MATCH REPORT

Sutton travelled to Kettering with a growing confidence after a strong performance two weeks ago in Norwich.

After some questionable navigating along the way, the team arrived at their final destination to find  a bouncy very windy school pitch. However they started well dominating the early exchanges, it was no surprise when Sam Markillie gave the young side the lead following good build up play involving Baguley and Canham and the lead could have been built upon if the final pass and finish had been applied on a number of occasions.

As is often the case, profligacy was rewarded by conceding an equaliser though to be fair to the young team they did not allow it to knock them and they continued to push on to regain the lead; however the classic pre half time sucker punch hit and at the break they were 2-1 down.

At this point the script for the game was thrown away and in the month of Halloween a horror story developed. The second half started with Sutton playing into the wind and it was not long before the deficit had become 3-1 with the defence and the forward line having been decapitated from the midfield as the team bore scant resemblance to the side that finished the first half.

In fairness there were more chance to score and the final score of 7-1 did not reflect the game, however Kettering are an experienced side and they capitalised on a bad half day at the office in the Sleepy Hollow that was the Sutton structure. Heads dropped a little but players did not fall out and lessons will hopefully be learned from a horror half of hockey. Man of the Match was Sam Markillie who was involved in most things that were good about the side and whilst the side continued to try until the end of the game they would be first to admit that when you forget the basics you normally get what you deserve.

The good thing is the team gets to go again next week with the words ‘I know what you did last Saturday' ringing in their ears.