the Matt Gray hat. Under the circumstances, arguably the club's finest away win in the NL. Certainly up there with Lincoln and Tranmere.

I was trying to remember the last time Sutton won an away midweek league fixture up north but couldn't so I looked it up. The answer is NEVER BEFORE. We did win at Northwich in May 1987 but that was a 3pm ko on a Bank Holiday Monday. The furthest north we had recorded midweek victory was at Forest Green under John Rains (we were winning 2-1 when the lights went out but went back there again and won anyway).

Extraordinary statistic.  But long journeys midweek and usually by rail (I wonder if that made a difference) are most likely to dispirit the away side and leave them more tired towards the end of the game. So those matches are tougher than a 3pm game at the same place on a Saturday.

Matt probably encouraged the U's by telling them Stockport was the nearest game of the week!

[sallycat]

There is also the consideration that we've only spent a small proportion of our history playing in a national division plus there are always fewer midweek games than weekend ones. But still...!

[Stewart]

What a goal!

[oohaah]

The commentators were right in saying that if he hadn't scored it would have been penalty anyway. Probably one of the most uncontrolled challenges I've seen for a long time... Clearly no consideration for the damage he could have done.