It has been quite a week for Sutton United.
First came the 2-1 win over Eastleigh, a result that ended a run of three straight league defeats without scoring and also brought Matt Gray back to Gander Green Lane for the first time as an opposition manager. Then came Halifax, where Sutton seemed to be heading for a frustrating late defeat before David Ogbonna equalised almost immediately after the restart.
On the latest Sutton United Talk Time on Podcast, I was joined by Dan and Rory to look back at both games, talk about whether the side is beginning to settle, discuss the atmosphere debate, and ask whether Sutton are doing enough with the good football they are playing.
Matt Gray Returns, Sutton Return to Winning Ways
I missed the Eastleigh game because it was my wife’s 50th birthday, which is probably one of the few acceptable excuses for missing a home match, so I was interested to hear how Matt Gray’s return had felt from inside the ground.
There was always going to be emotion attached to it. Whatever anyone thinks about how his time at Sutton ended, Gray remains the manager who took the club into the Football League for the first time in its history. Dan felt the reception had been warm, and from what he heard, Gray and Jason stayed around afterwards and caught up with familiar faces.
Rory, watching from afar, thought the bigger story was the performance itself. Sutton had gone into the game having lost three league matches in a row without scoring, but once the match settled down there were signs of the team beginning to click again.
Dan described the first 15 minutes as fairly uneventful, but after that Sutton started to find little combinations in midfield. Temi Babalola’s lay-off helped create the opening goal for Emmanuel Osadebe, and from there the confidence seemed to grow. Sutton added a second soon after and, for a spell, looked capable of putting the game beyond Eastleigh.
That did not quite happen. Eastleigh pulled one back, and there was still a late penalty miss to add to the nerves, but Sutton held on for a deserved 2-1 win. More importantly, Dan felt it was the most complete performance of the season so far. Sutton looked better connected defensively, in midfield and going forward, rather than producing good moments in isolation.
The Atmosphere Debate Rolls On
The Eastleigh match also came shortly after Chris Agutter had spoken about the atmosphere at Gander Green Lane, so naturally that became part of the discussion.
This is not a new debate. Sutton has never been the loudest ground in the country, and there have been people behind the goal trying to improve the atmosphere for years. The question is always the same: is it the crowd’s job to lift the players, or the players’ job to give the crowd something to respond to?
Against Eastleigh, Sutton gave them something.
There were chants for Matt Gray during the game and, at the end, a pointed chant of “Was that loud enough for you?” when the players came over. Dan’s view was that English crowds generally react to what is happening on the pitch. If the football is flat and there is very little attacking threat, the atmosphere tends to follow. If the team is aggressive, creating chances and giving people something to get excited about, the noise usually comes with it.
That probably leaves us with the least exciting answer, which is that both sides have a part to play.
Halifax: A Good Point That Felt Like More Was There
If Eastleigh felt like a step forward, Halifax felt like another one.
Before the game, I would happily have taken a point. Halifax are usually a strong, competitive side at this level and going there is rarely easy. By half-time, though, it felt like Sutton might have missed the chance to be ahead.
Rory thought Sutton were comfortably the better team in the first half. There had been plenty of possession, lots of territory and a steady supply of corners and set pieces, but not enough end product. Free-kicks were wasted, final passes were overhit and there were moments when you wanted somebody to simply take the shot rather than look for one more pass.
Dan agreed that the performance deserved more than it got. Sutton looked more coherent again and, if anything, he felt it was an improvement on Eastleigh. The frustration was that for all the control, there were not many really clear chances. By the final 15 or 20 minutes, a 0-0 draw was starting to feel like the likely result.
Then Halifax scored.
After 93 minutes of mostly solid defending, Sutton failed to deal with one ball into the box and suddenly looked set to come away with nothing. I managed to get an angry post out before Sutton had even restarted properly, which tells you how quickly the equaliser came.
Within moments, David Ogbonna had made it 1-1.
The Response Matters
The equaliser was important, but the reaction to conceding may have told us even more.
There was no time for heads to drop. Sutton simply got the ball back to the centre circle, restarted and went again. They knew there was probably one attack left and they made it count.
Both Dan and Rory felt that showed real character. Rory spoke about the resilience of the side and how, in previous seasons, that kind of late goal might have finished the game psychologically as well as practically. This time there was no collapse, no obvious finger-pointing and no sense that the players had accepted it.
