It's been a familiar refrain this season, but a failure to take their chances when they were having the better of the game cost Sutton dear at Woodspring Stadium on Sunday as Weston-super-Mare scored three second half goals to take a firm grip on the game, and establish a lead sufficient to withstand a fine comeback from U's in the last ten minutes which almost yielded an unlikely point. By the time Oliver Watkins put the home side ahead six minutes after half time, Sutton should have been at least one up, probably two or three, and that it was not their afternoon was emphasised when Jack Evans crashed a volley against the bar minutes later, but once they did find the target as Charlie Clough marked probably his last game in a Sutton shirt with two well taken goals, Weston were too far ahead.
Sutton had an unsettled build-up, accepting an offer for Clough from Forest Green Rovers and seeing Harry Osborne recalled from his loan by Charlton only to be immediately loaned out again to Welling, so Jamie Collins was brought in from Eastleigh to make his debut on the left of a back three that at the start also comprised Shaun Cooper and Micky Spillane, who collectively kept a tight grip on the home attack which was restricted to one shot from Joe McClennan from outside the penalty area that was comfortably dealt with by Tom Lovelock. The chances all came at the other end, Clough battling along the by-line before setting up Bedsente Gomis, who failed to keep his shot down, and Billy Medlock doing everything right as he turned past Jake Llewellyn on to a Glen Southam pass at the end of a good move, but then put his shot too close to Luke Purnell as the keeper came out. Medlock also failed to make the best of another opening when he was clear on the left as the home side waited for an offside call, but with time to choose his option he shot hurriedly and wildly over the bar.
Half time saw Spillane pushed up front, with Clough dropping in to the back line, and Sutton began the second half still on the attack, Dan Wishart not able to match an incisive run with a shot to match, Purnell saving easily, and Gomis again shooting over from a good position. Then Oliver Watkins burst clear on to a pass from Jamie Edge as Sutton looked for an offside flag, and as Lovelock came out Watkins finished well with his left foot. Sutton were almost level immediately, Spillane heading Wishart's cross back across goal for Evans, who couldn't have caught his volley from 15 yards any better but saw it crash down off the bar. His effort from the rebound was also on target until it struck Gomis, rather summing up U's afternoon, and Shaquille Hippolyte-Patrick should also have done better soon after coming on when he failed to make sufficient contact with what looked like a free header from Wishart's inswinging free kick. It soon got worse for U's as Bradley Ash survived appeals for handball as he controlled another pass from Edge on the right side of the penalty area before turning and shooting powerfully past Lovelock.
Clough returned up front as Sutton looked to get back in to the game, but when his cross from by the corner flag was cut out Weston broke quickly, McLennan found Jake Mawford in lots of space on the right, and the afternoon's best player cut in before hitting a shot that dipped, curled and landed inside the far post with Lovelock rooted to the spot. That seemed to end the game as a contest, but to their great credit for a side making their longest trip of the season at the end of a spell of four games in nine days, Sutton stormed back to make it an anxious finish for the home side. Lively substitute Ricky Wellard crossed for Clough to pull one back with a firm downward header, and then flashed a 25 yard shot just wide before Purnell had to scramble back to clear the ball off the line after failing to collect Llewellyn's back pass. However when Clough hit his second, a crisp low volley from the edge of the penalty area, two of the four extra minutes allowed by referee Richard Hulme had already elapsed, and despite forcing one more corner which yielded a goalmouth scramble but eventually a free kick to Weston as U's tried to force the ball in, they ran out of time.
Goal scorers.
Weston Super Mare - Watkins 51, Ash 67, Mawford 77
Sutton - Clough 85, 90+2
Weston: L Purnell, P Mitchell, J Llewellyn(sub O Barnes 90), J Edge, T Jordan, C Fortune, J Mawford, K Ingram(sub A Brown 79), J McClennan, B Ash(sub J Cane 82), O Watkins. Subs n/u M Jay, S Camper. Booked: Jordan(31-foul), Ingram(75-foul), Purnell(89-time wasting).
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