Match Report

Sutton welcomed supporters back to Gander Green Lane, and the 934 who returned after nearly nine months were rewarded with arguably U’s best performance of the season as they swept aside a Solihull team widely expected to be challenging for honours, but whose goals against tally for the season was nearly doubled in one game. There were times, particularly early in the second half after James Ball had pulled the score back to 2-1, that the visitors matched that billing, but in the end it was U’s who held the lofty league placing at the end of the game, two points behind leaders Torquay but now six clear of the club in third place, which is now Notts County.

With Omar Bugiel’s appeal against his red card on Tuesday unsuccessful, it was a chance for Tobi Sho-Silva to take on the central striker’s mantle and he stepped up to the mark with a well taken goal, forming an attacking triumvirate with Isaac Olaofe and David Ajiboye which the visiting defence never really came to terms with.

There was early threat from Solihull through Justin Donawa on his debut for the Moors, but midway through the first half it was Sutton who gained the advantage. Kenny Davis did the hard work in midfield before finding Sho-Silva whose lay-off gave Olaofe the chance to make space and shoot low from 20 yards (above), the ball hitting the post but rebounding back in to the net off goalkeeper Ryan Boot.

If Boot was unlucky there, he was excellent for the remainder of the half as U’s shrugged off the loss through injury of Davis, and a scare when Donawa’s low cross just evaded Ball and Cameron Archer, to dominate the closing stages. Boot dived low to his left to keep out a snap volley from Craig Eastmond, and when the resulting corner fell to Eastmond again on the edge of the area, Boot produced an even better save, tipping the ball over the bar at full stretch. He had no chance three minutes before half time, though, when Ajiboye, enjoying his best game of the season, turned past one challenge and accelerated past another, and although the ball ran away from him Sho-Silva was on hand to confidently clip a shot past Boot.

Solihull’s response at the start of the second half was immediate, a good cross from Jamie Ward on the left directed inside the post by Ball’s header, and for the last ten minutes the word Wealdstone would have been on people’s minds as Solihull enjoyed their best spell of the game and U’s were on the back foot. Dean Bouzanis blocked one shot from Ball at close range, and as tensions rose referee Danny Middleton showed the yellow card four times in as many minutes, but U’s weathered the storm, regained a measure of control, and with seventeen minutes left Donawa’s backheel presented the ball to Harry Beautyman, whose ball up to Olaofe found the striker turning past Kyle Storer before putting Ajiboye through to go round the keeper and score his first goal of the season as Mitch Hancox challenged in vain.

It wasn’t all good news for U’s, with Rob Milsom, whose slight injury on Tuesday had seen him start on the bench but then called in to action when Davis was injured, limping off before Solihull could restart. Aaron Simpson came on, the right back operating as a left sided midfielder for the last fifteen minutes, but it was the substitute who rounded off the afternoon in thrilling fashion as Olaofe’s tireless running coaxed an error out of Tyrone Williams as he tried to bring the ball out of defence, and Simpson took over on the half way line, bursting forward, cutting inside between two defenders and unleashing a shot from outside the penalty area that left Boot stranded with the aid of a deflection.

The goal, Simpson’s first in senior football, sparked wild celebrations in front of the stand, and the final whistle soon afterwards allowed the players to take the acclaim from the supporters for the first time for a magnificent start to the season.

Solihull: R Boot, T Williams, J Cranston, C Maycock(sub K Storer 65), K Pearce, M Hancox, J Donawa(sub K Hudlin 79), S Gleeson, C Archer(sub N Clayton-Phillips 55), J Ball, J Ward. Subs n/u N Clayton, J Piggott. Booked: Donowa, Maycock, Hancox.