The U’s switch their attention to Emirates FA Cup action on Sunday, with the visit of League One leaders Birmingham City to the VBS Community Stadium in the First Round.
Last Time Out
Sutton United bounced back from two home defeats with a narrow victory at Cressing Road, with former Braintree Town man Will Davies scoring the only goal of a closely fought game.
Braintree came out of the blocks at the start of the first half the quickest with Louis Annesley having a goal disallowed for a foul on Jack Sims, allowing the U’s to gain a foothold in the game and enjoy the better of proceedings throughout the first half, although they were unable to test home keeper Lucas Covolan before the interval.
The visitors kick-started the second half in fine form though, and opened the scoring when a lovely team move saw Ashley Nadesan combine with Josh Coley to send the latter to the byline, with his delivery being met in the middle by Davies who tapped Sutton into the lead, and set the U’s on their way to a first victory in four outings thanks to some heroic defending from their backline throughout the remainder of the game.
Watch the highlights here.
The Opposition
Birmingham City are a side looking to bounce back from a disappointing time of things in recent years, but are well on their way to making amends for a poor recent spell.
The former FA Cup winners had spent around half of their history in the top tier of English football, and had largely remained in the top two divisions going back to the 1800s barring a brief stint in Division 3 in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s, although they found themselves back in the third tier at the end of last season after years of battling at the wrong end of the Championship, with relegation being confirmed after Plymouth Argyle, Sheffield Wednesday and Blackburn Rovers won to secure safety on the final day of the season.
A change in ownership had signalled a change in fortunes for the Blues though, with American Football player Tom Brady becoming a minority owner in July 2023. The injection of finances has seemingly looked to spark a hopeful rise back into the top divisions for Birmingham, with a number of high profile additions to St Andrews in the summer along with a new manager in Brendan Rodgers’ former assistant Chris Davies. Goalkeepers Ryan Allsop and Bailey Peacock-Farrell joined from Hull City and Burnley, while League One top scorer Alfie May along with Jay Stansfield joined from Charlton Athletic and Fulham, the latter arriving for a League One record fee of £20 million following a successful loan spell at St Andrews the previous season. They were joined up front by Emil Hansson, Ayumu Yokoyama, Lyndon Dykes and Scott Wright, while Willum Þór Willumsson, Marc Leonard and Tomoki Iwata have added quality to midfield, with the latter adding defensive cover in front of defenders Christoph Klarer and Alex Cochrane.
The Blues have subsequently enjoyed a superb start to the season in League One, with nine wins and just one defeat. They had won seven in a row prior to their first loss of the season at the hands of Charlton Athletic, but bounced back quickly and are unbeaten in their last three league outings.
Recent Form
Birmingham City 7-1 Fulham Academy
Mansfield Town 1-1 Birmingham City
Birmingham City 2-0 Bolton Wanderers
Lincoln City 1-3 Birmingham City
Shrewsbury Town 0-4 Birmingham City
Charlton Athletic 1-0 Birmingham City
The Manager
Chris Davies
Former Reading and Wales youth player Chris Davies arrived at St Andrews in the summer, replacing Tony Mowbray on the hotseat after interim spells from Mark Venus and Gary Rowett.
The ex-midfielder had begun a playing career at Reading when he arrived at the Madejski Stadum in 2001 but was forced to retire in 2004 due to an arthritic condition in his foot. He subsequently made the transition into coaching and worked as a youth coach at Leicester City, before taking on roles in the United States and New Zealand, including a stint at was a youth coach at Hawke’s Bay United where he worked under Jonathan and Bobby Gould.
He would later work with Brendan Rodgers at Swansea City and contributed to the Swans’ promotion to the Premier League in 2010, and would follow the Northern Irishman to Liverpool in 2012, with the Reds narrowly missing out on the Premier League title in his first season. Davies would depart Anfield following the arrival of Jürgen Klopp and returned to Reading, where he worked as a first team coach before reuniting with Rodgers at Celtic, helping them to win the domestic treble for only the fourth time in the club’s history as well as breaking their 100-year-old record for successive domestic games unbeaten (69). They would then win the treble again in Davies’ second season, and later followed Rodgers once more to Leicester City, again enjoying plenty of success as the Foxes with two successive fifth place finishes and victories in the 2021 FA Cup and the Community Shield.
