Dillon De Silva’s first league goal for Sutton United was enough to seal victory on the road.
The Sri Lanka international had been in a rich vein form heading into the visit to Berkshire, and fresh off arguably his best display for the club on Tuesday, added his name to the scoresheet for the first time in a Sutton shirt in the league when he robbed Manny Onarise of the ball, raced forward and calmly slid it beyond home goalkeeper Craig Ross.
While the visitors were in the driving seat going into the interval, the U’s found themselves doing more defending throughout the second half as Maidenhead searched for a leveller, and thought they did so just five minutes after the break when Tristan Abrahams’ sent a delightful lob over the head of Jack Sims, but it fortunately it flew just over the crossbar and proved to be a let off for the U’s. The Magpies subsequently struggled to find another clear route beyond Sutton’s superb backline, and fell to defeat at the hands of Steve Morison’s side.
Victory over Maidenhead United sees Sutton jump up to 12th in the Vanarama National League table, and bodes well ahead of a third away game in a row on Tuesday night with a tough trip to Forest Green Rovers.
Three changes from Tuesday’s draw at Solihull Moors saw Hayden Muller, Siju Odelusi and Nana Boateng return to the starting XI in place of the suspended Tyler French, Jack Wadham and Josh Coley, with Boateng notably making his first league start since September as his counterpart dropped to the bench on his return to York Road.
Having put in an impressive performance in the Midlands midweek, Morison’s men will have had plenty of confidence that they could turn one point into three this time out, and almost repeated their start to the match at Damson Park in Berkshire. A quick free kick was played down the line to Boateng who got the ball under control before sending a low ball into the box that was cleared into the path of Eduino Vaz, who flashed a shot inches wide of the far post, unable to repeat his heroics in Birmingham four days ago.
Maidenhead then responded well and returned the favour with a couple of half chances that nearly sucker-punched the U’s. First, Nathan Ferguson drilled a powerful effort just over the crossbar, before Tristan Abrahams whipped in a free kick from deep that sailed as far as Onarise at the far post, who was unable to squeeze the ball between Jack Sims and the near post with a tight angle to aim at.
This preceded a half chance for Lewis Simper who floated a first-time volley into the gloves of Craig Ross following a corner, and was followed by some heroic defending from the hosts. A superb weaving run from Boateng allowed him space to send a low box into the box that ended up causing havoc, with Davies’ initial shot being blocked by Onarise into the path of Odelusi, who’s toe poke was again deflected into Davies, but he couldn’t keep his second effort on target amidst a crowd of bodies.
Onarise’s hard work would prove to be in vain though, with the Maidenhead defender gifting Sutton the lead on the half-hour mark. After giving away possession to De Silva, the U’s forward drove towards goal at speed before making no mistake from close range to break the deadlock with his first league goal for the club.
Spirits were high in the away camp with a deserved lead heading into the break, and De Silva almost added a second moments before the interval when he volleyed over the crossbar from close range, before referee Ross Martin brought an end to a positive first half performance from the U’s.
Despite being in the ascendancy going into the break, the hosts almost levelled the score just minutes after the restart when Abrahams met Shawn McCoulsky’s flick-on to send a lob over the head of Sims, but fortunately it was just too high and looped over the crossbar to prevent an early scare.
Keen to bounce back from their near setback, Morison introduced Coley and Ashley Nadesan in place of star men De Silva and Boateng, intending to inject more energy onto the flanks.
Magpies boss Alan Devonshire responded to this himself, with Nathan Ferguson being replaced by Joshua Johnson with 20 minutes to go, and was followed by Kane Ferdinand and Joseph Ajose entering the fray in place of Casey Pettit and Sam Barratt.
The U’s almost punished Maidenhead before either midfielder had the chance to have an impact though, with Ross passing the ball straight to Simper, who drove forward and fired a low effort on goal that should have sealed the victory, but Welch-Hayes was able to recover and cleared off the line, before the resulting corner was headed over the crossbar by Davies.
This proved to be a rare chance for the visitors with Maidenhead still searching for an equaliser, and Morison opted to add some much-needed energy into the centre of the park with Wadham replacing the impressive Simper late on.
Seven more minutes then allowed the hosts to put a barrage of pressure onto the U’s backline, but the U’s held firm to secure a first league victory in six outings.
Maidenhead United: Ross; Latty-Fairweather, Ferguson (Johnson 69’), McCoulsky, Pettit (Ferdinand 77’), Smith, Welch-Hayes, Abrahams, Massey, Barratt (Ajose 77’), Onarise
Sutton United: Sims; Jackson, Taylor, Muller, Vaz; Odelusi, Barbrook, Simper (Wadham 86’); Boateng (Nadesan 64’), Davies, De Silva (Coley 64’)
Photo Credit: Paul Loughlin
