One for the neutrals, not the coaches. After being on such a poor run, without a win since November, this cup game against the talented FC Sutton HK had a lot riding on it - defeat and the season is pretty much over. And for most of this topsy-turvy game we didn’t know which way it would swing.
To counter the poor recent form, the gaffer tweaked the formation but perhaps getting used to that caused an abject start when they passed through us to lead with only 2 minutes on the clock. Given our recent run, you wouldn’t have been surprised to see heads go down, but we responded really well and Naz was brought down by the keeper as he was about to tap home - penalty, but how it wasn’t a red card was a mystery. Shep calmly slotted home.
Yet we still had a penchant for gifting them opportunities. The game had just settled down when we failed to clear our lines and a deflection off Liam wrongfooted Andrew and we were behind once again. Soon after, Naz’s back pass put them again, but this time Andrew saved - probably a key moment in the game.
Minutes later it appeared that Shep was brought down by the keeper again, but the ref waved it away, and from the corner Danilo really should have scored. We were creating while looking vulnerable at the back, but those chance creations finally paid off minutes before HT when Joe’s free kick was forced home by Danilo. 2-2 at the break was great, 3-2 up even better: we went straight back down the pitch and Carl’s long throw was nodded on by Shep and Liam bundled home at the second time of asking.
The message by the gaffer was keep the ball better and tighten up, so obviously we did the opposite immediately into the second half: we lost the ball and Carl’s desperate lunge chopped down their striker and another pen was awarded, which was smashed into the top corner. But, again, we responded brilliantly: good work from Shane put Naz in and he missed a sitter, but then somehow beat 3 players to eventually slot home. The action didn’t stop there: FC Sutton HK went straight down our end and some woeful defending saw their number 9 have a simple task to slot past Andrew.
The game then settled into a rhythm: they were looking for through balls constantly, we were trying to get it to the attacking 3 and wing backs who were causing them issues. It appeared the game was heading towards penalties when we won a corner and Isaac’s perfect delivery was headed home by Danilo.
We managed to see out the last 6-7 minutes pretty well, bar a late corner which caused a scare - but this was a real squad performance on a difficult pitch, everyone putting in a shift including the subs who came on. The season remains alive for now.

GOALS: Danilo Santo (2), Naz Phipps, Shep Kwenda, Liam Walkinshaw
MOTM: Naz Phipps