Match Report

Sutton United Under-18s’ unbeaten start to the season came to an end with a narrow defeat to Bromley in the EFL Youth Alliance Cup.

Joden Trickett’s opener was cancelled out on the stroke of half time by the visitors, who then scored twice in five minutes in the second half to take the lead.

James Fennelow scored a penalty as the game went into added time, and despite a commendable final effort, the U’s fell just short of finding an equaliser.

Speaking after the match, PDP lead coach Rob Tuvey reflected on the lessons his team can learn after their first defeat of the season.

“It’s disappointing to lose – we want to win as many games as possible,” Tuvey told Sutton United FCtv. “The main thing is that the boys have seen something different today and we’ve got to learn from that. It’s a great development tool for us.”

Josh Brian almost gave the U’s the perfect start, heading Liam Moore’s corner into the net at the back post within the first minute of the start, but the linesman judged to the outswinging set piece to have drifted out of play.

Sutton continued to threaten, and eventually Trickett was able to get on the end of Vinnie Tume’s deft flick-on, before cutting the ball back across the keeper to score in the far corner of the net.

The hosts restored parity just before the interval when Liam Moore was dispossessed midway inside his own half, allowing George Evans to breakthrough and score.

Bromley completed the turnaround in the second half, when keeper Harry Haines spotted Morgan off his line, and kicked from his hands over Sutton’s shot-stopper into the goal.

Five minutes later, Evans got his second of match after being felled inside the penalty area and stepping up to convert the spot-kick.

The U’s threw caution to the wind in search of a route back into the match, and a lung-busting run forwards by Moore was rewarded after he was pushed to the ground as he entered the penalty area. Fennelow duly converted as the clock ticked past the 90-minute mark, leaving just a short period of time to find an equalizer.

A flurry of long throws and corners gave Sutton some brief sights of goal – most notably when Trickett’s shot on the half turn was blocked behind for a corner – but Bromley stood firm and held on for the win.

“We had a few moments where I thought we pressed really well and played through them to create chances,” Tuvey continued. “But when we’re on top we’ve got to score goals. We’ve probably had three or four chances that I thought we should have taken.”

Sutton United: S Morgan, D Urpens, J Brian, A Reeves (sub C Lee), L Moore, B Lambourne (sub R Ruiz), K Edwards (sub M Milchev-Szczepaniak), N Hepburn, V Tume (sub J Fennelow), G Vorster, J Trickett. Sub n/u:  C Fletcher (GK)

On Wednesday we are away to Stansfeld in the 3rd qualifying round of the FA Youth Cup, playing at Phoenix Sports FC in Bexleyheath, kick off 7.45pm.