In control, in third place and in form. Sutton beat Rochdale.
Like last week's comprehensive win over Scunthorpe were the visiting team competed well with Sutton in the first ten to twenty minutes, so it was something similar today against Rochdale. Like a car speeding off into the sunset Sutton once ahead took control of the game, with a nicely struck free kick in the twelfth minute. After that we added another two. Finishing the game three nil winners. The statistics would have shown that Rochdale had more possession of the ball, but the eye would have seen that they didn’t do much with it. Enzio has been relishing his game play opportunities, he knocked another one after a bit of interplay with the ever-enterprising Ritchie to slot home his first. I am never quite sure what qualifies as a comfort blanket being two nil or three nil up against a team. At two nil with Enzio on two my excitement rose at the prospect of an Enzio hat trick. He has done a David A. With a run that took out two Rochdale players, but their keeper pulled out a good save. The Rochdale keeper quite possibly kept the winning score line to respectable levels. Suttons Deano was less busy leading a defence keeping a clean sheet. The second half saw Kizzi make it three, job done, only question was could we add more goals? We did not add a goal, but we did add an occasion to the game that was fitting for a club looking to its past on the day we celebrated our one hundred and twenty fourth birthday. That event was in the eighteenth minute when Sutton United academy player Kylian Kouassi came on to make his EFL debut. A good indication of a club’s future is their academy not just how big it is but to see players from the academy make it into the first team. Behind every academy player is a network of support sometimes travelling across London’s to lay on transport for the academy player. Seeing Kylian make his debut will give a boost to other academy players and their respective networks of support.
The new stand where the yellow shines brightly had something of a first with the first batch of away supporters sitting down on the seats. I hope the seats were comfortable as Rochdale fans didn’t have a great deal to leap from their seats. Credit to the Rochdale fans who came down in numbers to support their team. Their club has one of those heart-breaking soap operas where that lone owner buys the club and runs it in ways that are unproductive and end up alienating fans. Speaking to Rochdale fans prior to the game they see in Sutton United a reflection of their own club and how they want to see their club develop. As we chatted in came the Rochdale chairman in post I believe for the last year, immediately the Rochdale fans had only good words to say about the Chairman. So often the relationship between those who run the club and those who support it can be anything from harmonious, to fractious to absolute hostility. Rochdale is heading for harmonious and long may it continue.
As a supporter today's game was another stress free one. As we move into the business end of the EFL2 with ten or eleven games left we will once again find ourselves in stressful situations ticking down those minutes added by the referee to hold own for a one nil win or an away draw. As we move to Tuesdays Pizza Cup clash away to Wigan the oven heat gets hotter. Until we see the Wigan line up it’s hard to predict a result. One game from Wembley that’s one prize but we’ve already won financially off the pitch with the money we’ve earned from our run in the Pizza Cup. I haven’t overly engaged with the Pizza Cup, more of a league over cup man but safe journey to the Amber Army taking the Tuesday transport to Wigan. The futures bright the futures Amber.
