A second half strike from Souleyman Manday cancelled out first half efforts from Nana Boateng and Josh Coley, who had previously given Sutton United the advantage over West Bromwich Albion in just five minutes to turn things around after Manday’s early opener.
Manday broke the deadlock on the quarter-hour mark when he punished an error at the back, intercepting George Evans’ loose ball before sliding the ball under him, but the U’s quickly turned things around when Boateng brilliantly levelled with a superb effort that flew beyond Ben Cisse after West Brom failed to clear their lines, before having the chance to complete the turnaround from the spot moments later. Cisse was equal to the ex-Millwall man’s low effort though, but Coley soon spared his blushes when he turned home Ryan Jackson’s inch perfect cross to give Sutton the lead.
The U’s were pegged back minutes after the restart though, with Archie Kirton’s poor shot from distance bypassing the U’s backline and into the path of Manday, who made no mistake from close range to notch his second of the evening and ensure it would be a point apiece, although National League Cup rules meant the match would end with a penalty shootout for a chance to add another point to the winning side’s tally.
Evans would go on to produce three outstanding saves to give Sutton the advantage, with Boateng making up for his earlier miss to secure the additional point for Steve Morison’s side.
A draw with West Brom extends the U’s unbeaten run to six games in all competitions, and will be looking to build on last weekend’s victory with the visit of Eastleigh in the Vanarama National League on Saturday.
There were wholesale changes to Morison’s starting XI, with the opportunity to gain momentum in the league after Saturday’s stunning victory over York City. Coley, Eduino Vaz and Alex Woodyard were the only ones to retain their places from the weekend, with Evans, Harry Ransom, Dillon De Silva, Hayden Muller, Boateng, Jackson and Alex Kirk returning to the side, the latter making his first start since recovering from a torn LCL ligament injury. In addition, academy product Liam Moore made his second senior start for the U’s , and was also named the youngest captain in Sutton history in the process.
The visitors saw the first sight of goal inside the opening ten minutes, with Reyes Cleary forcing a strong block from Ransom, and was followed by another promising attack moments later. Eseosa Sule showed some neat skill to come on the inside of Kirk after being played in behind, with the former Arsenal defender recovering well to force a corner with a superb sliding challenge.
West Brom then took the lead in extremely fortuitous fashion, with Sutton unable to deal with the Baggies’ high press. Kirk played the ball into the feet of Evans who passed the ball straight to Manday after Sule had rapidly closed him down, with the former able to poke the ball past Evans to open the scoring.
Having gone behind, the U’s will have wanted to turn the screws immediately and went straight up the other end to produce their first real opening. A deep ball picked out Vaz who almost turned the ball home from a very tight angle, before the Guinea-Bissauan forced a fingertip stop from Cisse moments later to keep his cross away from danger.
This preceded a far more clear-cut chance for the hosts, with Coley sending a stinging volley inches wide after meeting De Silva’s knock down.
The U’s had begun to take control of proceedings, with a chaotic few minutes completely turning the game on its head. Muller’s ball into the box failed to be dealt with by the Baggies defence and allowed the ball to fall to Boateng in the middle, who unleashed an inch-perfect effort that flew into the top corner to level the score.
And Boateng then had the chance to put his side into the lead moments later, with Coley wonderfully picking out the former Millwall man to send him through on goal, with Michael Parker mistiming his challenge to give referee Richard Aspinall no choice but to point to the spot.
After winning the spot-kick, Boateng stepped up to take it himself, but could only find the goalkeeper’s midriff from 12 yards as Baggies stopper Cisse got down low well to keep the scoreline level.
However, Boateng became the architect of another attack moments later, doing brilliantly to beat Matt Richards in the centre of the park before spreading the ball out to Jackson on the right flank. Jackson proceeded to send in a dangerous delivery, where Coley found himself well-placed to squeeze the ball over the line under pressure from a whole host of West Brom bodies to turn the score around.
The hosts were in the ascendancy and almost made it three minutes later. Vaz did excellently on the left flank to reach the byline and beat Alex Williams, with his low cross being cleared as far as De Silva who dragged his shot wide of the target.
De Silva turned provider soon after though, sending a deep cross as far as the back post where Jackson headed into the gloves of Cisse, before the Sri Lanka international once again skewed a shot wide.
As the clock ticked towards the interval, Woodyard saw yellow shortly before the break and afforded the Baggies a rare chance from a free kick. Harry Whitwell picked out Sule with an excellent delivery towards the back post, who fired wide of the near post on the stretch.
And the visitors came even closer to a leveller in stoppage time when Kirton sent a vicious effort from distance that forced Evans into his first save of the match, with the referee soon calling time on an entertaining opening 45.
A whole host of changes were made after the break, with six new additions from both teams. Academy products Jack Taylor, Junior Eccleston and Vinnie Tume joined Lewis Simper in entering the fray, replacing Coley, Vaz, Woodyard and Kirk. The visitors meanwhile opted for a double change to aid their search for a leveller, with Mo Diamonde and Akeel Higgins replacing Parker and Sule.
This seemed to inject some energy into the Baggies side, with Noah Dupont trying his luck with an effort that he skewed wide just six minutes after the restart.
West Brom soon did find an equaliser though, with Manday notching his second of the game to peg Sutton back. Kirton’s initial effort was skewed off target after brilliantly taking the ball down, with his shot falling into the path of the young Baggies’ midfielder who fired the ball into the far corner to level.
This was followed by a speculative effort from Simper that failed to trouble Cisse as it flew well over the crossbar, with another change then being made by both sides on the hour-mark as Morison threw on another academy player in Joden Trickett, replacing De Silva, while the Baggies swapped Cleary and Whitwell for Cole Deeming and Reece Hall.
And this would be followed by a fifth change by boss Richard Beale, with Idrissa Dauda replacing goalscorer Manday.
Chances were certainly few and far throughout the second half, and was certainly a polar opposite to the first. It took until seven minutes from time for either side to create their next real opening, which saw Evans acrobatically tip behind an Evan Humphries’ strike, and would be the last action of open play as a draw meant it would be a point apiece, with a penalty shootout to come.
Deeming stepped up first to give the Baggies the advantage, but Evans produced strong hand to deny him before Simper drilled a low effort past Cisse to give Sutton the lead.
Williams then squeezed his shot past Evans who will have beeb disappointed to not keep out a second spot-kick in a row, but this didn’t faze the U’s as Trickett made no mistake from 12 yards.
And it got even better for the U’s, with Evans redeeming himself to produce two outstanding saves to deny Dupont and Richards, either side of a low Moore effort that Cisse was equal to.
However, Boateng stepped up to finish the shootout for the second time this season, and like he did in the FA Trophy Fourth Round, calmly rolled the ball over the line to make amends for his earlier miss from the spot and secure an extra point in the bag for the U’s.
Sutton United: Evans; Ransom, Kirk (Taylor 46’), Muller; Jackson, Woodyard (Simper 46’), Moore, Vaz (Eccleston 46’); Coley (Tume 46’), De Silva (Trickett 63’); Boateng
West Bromwich Albion: Cisse; Williams, Humphries, Richards, Dupont, Parker (Diomande 46′), Kirton, Manday (Dauda 75’), Sule (Higgins 46′), Whitwell (Hall 62’), Cleary (Deeming 62’)
