Barton took a big step forwards to securing the Midlands One title with a hard-fought 4-2 win over third-placed Sutton Coldfield. Mike Parr replaced Nick Tomlinson in the Barton goal but other than that the Barton side was unchanged from the previous week's win over local rivals Burton.

With Sutton Coldfield lying in third place going into the game, Barton thought they were in for a tough afternoon, but in the first half that certainly wasn't the case as Barton blew their visitors away with 4 goals. As they have done so the last few weeks, Barton started the game at a lightening pace and were soon pressing Sutton high up the pitch and looking to create as many chances as possible. The first chance fell to Jacob Foster who rounded the defender at a penalty corner but saw his effort well-saved by the Sutton keeper. Skipper Adam Foster then saw a reverse-stick effort saved but it wasn't long before Barton opened the scoring for the afternoon. Ben Elson showed great determination to get to the back post and apply a fine sliding finish. Barton continued to press and soon went 2-0 up through Ash Parr. Roger Craig worked his way down the right-wing before feeding the ball into Will Rawbon. Rawbon made his way along the baseline before calmly pulling the ball back for Parr to apply the finish from close range. 2-0 soon became 3-0 as skipper Foster broke forward and fired a pass to Elson at the back-post to apply the finish. As well as attacking well, Barton were defending extremely well and coping with Sutton's long-ball tactics comfortably. Barton pressed hard even though they were 3-0 up and 5 minutes before half-time went 4-0 up. A Sutton midfielder was stripped of possession on the half-way line and Barton broke forwards with a 3v1 chance. Adam Foster fed the ball into Ash Parr before receiving the ball back and Foster made no mistake in slotting the ball past the keeper.

2 minutes before half-time Sutton were awarded what would be their only penalty corner of the game. Mike Parr saved the initial drag-flick attempt low to his right but the rebound unfortunately fell to a Sutton player who made no-mistake in putting the ball into the goal. In the melee after the goal it appeared that Parr was hit off the ball with a Sutton players stick and Parr reacted to this and was punished for his retaliation with a red-card. This meant that Barton would have to play the entire 2nd half with 10 men and without a recognised goalkeeper. Midfielder John Hickman donned the goalkeeper kit at half-time and Barton's team-talk was focused on the monumental defensive effort they were going to have to put in if they were to hold on to the win.

The 2nd half was a tale of stoic Barton defending backed up by a couple of fine saves from stand-in keeper Hickman and smart game management in running down the clock whenever they got the chance. As was expected, Sutton with the man advantage enjoyed large amounts of the possession but failed to make it pay and their chances on the Barton goal were limited. Hickman made a superb reflex save from a reverse-stick shot and then followed this up with a fine save closing down the angle at his near post. When they got the chance Barton looked to take the pressure off and Ash Parr, Will Rawbon and Jacob Buxton all demonstrated fantastic individual skills to take the ball away from the Sutton players and take the pressure off. In spite of their greater amount of possession Sutton failed to win a single penalty corner in the 2nd half and managed to pull a consolation goal back 10 minutes from time to take the score to 4-2 but didn't offer any further threat. Barton closed out the remaining minutes with skipper Adam Foster using his skills and nous to frustrate Sutton and run down the clock whilst retaining possession.

With second-placed Rugby losing to Warwick University the win meant Barton went 3-points clear at the top of the Midlands One table with 3 games to play. Next week Barton travel to Nottingham to face second from bottom Sikh Union.