Charlie Bell also made an impact from the bench, bringing a bit more urgency late on, while Ogbonna once again showed what he can offer when introduced against tiring defenders.
Should David Ogbonna Be Starting?
That leads naturally to one of the bigger selection questions.
Ogbonna came off the bench against Eastleigh and won the penalty. He came off the bench at Halifax and scored the equaliser. He is making a habit of affecting games, which makes it difficult not to ask whether he has earned a start.
Rory would put him in from the beginning. Dan sees it slightly differently because Brandon Njoku and Ogbonna offer different things. Njoku does more of the physical and pressing work, chasing defenders and forcing rushed decisions, while Ogbonna is perhaps more naturally suited to using his pace and attacking space.
That makes it less of a simple choice between two similar players and more about what Agutter wants from the role at different stages of a match. Even so, Ogbonna is clearly pushing hard for more minutes.
Is the Unchanged Side Helping?
Another noticeable feature of the week was continuity.
Halifax was the first time this season Sutton named the same starting XI in consecutive league matches. Agutter had already said before Scunthorpe that he believed he had picked his strongest team, even though that performance did not go as planned. He then stuck with them against Eastleigh and was rewarded with a much better display, so he went again at Halifax.
Dan likes that approach. Rather than constantly altering the side to counter the opposition, there is value in allowing Sutton’s own partnerships to develop. Centre-backs learn each other’s habits, midfielders know where the next pass is likely to be, and attacking players begin to understand each other’s movement.
There are signs of that happening now. Alex Kirk and Will Nightingale look settled together, Jake Taylor remains hugely important in midfield, Charlie Carter appears to be improving with every game, and Ben Brookes had another strong spell at Halifax.
After only nine games, it may simply be that the side is starting to look more like a team.
The Main Issue: Turning Control Into Goals
The obvious area that still needs work is converting good football into goals.
Sutton had long spells against both Eastleigh and Halifax where they looked in control, but the scorelines stayed tight. That leaves the question of whether the problem is finishing, decision-making or simply time.
Dan does not think Sutton necessarily need attacking reinforcements. Temi has scored, Brandon has scored and Ogbonna is now contributing too. His feeling is that fitness, sharpness and confidence are still developing. Against Eastleigh, once the first goal went in, Sutton visibly played quicker and with more belief.
Rory was also fairly relaxed about it. His bigger concern was the quality of set pieces at Halifax. For all the corners and free-kicks, Sutton did not make enough of them. The long throw, which had looked dangerous earlier in the season, also seemed easier for Halifax to deal with.
There were moments in open play where you simply wanted somebody to shoot. Not every chance has to be perfect. Sometimes a shot creates a rebound, a deflection or a corner, and at the very least it gives the crowd something to react to.
Four Points From Two Feels Like Progress
If we had been offered four points from Eastleigh at home and Halifax away at the start of the week, most of us would probably have taken them.
The more encouraging part is that neither result felt fortunate.
Sutton deserved to beat Eastleigh and could arguably have won by more. They then went to Halifax, controlled large parts of the game and were disappointed not to win. That is a very different feeling from scrambling for points while playing poorly.
Rory believes the three-game losing run now looks more like a blip. Dan remains a little more cautious, but agrees the last two matches have looked much closer to what Agutter wants from the team.
There are still areas to improve, particularly in the final third, but there is more experience in the side, more competition for places and, importantly, signs that the players are beginning to understand each other.
So What Does 16 Points From Nine Tell Us?
Sutton now have 16 points from nine league matches.
The route to those points has not exactly been straightforward. Four wins were followed by three defeats, then a win and a draw. That makes it difficult to put a neat label on the season just yet.
Rory is optimistic and thinks the team will improve further as the season progresses and the squad settles. Dan is more cautious and wants to see how Sutton fare against some of the sides currently setting the pace before making any big judgements.
That seems fair.
Nine games is enough to start seeing patterns. It is nowhere near enough to know where the season will end.
For now, though, Sutton look more settled than they did a week ago, they have taken four points from two decent performances, and they showed at Halifax that even when a game appears to have gone, they are still capable of finding a response.
Next up is the Surrey Senior Cup against Epsom & Ewell, followed by Forest Green Rovers at Gander Green Lane. Agutter has made it clear he takes the cup seriously, while Forest Green should provide another useful test of how far this Sutton side has come.
And perhaps the main lesson from Halifax is a simple one.
If Sutton concede in the 94th minute, maybe wait 30 seconds before posting anything.