Will Davies’ 13th goal of the season was enough to secure victory over Eastleigh in a competitive clash between two play-off chasing sides.
An end-to-end first half saw both sides go close to breaking the deadlock as debutant Rekiel Pyke had a couple of chances for Eastleigh, before Besart Topallaj saw a fierce shot cannon off the crossbar five minutes before half time. The Spitfires were then gifted the perfect chance to go in front when Jack Taylor was deemed to have fouled Niall Maher in the penalty area, but Jack Sims produced an outstanding acrobatic save to brilliantly tip Chris Maguire’s effort away on the stroke of the interval.
The U’s then had a spot-kick of their own shortly after the restart when Dillon De Silva was fouled by Lloyd Humphries, with Davies smashing his effort from 12 yards past Joe McDonnell to set up a tense end to the game, which saw the hosts see out a crucial three points with some superb defending.
Victory over Eastleigh sees the U’s close the gap on the play-offs and now sit just a point outside the top seven. They will be looking to continue momentum on the road as Steve Morison’s side switches attention to the FA Trophy, heading to Kidderminster Harriers in the Fifth Round on Saturday, 1st February.
Fresh off a stunning win away at title hopefuls York City, minimal changes will have been anticipated and was very much the case, with the only alteration being enforced as De Silva replaced Ashley Nadesan on the right flank who dropped out with a groin knock sustained at the LNER Community Stadium.
Keen to build on that victory up at York, it was Sutton who the first sight of goal as Eduino Vaz linked up neatly with Lewis Simper on the left flank. The latter teed up the in-form Will Davies who sent a looping ball over the crossbar, unlucky to not get a better connection with his effort.
In search of the opener, Eastleigh then pressed high up the pitch and robbed Alex Woodyard of possession to produce their first opening. The ball ended up at debutant Pyke who dragged his effort wide of the target, was followed by a couple of half chances for the hosts, with De Silva seeing a dangerous cross headed away by Ludwig Francillette, before Josh Coley shot wide after Vaz did excellently to beat Lloyd Humphries on the byline.
Soon after, Simper looked to weave his magic in the middle of the park as he did well to drive through forward whilst being surrounded by a whole host of bodies, and was soon crowded out as his effort trickled into the gloves of McDonnell.
McDonnell will have been keen to replicate his performance against the U’s at the Silverlake Stadium back in August, and looked to thwart the hosts once again as he was able to gather a couple of inviting balls into the box from Vaz and then Topallaj, either side of a chance for Pyke who fired the Spitfires’ best effort so far just wide of the top corner.
This preceded another promising attack for Sutton, with Vaz driving forward before threading the ball through to Coley, who struck a vicious effort over the crossbar, before Topallaj was denied by the woodwork moments later. De Silva brilliantly kept hold of the ball on the right flank before showing good skill and muscle to beat Noa Boutin and reach the byline, before laying the ball to the Kosovan who’s powerful effort hammered off the crossbar as the U’s best chance of the match went begging.
And Sutton almost rued this miss as Eastleigh were awarded a golden opportunity to draw first blood when Taylor was deemed to have tripped Maher in the box. Maguire stepped up to take the penalty but was denied by a strong hand from Sims who acrobatically got down low and parried out for a corner, sending the two sides into the break goalless.
The U’s got off to a perfect start to the second half, with Davies able to do what Maguire couldn’t at the end of the first. De Silva latched onto a wonderful through ball from deep that sliced open Eastleigh’s backline, before being fouled by Humphries. Top goalscorer Davies took on penalty duties and hammered his effort past McDonnell in the Eastleigh net giving Sutton the lead.
The momentum was with the hosts, and they could have got a second when Coley fired a free kick into the wall, shortly after Jake Taylor had fired over the crossbar for the visitors.
Substitute Henry Sandat then produced a promising chance for the U’s, doing well to send Coley down the right flank who delivered a dangerous low ball into the middle, with Humphries getting in the way of Davies’ powerful strike.
In search of a leveller, Eastleigh looked to keep the ball in the hosts’ half and went close when Maher skewed a volley off target, but the U’s showed some superb solidity at the back to keep the Spitfires at bay.
Six minutes of added time allowed Kelvin Davis’ side to put some last minute pressure on the hosts, but stood firm to see out a second league win in a row.
Sutton United: J Sims; T French, Jack Taylor, B Topallaj; J Coley (sub A Kirk 83’), F Barbrook, A Woodyard (sub S Odelusi 67’), E Vaz; D De Silva (sub H Sandat 67’), L Simper; W Davies. Subs n/u N Boateng, H Muller, J Wadham, G Evans. Booked: Barbrook, Vaz.
Eastleigh: J McDonnell; R Brindley, L Humphries, L Francillette, C Maguire, Jake Taylor, J Uchegbulam (sub C Underhill 64’), A Waruih, N Boutin (sub J Semenyo 78’), R Pyke (sub J Ryan 88’), N Maher. Subs n/u L Fernandez, T Scott, L Hodson. Booked: Maguire, Humphreys, Brindley, Francillette.
Referee: Greg Rollason
Attendance: 2,526 (120 away)
