Sutton suffered a second successive home defeat at the hands of a Boston side who claimed their second win of the season since their promotion in May. After an entertaining first half in which Sutton could feel a little unfortunate to be behind, U’s lost their way badly in the second half and by the end could have few complaints about the result.
Sutton lined up with Tyler French, Hayden Muller and Charlie Waller in a central defensive trio with Ryan Jackson and Eduino Vaz playing in the wide positions, and there was a lot to enjoy, particularly going forward, about U’s first half performance, but too often the final ball in to the penalty area failed to find its target and Boston, with Michael Bostwick and Zak Mills impressive in the centre of the defence, were able to clear before goalkeeper Cameron Gregory was threatened.
At the other end Sutton goalkeeper Steve Arnold and his defence had an eventful half, beginning with a superb save to tip away a long range effort from Jacob Hazel, but Arnold was then grateful to Hayden Muller for getting back to clear after he had lost possession to Sam Osborne as he tried to usher the ball back in to his penalty area. and moments later charged out to try and clear a long ball, only to be beaten by Hazel, whose cross was cleared from the penalty area to Arnold in the right back position as U’s again escaped. It was a stay of execution, though, as Frankie Maguire then got in behind U’s defence and crossed low for Hazel to hammer in to the net.
Sutton’s response was a good one, and Ashley Nadesan, starting up front alongside Will Davies, took advantage of a misunderstanding between Gregory and Cameron Green to send the ball goalwards from a tight angle only for Bostwick to clear off the line. Jayden Harris and Finley Barbrook both sent shots just wide, and Lewis Simper twice saw shots blocked by brave defending after Vaz had created openings on the left.
The second half saw U’s struggle to maintain that momentum, with Vaz and Nadesan replaced on the hour by Josh Coley and Jeremy Sivi as U’s reverted to a more familiar formation, but the initiative was back with Boston and midway through the half a free kick from Maguire found Jai Rowe unmarked, and although Arnold made a brilliant save to keep out his header Mills was on hand to fire the loose ball in to the net. Six minutes later Boston had a third in confusing circumstances as Hazel received the ball clearly in an offside position and as the assistant referee’s flag went up U’s stopped as Hazel’s shot from the edge of the penalty area found the net with Arnold making little attempt to stop it expecting the whistle to go. However referee Ross Martin had allowed play to continue, realising that the ball had found Hazel from Simper’s challenge, and after a discussion between referee and assistant the goal was allowed to stand, with French’s protests earning him a booking.
That proved the decisive blow, with U’s rarely looking likely to recover although Harris saw two shots blocked as Boston continued to defend superbly, substitute Tom Leak carrying on Bostwick’s example after replacing him, and Sivi shot wide from the edge of the penalty area, the visitors saw out an impressive away win.
Sutton: S Arnold, R Jackson, C Waller, T French, H Muller, F Barbrook, J Harris, L Simper, W Davies, A Nadesan(sub J Coley 60), E Vaz(sub J Sivi 60). Subs n/u J Sims, H Ransom, S Odelusi, N Boateng, J Wadham. Booked: Simper, Waller, French.
Boston: C Gregory, J Rowe, C Green, S Osborne(sub K Ward 83), M Bostwick(sub T Leak 78), Z Mills, F Maguire, M Woods, J Hazel (sub P Aderoju 86), D Hill, T Weston(sub D Mooney 88). Subs n/u E Craven, M Roberts, A Marriott. Booked: Woods, Bostwick.
Referee: Ross Martin
