In hot conditions the points were shared at York Road today as a Dave Tarpey opener inside the first ten minutes for Maidenhead was cancelled out just before half time by Craig Dundas.
The home side’s goal woke Sutton up as the first free-kick Sutton United won in a dangerous area on 14 minutes just outside the box saw Ross Stearn step up trying to make amends and hit a thunderbolt of a free-kick that had Maidenhead United keeper Carl Pentney diving to his left as it whistled inches past the far upright. The swapping over of wingers Ross Stearn and Dan Wishart by Sutton manager Paul Doswell just after the Maidenhead goal was reaping rewards as the first half continued; Wishart on 20 minutes beat Huggins and whipped in a beauty of a ball for Stuart Fleetwood to jump with Maidenhead keeper Carl Pentney in the home side’s six yard box, the referee correctly noticing the infringement by Fleetwood enabling him to get his head on the ball that sent the ball wide of the post anyway. Micky Spillane played the ball into Wishart again on 23 minutes, the Sutton winger beating three defenders on a weaving run before trying to find the incoming Craig Dundas with a low pass which required defender Rene Steer to slide in and put the ball into his own side netting for a Sutton corner.
With Sutton having played their way back into the match the heat appeared to be taking its toll as both defences looked firm and both sides were comfortable in cancelling each other out for the final quarter of an hour of the first half. Just as the added on time board going up at the end of the first half, a long cross field ball was launched by Glen Southam to the opposite wing finding Wishart in full flight enabling him to ride Josh Huggins’ attempted challenge and whip in a deep cross to find Craig Dundas at the back post who sent in a powerful downward header that Pentney did excellently to save, only for the ball to fall kindly for Dundas to send a powerful scissors-kick volley into the net from 5 yards out and send the teams in level at half-time.
In a reversal to the start of the first half, it was Sutton that started the second half the brighter of the two sides, and it was Wishart who was the prime instigator of creating a chance four minutes in as he rode two Maidenhead challenges to collect a Stuart Fleetwood lay-off; the cross in by Wishart saw Dean Inman panic and shank his attempted clearance just over his own cross bar. Maidenhead United manager Alan Devonshire noticing the danger of Wishart switched his own wingers of Harry Pritchard and Dave Tarpey that saw the service to Wishart gradually dry up as both teams once again cancelled each other out. Poor defending in the Sutton back line then saw James Mulley played in for a one on one from 8 yards out but a combination of a depairing attempted block by Southam and Worner being equal to the shot saw the final effort relatively tame in the end. Building up a head of steam, Maidenhead threatened again as Ryan Upward picked up a Dean Beckwith attempted half clearance, the half volley from the Maidenhead midfielder 20 yards out had the diving Worner beaten but bounced wide of the post.
The sun behind the Sutton players' backs seemed to be draining the visiting players' energy levels as the half continued but the introduction of Dan Fitchett for Fleetwood seemed to re-inspire Sutton; a Stearn free-kick on 69 minutes wide on the left wing was floated in dangerously towards the back post with Dundas awaiting but Pentney was smartly along his goal line to tip the ball around the post and away from the forehead of Dundas. The resulting corner was poor and led to a lofted clearance finding Mulley in the centre circle and his quick lay-off saw the ball played between Dean Beckwith and Jamie Collins to give Tarpey a run in on goal, but he snatched at his effort from 12 yards out and Worner did extremely well to block the shot with his feet.
The game rather petered out in the closing stages and if either side were going to claim all three points it looked more likely to be Maidenhead as the tiredness of the Sutton players was evident, especially in the last ten minutes as numerous free-kicks were given away just outside of the visitors box. One of those saw an alleged off the ball incident occur in the penalty area as Dean Inman hit the deck, provoking a large appeal from the home faithful that was turned down by referee Savvas Yianni. Youth player Elliott Anderson made his Sutton first team debut as a replacement for the injured Wishart and was given an insight into the competitiveness of National League South football in injury time as a floated ball saw him lose Maidenhead midfielder Harry Pritchard, who had enough time to fire in a half volley from 20 yards out that Ross Worner was able to comfortably see into the side netting. Both sides took a point from the match with Sutton probably the happier of the two with a solid away point.
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