This preceded a spell as Ange Postecoglu’s assistant manager at Tottenham Hotspur, before taking on his first managerial role at Birmingham City.
One to Watch
Alfie May
Alfie May has set League One alight since arriving at Birmingham City, and is their top scorer with five goals so far this season.
A Millwall academy player, May was released at the age of 14 and subsequently joined Corinthian, before stints at Billericay Town, Chatham Town, Bromley and VCD Athletic followed. He later joined Erith & Belvedere where he scored 38 goals from 45 appearances and later enjoyed a similar vein of form at Hythe Town with 37 goals from 45 appearances, which had followed a loan spell at Farnborough.
His form in non-league saw clubs in the Football League take interest, and he would turn professional with a move to Doncaster Rovers, scoring his first professional goal in a 1–1 draw with Luton Town. May ended a three-year spell in Yorkshire with ten goals in 92 games, joining Cheltenham Town in 2020, where he would become the Robins’ highest EFL goalscorer and departed the club with 67 goals in 165 games.
He would later make a name for himself during a single season at Charlton Athletic, winning the PFA League One Player of the Year and EFL Player of the Year award and was named in the PFA League One Team of the Year and EFL League One Team of the Season, while also winning the League One Golden Boot with 23 goals.
Played for Both
Charlie Lakin
Solihull-born midfielder Charlie Lakin began his career in the Birmingham City academy, joining from Walsall in 2008 where he rose through the ranks. After appearing frequently for the Under-18’s, Lakin would finish the season with two goals from 13 appearances in the Under-23’s and signed his first professional contract at the end of the 2016/17 season.
His involvement with the Blues’ first team would soon increase and was included among the substitutes for an FA Cup Fourth Round visit to Premier League side Huddersfield Town, before making his senior debut in the replay ten days later. Lakin would later make his EFL debut at the start of the 2018/19 season and became a regular in the matchday squad until the turn of the year, before losing his place due to injury.
Loan spells at Stevenage and Ross County preceded a permanent departure from St Andrews in 2021 as he joined Burton Albion, with the last of three loan spells in 2023/24 coming at the VBS Community Stadium. Lakin would enjoy a superb few months at Sutton, scoring eight goals from 21 league appearances and going on to win the both the Supporters’ and Players’ Player of the Season award.
Team News
Jayden Harris and Finley Barbrook have returned from suspension are both available for the visit of Birmingham City, after missing out on the victory at Braintree Town last week.
Hayden Muller has begun his transition back into full training and could soon be available for contention, having recovered from a hamstring injury picked up at the start of September.
Harry Ransom, Ryan Jackson, Edwin Agbaje and Lewis Simper remain absent.
You can watch Steve Morison’s full pre-match interview here.
Officials
Ben Atkinson is the man in the middle on Sunday. In his second season as an EFL referee, Atkinson is making his first refereeing visit at the VBS Community Stadium. He was in charge of the game at Swindon Town last season, and his only previous FA Cup tie in the competition proper was the First Round tie between Slough Town and Grimsby Town last season.
How to Follow
Video
This match is being broadcast live on ITV1.
At the VBS Community Stadium
We still have tickets available for Sunday’s Emirates FA Cup tie at home to Birmingham City. Tickets must be bought online and there will be NO tickets available for in person sales at the ground on the day, but will subject to availability remain on sale until kick-off time on Sunday. Click HERE to purchase.
Ticket Prices:
Adult: £21
Concession: £15
Junior (14-18): £7
Under-14: £1
Seats, whether in the Ideal Medical Solutions Family Stand, or the Main Stand, cost £25, £19, £11 and £4 respectively.
Tickets are required for entry; season tickets are NOT valid for this fixture.
Sutton supporters should gain admission through gates A or C as usual, although please note that the covered terrace behind the Gander Green Lane end goal is reserved for Birmingham supporters on Sunday.
Don’t forget that there are no replays in the FA Cup competition proper this season, so Sunday’s game will go to extra time and penalties if necessary.
There are no trains through West Sutton station on Sunday due to engineering works. Trains from Victoria to Sutton are operating normally.
Kit Watch
The U’s will be wearing their amber home kit. You can purchase a replica version here.
