Match Report

A stoppage time equaliser from Josh Coley saw Sutton start the Vanarama National League season with a point at promoted Tamworth, who looked as though they had grabbed a first victory when Nathan Tshikuna punished a poor Steve Arnold clearance with six minutes left. It was a hard fought game but with few clear chances, particularly in the first half, and in the end a draw was probably a fair result.

There was little to excite the crowd in the first half, with Sutton’s best chance falling to Jayden Harris midway through the half when he came on to a Will Davies lay off but failed to find enough power in his shot to trouble goalkeeper Jas Singh. Tamworth’s main threat came from the long throws of Jordan Cullinane-Liburd, but they were well dealt with by U’s and when one was only cleared as far as Ben Acquaye on the edge of the penalty area his cleanly struck left foot shot flew narrowly wide of the post.

Sutton had to make a change after half an hour when Dillon De Silva was forced off after a strong, though fair, challenge from Jamie Willets, Coley coming on having been substituted after half an hour in U’s previous competitive game at MK Dons, and a second change was made at half time as Ashley Nadesan replaced Siju Odelusi, joining Davies up front and increasing U’s attacking threat.

Acquaye had an early opportunity for Tamworth in the second half following a mistake by French, but his cross was comfortably gathered by Arnold, who then made a good save away to his right from Tshikuna after Acquaye had rolled the ball in to his path. At the other end Lewis Simper sent a twenty yard effort just too high, and Alex Fletcher at full stretch prevented a low cross from reaching Coley after a flowing Sutton move, but the best chance fell to Tamworth’s leading scorer last season Kyle Finn when a left to right move found him in space on the right of the penalty area, only for Arnold to come to U’s rescue with a fine save with his legs.

Sutton had a glorious chance when Jeremy Sivi, who had replaced Nana Boateng midway through the half, was put clear by an excellent flick by Nadesan but blazed his shot over the bar from a narrow angle, and it seemed an expensive miss when Tamworth went ahead six minutes from time. Arnold’s clearance from Hayden Muller’s back pass was cut out by Finn, whose pass sent Tshikuna away to beat Arnold with a low shot inside the post.

It looked as though U’s were going to begin the campaign with a defeat, and had substitute Miracle Okafor not lifted the ball wide with just Arnold to beat they would have done, but having survived that scare and with the board having just gone up to indicate five additional minutes, Davies unsuccessfully attempted to convert a Ryan Jackson cross with an overhead kick, but the ball ran on to Coley who brought the ball down on his chest and hammered a volley past Singh to ensure a point for the U’s.

Tamworth: J Singh, J Cullinane-Liburd, H Hollis, J Willets, G Morrison, A Fletcher, K Finn(sub B-R Enoru 86), N Tshikuna, D Creaney(sub M Okafor 83), B Acquaye, L Fairlamb. Subs n/u T Tonks, C Wreh, T McGlinchey, L Phillips, J Moore. Booked: Cullinane-Liburd, Tshikuna, Finn.

Referee: Abigail Byrne