On Tuesday second placed Northampton are the visitors, but on Saturday Leyton Orient, who have pretty much led the table since the start of the season, will be looking for the win that could, if Carlisle fail to beat Northampton, Stockport fail to beat Gillingham, and Bradford lose to Rochdale, secure their promotion to League One. In addition to winning at the VBS, Orient need all three of those results to go their way if the promotion celebrations that have for a long time seemed inevitable are not to be delayed until at least Tuesday’s visit to Gillingham.

After a brief blip after Christmas when Orient won only once in seven games following their 2-0 win over Sutton, the East London side have regained their early season form and are unbeaten in twelve games since a 1-0 defeat at Tranmere at the end of January, and they lead Northampton by eight points going in to the weekend fixtures. U’s made them work for that success in December, Orient needing a brilliant goal by Paul Smyth to break through in the second half and an unfortunate Ali Smith own goal coming just before the end. While Smyth remains a threat, striker Ruel Sotiriou will also need watching after scoring five goals in the last five games.

Sutton are now without a win in six games after Easter defeats against Stockport and Bradford, and look set to again be without skipper Craig Eastmond and winger Will Randall, who were both injured in the first of those two games. With some illness in the camp as well this week, a late decision will be made on selection for Saturday’s game.

Referee James Oldham is making his second visit of the season to the VBS, having refereed the game at home to Bradford City in November. He has been an EFL referee since 2019.

Saturday’s game has been nominated as a HerGameToo fixture where we will celebrate the role of women at Sutton United FC. Members of our women’s team will be in the fan zone before the game, and at half time our Under 12 girls’ team will be parading the Surrey County Women’s and Girls’ Under 12 League Cup which they recently won.

The fan zone, which as usual opens at 12 noon, welcomes back the Scandi Food truck from 1pm providing a taste of Sweden for Sutton supporters.

Leyton Orient have sold out their allocation of tickets for the game, but tickets for Sutton supporters are still on line here, price £20 for adults, £14 for concessions and £6 for juniors. Under 12 tickets are free if bought in conjunction with adult or concession tickets. Stand seats are £5 more in all cases. Tickets can be bought at the ground on the day, but adult and concession prices rise by £2 for tickets bought in person on the day, a rise that doesn’t apply to tickets bought on-line, even on Saturday, and with a large crowd expected we strongly recommend buying on line.

We have produced a double programme for Saturday’s game and Tuesday’s encounter with Northampton, and this can be ordered, price £4 plus postage, by clicking here. 

There will be a live audio commentary on our iFollow service. A match pass costs £2.50, while monthly passes are still available for £4.49. Overseas supporters can watch the game for £10. Passes can be bought here.