Goals either side of half time from Lewis Simper and Will Davies weren’t enough to seal victory against Wealdstone, with Callum Cesay’s effort 20 minutes from time enough to steal a draw from Sutton United’s grasp.
Joshua Grant’s first half header gave Wealdstone the lead against the run of play ten minutes before the break, but the visitors were pegged back moments before half time when Simper’s powerful low drive arrowed into the bottom corner to level the score heading into the interval.
Sutton would take the lead just minutes after the resumption of play, with Davies picking the ball up 25-yards from goal before curling in an absolute beauty into the far corner to turn the game on its head, although Cesay levelled with 20 minutes to go when he headed Anthony Georgiou’s cross beyond George Evans.
A point against Wealdstone means the U’s remain 13th in the Vanarama National League table, and face a tough test up next with a trip to highflying York City on Saturday.
Four changes to the starting lineup were made by Steve Morison, who opted to switch to a 4-4-2 after last week’s narrow victory over Tamworth. Fresh off a successful loan spell at Hampton & Richmond Borough, Jack Taylor replaced the outgoing Chin Okoli in defence with the latter returning to Millwall during the week. He was joined by Josh Coley, Ashley Nadesan and Dillon De Silva, while there were places on the bench for new recruits Alex Woodyard and Henry Sandat.
It was one of the incoming players who saw an early chance falling their way with De Silva almost bagging the opener against his former club, racing through on goal with just three minutes on the clock before forcing Toby Steward into a strong save.
This would precede another promising chance, with Coley stealing possession away from Jaydn Mundle-Smith before firing the ball into the danger area, with Adrian Mariappa on hand to produce a crucial last-ditch challenge to prevent Nadesan from having a clear shot on goal.
Wealdstone battled back and responded with a half chance of their own though, with Giorgou firing over the crossbar from the edge of the box, moments before Cesay saw an effort blocked from close range.
Sutton would continue to dominate proceedings though, with Davies heading a free kick inches wide, before a wonderful solo run from Coley almost pierced open the Stones backline. A wonderful long ball from Finley Barbrook was picked up by Coley on the touchline via Tyler French, before the U’s number seven tidily jinked inside and out of the visiting defence before his low cross was deflected behind for a corner.
And the resulting set piece almost created danger itself, with Simper picking up Coley’s short corner before similarly producing a superb run into the penalty area, eventually seeing his curling shot deflect harmlessly into the gloves of Steward.
Coley continued to be the danger man for the U’s, with another wonderfully whipped cross from the right flank almost catching out Steward after 20 minutes, with Davies inches away from getting the crucial touch.
While the opening 25 minutes looked action-packed, the latter stages of the first half saw little in the way of clear chances with Matt Taylor’s side finding their feet midway through, and meant Sutton struggled to penetrate their backline.
A rare chance would fall to the visitors with 15 minutes of the half to go, with Sam Ashford having a tame effort deflected wide, and the resulting corner proved to cause trouble for Sutton as Wealdstone would soon draw first blood.
The delivery first met the head of former U Enzio Boldewijn who’s effort was brilliantly cleared off the line by French, but Grant was on hand to turn the rebound past Evans to give the Stones the lead.
This preceded another opening for the visitors with Ashford firing a speculative effort well wide from distance, minutes before Wealdstone could have doubled their advantage in extremely fortuitous fashion, with Evans’ attempted clearance cannoning back off Micah Obiero and towards goal, fortunately flying wide of the target.
The U’s were out for revenge though, and levelled right before the break through a tremendous strike from Simper. The ball was played across to the U’s number eight who found himself in space on the edge of the box, before letting fly with a powerful low-driven strike across goal that nestled in the bottom corner to make it all square at the interval.
Simper’s late strike had evidently given Sutton the momentum going into the second half, and they found themselves in front just minutes after the restart when Davies struck a wonderful low effort from distance that flew into bottom corner.
This preceded a wonderfully worked move that saw Barbrook send De Silva away down the left flank before firing the ball into Simper, who’s effort from the edge of the box flew over the crossbar.
De Silva then almost turned from provider to scorer with a chance not too dissimilar from his effort in the first half. A rapid counter attack led to Nadesan picking out the Sri Lanka international in space in the penalty area, who fired towards the top corner under pressure from Jack Cook, but Steward was equal to it.
And this would be De Silva’s final action of a superb display, soon being replaced by Woodyard for his Sutton debut having joined from Colchester United at the start of January.
This would be followed by another good stop by opposition goalkeeper Steward, showing a strong hand to parry Coley’s dangerous free kick, moments before Simper sent a vicious strike on goal that fizzed over the crossbar.
An equaliser would soon fall to the visitors though, with Cesay meeting Georgiou’s cross to head the Stones back level with his goal being confirmed after a bit of a scramble on the goalline.
This would be followed by a superb stop from Evans who produced a strong reflex save to deny Ashford, although the assistant’s flag was up anyway, with former Stones loanee Henry Sandat coming on for his Sutton debut moments later, replacing Coley.
Sutton continued to apply the pressure, and a late chance would fall to Besart Topallaj who’s wicked first-time effort flew a hair-length wide of the far post after some good work from Nadesan and Simper.
Three minutes of added time allowed the U’s a bit of time to continue their search for a winner, but it wasn’t to be as the points were shared at the VBS Community Stadium.
Sutton United: G Evans; T French, J Taylor, H Muller, B Topallaj; J Coley (sub H Sandat 81), F Barbook, L Simper, D De Silva (sub A Woodyard 60); A Nadesan, W Davies. Subs n/u J Sims, E Vaz, N Boateng, J Sivi, R Jackson. Booked: French, Simper.
Wealdstone: T Steward; J Cook, A Georgiou, E Boldewijn, M Kretzchmar, M Obiero, A Mariappa, S Ashford (sub J Sekyere 90+1), C Cesay, J Mundle-Smith, J Grant. Subs n/u C Scott, D Phillips, D-A Baptiste, B Mason. Booked: Cesay, Mariappa, Kretzchmar.
Referee: A Byrne
Attendance: 1,983(128 away)
