Sutton vs. Bishops Stortford (Match Thread)

[localboy86]

Nice post - most are in the Ryman, ones merged, ones in the football league and one went out of business and then reformed.'

Still remember that first game in the Conf South against St. Albans

[Stewart]

Do we need to worry about the rain?

[DaveF]

You really do need to chill out Stewart, surface should help the ball fizz and hopefully lead to a good game

[Stewart]

Aug 24, 2013 10:58:00 GMT DaveF said:

You really do need to chill out Stewart, surface should help the ball fizz and hopefully lead to a good game

Thanks Dave I'm looking forward to fizz footy today

[baboonfish]

1-2 defeat, thats a dreadful dreadful result, what went wrong? i dont care if its raining, we should not be losing games like that with the squad we have. the boys need to make amends on monday or title talk is going to look pretty stupid. i would love to know how many teams have managed the BSS title after 3 points from 9, I would wager none. put me in a right foul mood that has, especially after tuesdays performance!

[garethl]

Beaten by a better side. Stronger and sharper all over the park today. Appalling 2nd half. Barely mustered a pass and our only shots on goal came in last 5. That said we may have held out bar IMO one of the few terrible subs Dos has made in his time (he/his mangt team is allowed the odd one). Don't think we had any reason to change our right back, 2 mistakes directly led to 2 goals albeit 2nd a worldy finish. We were well beaten by a good side but if we are going to compete for the play offs we need to find a way of beating good sides at home. We never at any stage got to grips with their system or tried to match up in the middle of the park until late when Dundas dropped back. Not often you see wing backs work at a decent level. Stortford will be top half. Nelson under a lot of pressure now with crowd well on his case, going to have to show a lot of character if he wants to succeed at Sutton.

[markf2]

First of all, well done Stortford who continue to be a real bogey side for us. Thought we just but only just edged the first half, albeit leading from an og. Second half we just weren't at it and while both BS goals were excellent strikes, the second - a goal of the season possibly decade - how far out was he? - they came from us giving the ball away cheaply.

At 2-1 we never went for it and I'm afraid, as the beginning of last season just had no idea how to break down a resolute defence to the point we gave the ball away in some dodgy areas.

Suspect Dos is very disappointed this evening.

Only good thing was the heavy rain kept the gate down to just 405 (worst on a Sat for how long?) so not many there to see a faltering second half performance.

[baboonfish]

so did nelson come on and make another mistake? ive honestly never seen a player give the ball away so cheaply so often in dangerous positions, really what goes through his mind? no one does these things on purpose but there must be a serious technical or mental flaw in his game

[jr]

My first game of the season and bot was it horrendous. After enduring a dire day at The Oval yesterday and cricket being called off today I was looking forward to seeing the mighty yellows. The first half was ok but the second half, wow. I really didn't think it was possible to play that bad. BS were sharper all over the park and seemed to have 3 men on our guys every time they had the ball. I couldn't believe how shot shy we were, given the surface and had just 3 shots at goal in the 2nd half, all at the death. By his standards Dundas had a poor game losing the ball far too often, but the same can be said to most of the players. They're now becoming our bogey side and that's rather worrying. A fabulous strike for the winner but the guy shouldn't have been in that position in the first place. When we concede possession like we did in the 2nd half there was only going to be one outcome.

Fortunately we have a great manager who will sort this out very quickly.

With Eastleigh and Dover losing we missed a chance of getting right up there. The worrying thing is how Bromley are doing. Another good win today. Will be interesting to see how they get on at Stortford on Monday.

[Andy K]

I think at the top of the table we should be more worried about Basingstoke than Bromley - They've beaten slightly stronger opposition, including inflicting and wiping out Eastleigh's goal difference.

As for us. First half we showed some good play, with Rivs being especially good in the centre of the park. They were certainly a lot stronger than Staines were on Tuesday, but again we had the lions share of the chances.

Without wanting to single out one player, we lost it when Nelson came on, at which point we were one up. Someone in the crowd said it was maybe to "Sure up the defence" whilst another said "I'd rather see Wayne Shaw there". As it showed they may have had a point. Both of their goals, however well they took them, which to be honest they did, started in the same point in the park, and the first goal especially came from some chronic misunderstanding between Folkes and Nelson. A gift well taken. Similar story for the 2nd goal. Thanks to the conditions they missed a golden chance for a third when Lovelock had to act as emergency right back as Nelson was nowhere in sight. Even after going 2-1 down we spent a lot of time passing it around at the back and then hoofing it forward where their tall defenders coped with ease. It's only when we started running at them they looked a bit shakey. Was especially good to see Binns back doing a good job on the left, taking on the good job that Rents and Marv did in the first half. But my word, we were poor down the right - when Binns came on and Marv switched to the right, he didn't get a touch for 15 mins.

