MATCH REPORT

Long Sutton travelled the short distance up the road to King's Lynn on the back of a brilliant performance last week against high flying Bury St Edmunds. However Pelicans is always a difficult place to go and previous seasons have seen Sutton come away with nothing, so they knew that there could be no complacency.

The game started brightly for Sutton pushing Pelis back from the start and but for some great saves from the Pelis keeper (wearing some of Wallis's lucky tape) they would have been two or three up within the first few minutes. Pelicans had no answer to the speed of Connie and Emmy Gittins and Amber Jones running the channels. They did however start to get themselves into the game but never really troubled the Sutton defence of Cooper, White, Sullivan and Burton. Certainly nothing was getting through to Wallis who was a virtual spectator. White did unfortunately have to withdraw half way through the half and with Parr having to drop back, the Sutton attacking threat suffered slightly as they were not able to control the game further up the pitch. A number of Pelis short corners came to nothing however and Sutton were able to see out the half. 0-0.

The half time team talk was about patience and continuing to do the basics well and the second half started in superb fashion. White came back into the fold, even though it was clear that the injury would continue to have an effect. With Parr pushing higher Sutton attacked from the off and an early short corner was awarded. The ball came to Jo Bland who hit a "screamer" into the bottom corner. (maybe not quite a screamer but hey they all count). Sutton dominated the half with the ever -willing Jemima Dodd putting in a shift and Hannah Baker filling in wherever necessary.

With less than ten minutes to go and Sutton in control, the defence stepped up a little too far and forgot their defensive duties. A through ball found Pelis two on one with Wallis and the Pelis forwarded slotted the ball in. Wallis still hadn't touched the ball in the game! This spurred Pelis on and Sutton needed to stay alert to ensure that they didn't go away from the game with nothing again. Pelis forced Wallis into her first save of the game just before the final whistle.

Not the result Sutton wanted but it was always going to be hard to replicate the standard of the previous week. They remain unbeaten in 5 now and go into the final game before the Christmas break next week at their temporary home, March, against Dereham