Sutton 1 Havant 2

[markf2]

See new thread Stewart, entitled to Match Sec.

[Amber Aleman]

And so Sutton tumble out of their second FA competition in the space of eight days. At least the SSC is now the only distraction from the league campaign.

There are echoes of our Trophy exit at the same stage two seasons ago when we also lost 2-1 at home to a Hampshire side who we'd beaten away in the league (in that case, Basingstoke Town).

I can imagine Dos telling the players before kick-off that the 5-0 romp at Westleigh Park in September would have little bearing on this game, and so it proved. The pace of Kabba and Nanetti stretched our defence, with the former being brought down for the first pen and scoring their late second goal on the break. It could have been worse, but the goal frame came to our rescue a few times. (There were, I think, three rebounds off the post in the aftermath of that controversial second penalty award). But their back line looked a bit shaky and had their giant keeper not made three or four fine saves we could very well be in Monday's draw. He had no chance with the screamer from Dundo that pulled us back to 2-1, but we didn't then make the most of our pressure in the five minutes of stoppage time.

Then again, did anyone really want to trek down to Havant on Monday night?

[Stewart]

I was hoping for an equaliser Amberaleman


Kiddy , Bath and now Havant fans are saying the Sutton game has been the best game of their season Maybe they would have a different view if we had won the games!

[os]

Like many I can't say I am too disappointed to be out of the Trophy, and with our smallish squad I think we need all our resources for the league. As for the match I don't think we played too badly and would have been quite worthy of a draw. Having said that I think we are starting to lack a final ball or maybe that extra bit of movement in the box to turn half chances into clear cut ones. Slab's doesn't look at his best to me and JT coming back is something we really need. How is Marv? I haven't heard anything about where he is on the road to recovery?

I think we bossed the game until their 1st penalty which looked very soft from where I was? Havant were dogid at the back and congested the penalty area, it wasn't until we got some width through Bins late on that we looked although we could score (not moaning as I know Dale is carrying a knock). Their second goal came from a poor kick out by the otherwise immaculate Tom, and who's overall distribution is getting better and better.

As so often when we need him the big man steps up to the plate and finds us a goal, and what a goal it was too. If fortune wanted us to continue in the trophy she would have provided a little more luck in the final minutes but it wasn't to be.

As for the second penalty, that was embarrassing for not only the ref to give but for the No7 who will have to live with the fact its on video for the world to see. He does appear to have broken the law of physics to go along with his pulled hamstring tonight!

[Del]

Nov 16, 2013 10:33:08 GMT Stewart said:

Nov 16, 2013 8:49:38 GMT Del said:

Hard to get excited about the trophy after the FA Cup run.Another distraction in the way of getting promotion!

if we win today our away match at Dover will be on a tuesday night!

Let us hope the team are more enthusiastic than you Delboy

I don't believe how i feel about the competition has any bearing on what the team feel.My thoughts are that our squad is too small to take on a league challenge & a cup run.We played ok until Havant got the penalty & that seemed to effect our composure.Still a cracking last 20 minutes & lets hope we can get our season back on track at home to Dorchester.

[Stewart]

Is our squad that much smaller than other teams in our league? I can't imagine many have larger squads.

[baboonfish]

I would say most squads in this league would be 18. Ours seems to be more like 16 unless you include the likes of McKimm and Telfs, who are probably not going to feature, 17 if you count big Wayne. Dos has gone for quality over quantity and thats not without its risks, although I have no doubt he'll find good players on short notice if needed, as he did with Haysman. What happened to him and is there any likelihood of him returning if we were to get light again? Seemed like a good young player. On the other hand, I seem to remember Liverpool winning the double in 1986 using only 14 players in the whole season.

[bornatotter]

I don't think there's any question that Dos will be keeping an eye on the loan market Kane came in when we were stretched early in the season and suttons training set up must be an attractive proposition for pro clubs looking to give player some seriously competitive match time. I am not too bothered about the size of the squad. It's not that long ago there were comments on here wondering how we would keep all the players happy. As for promotion being "pie in the sky" it's only a few weeks ago we were beating bromley fairly comfortably and besting Eastleigh with just ten men. Yesterday we weren't at our best but still played some decent stuff and on balance were worthy of a draw but that's all packed away now and the focus shifts back to the long haul job in hand.

[garethl]

I say talk of promotion is pie in the sky because that is all it is at the moment. The chances are and the bookies would agree we will be in the play offs this year. Whilst we would then have a chance and being in the play offs is a decent achievement in itself the most likely outcome is not promotion, see Staines, Kingstonian, Welling games of recent years. I am gutted we have gone out of the only worthwhile cup we have a hope of doing well in at the first hurdle to a mid table side at home. Most don't seem at all bothered which surprises me as I thought we as a club have always valued the competition highly. And what's more it is a great revenue raiser which we sure need to keep enabling the financing of the squad, especially important as the local population (business aside it seems) could not care less about Sutton United. If it needs a replay it needs a replay and I was desperately hoping for an equaliser (which I don't think on balance we particularly deserved). Anyway all we can do is crack on in the league now and on paper we have a fairly friendly run and hopefully we can get up and around the top spots. We need to play a lot better than yesterday to do so IMO.

[baboonfish]

Nov 17, 2013 13:25:38 GMT billy said:

Villa won the league in 1980/81 using just 14 different players.

Ah that was what I was thinking of, and the fact concerning the Liverpool team was that their cup winning 1st 11 contained no Englishmen. Thank you for the correction Billy

[exiledsufc]

Very disappointed about our result on Saturday,and i agree with Gareth about promotion,i don't think we will go up,and i would prefer a trip to Wembley.Is Slabber carrying an injury? very disappointed in his games so far,and we have to stop giving away Penalty's the ref's are so bad in this league,we have to be more careful tackling inside the box,as the opposition will go down easily.Imo we need to use more pace in attack and use the wings more,the play up until the final 3rd was good,but then gave away the ball to much,giving them the chance to break at speed,and putting pressure on ourselves.o,k we beat Bromley and bettered Eastleigh,but "lesser" team's,like Havant,will come and park the bus,and we need to do better at breaking down these teams,than we did saturday

[sdavison]

Nov 18, 2013 0:45:22 GMT billy said:

Mark Lawrenson played - he's English. I realise he represented Ireland but then so did Shahid Afridi , Yasir Arafat and Saqlain Mushtaq.

Yes Shahid Afridi, Yasir Arafat and Saqlain Mushtaq did but not on the international stage... They represented Ireland when they were playing in the county game.

[Andy K]

Looking at some of the other results, Conf south sides didn't fare too well, with Chelmsford losing at home to St Albans, Bromley losing 4-1 at Ebbsfleet, Borehamwood going out at home to Gloucester city, Stortford losing at Whitehawk and Weston needing to go to Tiverton for a replay tomorrow.

Other results of interest include the unbeatable Hemel losing 5-0 away at Hungerford, and of course our friends the Bobbins losing at home 2-1 to Ryman 1 South strugglers Whitstable Town

[Andy K]

To soften the blow, Havant will play away to Basingstoke Town in the next round.

Farnborough or Staines got the plum draw at home to Luton Town.

[Del]

The time to dream about trips to Wembley is when we have established ourselves in the Conference Premier.