Grays Athletic 0 Sutton United 1 (Away)
Sat, August 23, 2003. Kick off: 3:00 PM
LIGHTNING 'BOLT' SENDS BLUES CRASHING by Carol Smith-Allen
The five nil drubbing of Braintree on Tuesday night was always going to be a hard act to follow, especially against much better opponents, and the most Blues fans were hoping for was a draw, with a win being a bonus. However, they came away disappointed, as what many believed to be a ‘dubious’ penalty decision gave the three points to the home side.
The first half was a rather lacklustre affair, with Ranbir Marwa being replaced on 12 minutes, having received a knock, not helping matters. The nearest Blues came to scoring was on 34 minutes when Tony Lock’s shot was pushed away by Andy Iga for a corner. By this time, to try and add a bit of oomph to the game, the young Gray's contingent had stripped to their underpants, and had resolved to stay like this until Blue’s managed to score a goal. (Needless to say, they were still dressed like this at the end of 90 minutes!!) Towards the end of the first half, Sutton seemed to step up a gear, and shot just wide on 42 minutes, and then just 4 minutes later they nearly scored when the Blue’s defence were caught napping leaving Mel Capleton to pull off an excellent save.
The second half started much livelier, and was very much end to end stuff. However, the decisive moment came on 56 minutes when Lee Williams was adjudged by the referee to have fouled Sutton midfielder Nick Bailey, who was through on goal. As the last defender Williams was then sent off, and Blue’s Manager Mark Stimson, was yellow carded for comments made to one of the assistant referees, and removed from the dug-out. Danny Bolt took the disputed penalty, and despite a good attempt to save it by Mel Capleton it found the back of the net.
Blue’s now down to ten men, tried to get forward, but found it difficult to get past the fairly solid Sutton defence, and when they did manage to, were for the most offside.
Sutton might feel that they just edged it, and therefore deserved the full three points, but I think Blue's fans and player's alike would probably have considered a point a piece to be a fairer result.
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