Report: Magpies 0-1 Sutton United

Maidenhead United suffered a 1-0 defeat at the hands of Sutton United on a lacklustre Saturday afternoon at York Road. 

 

Alan Devonshire made two changes to the side which drew 3-3 with Braintree midweek. Alan Massey came into replace the injured Will de Havilland, while Sam Barratt replaced Joshua Johnson in the midfield. 

 

As the Magpies shot towards the Bell Street End, their visitors took their first effort down the slope with five minutes on the clock. Eduino Vaz latched onto a poor clearance, dragging his shot wide of Craig Ross’ right post. 

 

Despite the visitors’ early chance, Maidenhead started much stronger than on Tuesday. Nathan Ferguson would have the first crack at goal, firing his shot from outside the box over the bar. 

 

United’s best opportunity of the first 45 came as Sam Barratt whipped in a free kick from just in front of the home dugout. Alan Massey was the target, but neither him nor Manny Onariase behind were able to get a good connection to head towards goal. 

 

With a quarter of the game gone, Sutton began to ramp up the pressure, and it wasn’t long before the visitors took the lead. A misplaced pass saw the ball land at the feet of Dillon De Silva, who won a 50/50 with Onariase. Through on goal, De Silva wasted no time in slotting home past Ross. 

 

 

Neither manager made any changes during interval, but Maidenhead would have the better chances for the first half of the second period. 

 

Four minutes in, Tristan Abrahams took a looping shot from Shawn McCoulsky, with the trajectory taking it just over the bar and behind the back of the net. 

 

The hosts were arguably the better of the two Uniteds in a half devoid of quality. Maidenhead had Sutton under pressure with 20 minutes to go, but were unable to get a shot off to challenge Jack Sims. 

 

A what-would-have-been calamitous own goal nearly occurred as we entered the last 15 minutes. A breakdown in communication had Ross well off his line as Lewis Simper charged towards goal. The stretched leg of Miles Welch-Hayes prevented a second for Sutton, with Will Davies heading over the subsequent corner. 

 

Returning from absence, Kane Ferdinand entered the game with ten minutes on the clock. Played through by McCoulsky, the midfielder had a good opportunity to pull the trigger, but offloaded to Joseph Ajose to win a corner. 

 

Despite seven minutes of stoppage time, United failed to capitalise, and the game concluded with Sutton taking all three points back to London. 

 

 

Magpies: Ross, Latty-Fairweather, Ferguson (Johnson, 70’), McCoulsky, Pettit (Ferdinand, 77’), Smith, Welch-Hayes, Abrahams, Massey, Barratt (Ajose, 77’), Onariase 

 

Sutton: Sims, Odelusi, Simper (Wadham, 86’), Davies, De Silva (Nadesan, 65’), Vaz, Barbrook, Muller, Taylor, Boateng (Coley, 65’), Jackson 

 

Attendance: 1,292