Sutton 1 Eastleigh 1

[johnnie1]

[shrewsbury posse]

Mitchell Nelson sent off oh dear

[forzagiallli]

C'mon guys... !!!!!

[shrewsbury posse]

1-0 to Eastleigh oh dear oh dear

[swedishchapter]

1-1 Dundas pen :-)

[shrewsbury posse]

FT 1-1 well done guys

[dof]

Full Time Sutton 1 Eastlegh 1 Good result for Sutton bearing in mind lost Nelson early on.

[Jared]

Slightly frustating not to have won in the end, but can't fault the way the team played in the 2nd half, playing some fantastic Football even with 10 men. Judging by today's performance Eastleigh are nothing special.

[northernmonkey]

My view on today's encounter is very mixed.

I am incredibly angry with Nelson for letting everyone down like that, it was a terrible challenge and was a definite red card. Why he did it I have no idea, as from what I could see, Clough and McDonald were both closeby.

Then Eastleigh's number 6 tries to kick someone's head off and gets a yellow card immediately after.. Not sure how it wasn't a red.

The dirtiness continued largely on Eastleigh's part, but from time to time our lot put a foot in.

It meant the first half was largely a complete mess and was even worse to watch. It was like 2 people playing each other at FIFA who haven't yet learnt the buttons.

Then they scored. A horrible goal. No one was covering at right back and it was bundled in. As far as I can remember this is the only thing Fleetwood was involved in, he was poor beyond belief.

Onto the second half and Doswell clearly gave an excellent team talk, as the side came out completely reorganised and reenergised. Definite penalty and dispatched with aplomb by Dundas.

Should have made it 2-1 to the U's after good work by Folkes lead to Scannell missing an open goal after the goalkeeper (who was terrible all game, the only worse keeper I've seen all season was the Staines keeper) ran into no-mans land.

Very, very good second half from Sutton, extremely unfortunate not to win. In truth though, it is one of those draws that neither side will not be happy with, due to how it transpired.

That said, if I was an Eastleigh fan, (which I am most certainly not) I would be distraught with that result and moreover the performance shown by the 'top of the table side'.

Not sure what everyone else thought, but to my eyes, they looked a long, long way short of what is required, and even further behind the best side we've faced this season; Bishop's Stortford.

Onwards and upwards though! I am extremely proud of the second half performance and the effort everyone showed! Come on The U's!!

[garethl]

V good display. Bad tackle from Mitchell and he left the floor a couple of times in cup games too. Needs to be more careful. Other than that all positives. Dominated the leaders a man down which you can't fault. Ali gave the most complete midfield performance I have seen on the ground. Too young to remember Curley and Pritchard but he looked at least 2 levels above today. Shame we couldn't seal it with the golden chance at the end. I'd imagine Eastleigh will go home very disappointed with what they saw. Based on that we have seen a lot better but I guess we must have caught them on a bad day and credit to our guys making them play that way. They didn't play at all

[bornatotter]

Proud as hell of our lads tonite. Be clear about it, with ten men after twenty minutes. A ref who should have at least one of there's off and some shocking spoiling tactics by a lumpen and negative Eastleigh we should still have won this even after going one down to a soft goal just before the break. Today we saw the best side in the conf south and it wasn't the snidely mob of posers from down the M3. No wonder Eastleigh have to make up their attendance figures Very few people with any sense would pay to watch that lot week in and week out and with their alleged wage bill "money for old rope" ain't the half of it. We simply outclassed them in every department We have nothing to fear next week up in the west mids as the 13 game unbeaten run rolls on and the strength spirit and quality of this group of players shines through. Every man jack of em a credit to the amber shirt today. Go on the sutton.

[baboonfish]

Superb 2nd half from the lads, only one team came out of that game with any credit. Eastleigh might be top of league but if I had to watch my team play that kind of football week in week out I think I'd look elsewhere, to me they're nothing but Ryman league deluxe. I second northern monkey' s opinion on Nelson's challenge, it was only matched in 100%-ness by our pen. However, I disagree the Easleigh challenge a few moments later was anything other than a yellow, compared to Mitch's tackle it was nothing at all. First half best forgotten but well done to the lads for coming out and outplaying top of the table with ten men. Downer and Clough were absolutely superb, I hope Clough sticks around for many a season as he's top quality. Just behind those two were Dundas, who drove the team forward with a gutsy display, and Riviere, who was also superb.

[Amber Aleman]

Yup, a magnificent second half performance from the ten men. The first half didn't go well for us with Jamie T limping off then Nelson seeing red for a stupid challenge on Fleetwood out on the wing where there was no threat to our goal. Eastleigh took the lead when their left back ran into space that probably wouldn't have been there had we eleven men on the pitch; Tom couldn't hold the shot, presenting McAllister with a tap-in. But after Dundo's smashed penalty brought us level we looked the more likely winners.

Eastleigh were missing Jai Reason, but with a starting forward line of Fleetwood, McAllister and Odubade you'd have expected them to pose more goal threat. Instead they were mostly lumpen and one-dimensional. Bromley have now taken top spot off them, and on the basis of what I've seen this season that's fully deserved.

[Stewart]

Here is the Dundas penalty.

[Andy K]

Before I say anything else - a 1-1 draw against the clear favourites for the title, playing with 10 men for an hour and losing our most talented forward early on to injury, I think that shows how strong we actually are.

Right then....Mitchells red. Fully deserved. Awful challenge, and totally avoidable. It's a shame he;s let himself down so badly when in recent weeks he's been putting in some really good performances. Not quite sure how their player stayed on for a similar (albeit slightly less "effective") challenge two minutes later. But then the ref was pretty inconsistent across the board - how their player didnt get a card when dundo was brought down, or their No4 didn't get more harsh treatment when he put his arm round Scannells neck off the ball after bringing him down, or how Downer escaped a yellow for a rash challenge late in the 2nd half.

As for Eastleigh - they were nothing special at their place, and certainly nothing special at ours. With a player like Fleetwood, who according to rumours is on a 4 figure wage per week, you'd expect a return on your investment, but my he was poor. Eastleigh certainly defend well, but if it wasn't for a bit of luck and and Nelson, we'd have 3 points today. Agree with AA - Bromley looked better, and Stortford certainly do. If they can keep up what they are doing, I'd say they are more of a rival for the title than Eastleigh today. Certainly some of their fans were calling for their manager to resign. After an away draw against one of the title favourites, I'd say that was a little harsh, but Eastleigh are struggling in front of goal, and have been all season, it's their defence that are keeping them in with a shout.

Saying that, I do agree that some of our play today made Eastleigh look very ordinary. We were certainly galvanised after half time and we had some superb performances. McDonald, Dundas, Binns, Scannell and our midfield in general were top draw today. If I had to give a MoM though, I think Clough probably just shaded it. Job done with minimum of fuss.

I'm a little disappointed as as the game went on, we were more likely to win, and if the game had gone on another 10 min, I reckon we'd have taken 3 points. But today's performance shows what a side Dos has made this season, and a cup run which will obviously help finance keeping that side in place. Good to see jay F back too. Overall a performance which to me I think was probably better than one of our big wins like the Staines game.

We've got no one to fear in this league now.