I really don't know what it is about our right back position, but pretty much since KES retired, it's been a curse for us. I know Dos likes players to go forward from that position, but they have to be aware that if that happens, the other defenders are ready to cover whilst they run back. Sam Rents gets that, but Folkes and Nelson just don't. I don't get why (and I'm sure there is a reason) why Scannell didn't come on for Folkes and Nelson told to just do a right backs job.

I know the weather didn't help things, but it was the same for both sides, Stortford adapted to the conditions better and deserved their win, and their 2nd goal was one of those rare beasts that was a pleasure to see going against your side!

Monday is going to be a tough game...we nee to tighten up, and quickly.

[garethl]

Not sure Folkes did such a bad job?

Assume Scannell didn't pull up so well from Tuesday run out? Binns for McDonald was the obvious change presuming that was the case.

Don't think Nelson trying to do anything going forward was the problem, just 2 poor errors. 1st aided by Folkes, 2nd by Sinclair though I still think Nelson should have got comfortably to the ball 1st.

[Amber Aleman]

After the exhilirating win against Staines this was a damp squib of a game, albeit lit up by a spectacular long-range winner from the visitors. We were the better side until taking the lead (through another og from a Dean McDonald cross) but then lost impetus and Stortford gradually gained the upper hand. They were solid and well organised (as you'd expect of a team managed by Rod Stringer) but looked to me no more than an average side for this level. But they do have a lot of big, ball-winning players, and we looked rather lightweight by comparison.

This was the sort of match in which we missed the physical presence of Jamie Slabber. Jamie T, who'd run riot against Staines, barely had a sniff of goal this afternoon. I don't know why Scannell didn't play. Binns made a bit of difference when he came on with a couple of jinking runs, but wasn't able to find the telling cross.

Next we play the two sides promoted from the Ryman. I expect Concord's style of play to be similar to Stortford's so perhaps we can use today's experience as a lesson for Monday.

[os]

You have to hand it to Stortford and their manager for getting it spot on today. We were comfortable and 1-0 up to the half hour mark but failed to heed the warning signs and paid the price against a hard working but average conference south side. They squeezed us in midfield and used the conditions to deny us time and space on the ball and from that moment until the last 5mins when they stepped off us we really didn't get much of a sniff. As for our defence that is 11 games now without clean sheet, I know Dos doesn't like statistics but in this case they don't lie, our defending is simply not good enough to seriously contend for the title or playoff place.

Credit to Stortford in the way they defended, no mucking about, no dwelling on the ball just make sure you get the ball out of the danger area on a difficult surface. We on the other hand tend to think its cabaret time when out back line has it, I don't know about others but I can barely look when we play it back to Tomo or square across the back. I know we are looking to build from the back but when the conditions were as they were today and your midfield are being closely marshaled, it should be safety first. For me I would put Simon (when fit) at right back and Swaibu in the middle, Mitchell is just too dangerous in there. I still think we need to bring in a quality right or center back even if that means losing one of our attacking options.

There is enough quality in this side to win the title but not with a defence that leaks more then Thames Water?

Great goal from their lad today, but if it was us taking a pot shot from 35yards there would have been a blue shirt charging it down?

[northernmonkey]

Hello everyone!

This was my second ever Sutton United game today and whilst it wasn't the best performance I am going to overlook that!

My first game was the 3-0 romp against Billericay Town at the end of last season. I am originally from the Lake District (don't ask why I ended up in London.. It was work!) and loved non-league football up there. I followed my local side Kendal Town FC.

Me and my girlfriend both work in London and are currently house hunting for a more affordable place with a bit more space without paying the crazy prices of zones 2-3. We ended up looking in Sutton and found some really great places available, with a reasonable commute to Victoria, where we both work near.

Anyway, we have put an offer in today on a place in SM2 and as I viewed the property again at 2:15, all I could think was - Sutton kick off at 3pm!

Despite the terrible weather I enjoyed myself today and will certainly be back. I met a friendly older fellow behind the goal in the second half who quickly realised I'm not a local and welcomed me in. Hopefully I will get to meet some others if we get this offer accepted!!

[bornatotter]

We are away and missing a couple of games. Followed it on b.s. Twitter feed and thought maybe he was big ing it up a bit in his commentary but sounds not as always it's the response that counts and the consistency of the comments on here suggest that today's issues are staring us in the face. Tough league whatever big names you've got in the ranks.