Although Sutton United still have the likelihood of a three-point penalty hanging over them, for playing an ineligible player against St Albans, they took a gigantic step towards the National South title with a 2-0 victory over 2nd placed Ebbsfleet United.

Ebbsfleet’s manager, Daryl McMahon, was prepared to concede their chances were over after seeing his side outfought and outplayed for the majority of the match at Gander Green Lane.

Despite a number of early chances for Ebbsfleet, it was Sutton who took the lead on 25, when Dan Fitchett stole in to convert Tom Bolarinwa’s cross, albeit, at the time, against the run of play.  The lead was doubled just on the interval when Bedsente Gomis fired home a penalty, and Ebbsfleet could find no answer in front of the highest attendance in National South this season.

McMahon admitted “it was disappointing, for obvious reasons.  I thought we started well, for 20-25 minutes, but when Sutton scored, they dominated the game.  It was an ugly game, but they did enough against us.  I’ve got no complaints, we didn’t create enough, move the ball well enough and, after the timing of the second goal, we didn’t get going in the second half.  If you could pick a time to score it would be the 47th minute, but to be honest, they deserved to win.”

“The title is over.  Everyone is down today, and it’s not a nice feeling.  I’ve said that even if we had won today, it was still in their hands.  But our season is not over.  We’ve now got to get ready for the playoffs, and we’ve now got two weeks before the Eastbourne game.  We’ll prepare as we always do and look forward to the playoffs.”

Sutton had been the team renowned for their quick starts recently, but knowing the importance of this game for their title ambitions, it was Ebbsfleet who were quickest out of the traps.  A sweeping move involving Jon-Paul Kissock and Jordan Parkes saw the ball fed into the feet of Matt Godden.  He sent a first-time ball out to Sean Shields on the right, whose shot drew the first save of the match from Ross Worner.

Both teams were looking threatening, mainly down the right wing through Shields and Tom Bolarinwa respectively, but Godden was also having joy down the Ebbsfleet left.  Fleet’s leading scorer had a shot blocked by a combination of Nicky Bailey and Dean Beckwith after cutting in from the left, then latched onto a Stuart Lewis pass to spin past Bailey, but saw his shot well saved by Worner.

Sutton were being restricted to passing across the face of the visiting defence in the early exchanges, but Nathan Ashmore was brought into the action with a strong palm to push away a shot from Bedsente Gomis that had deflected off Tom Bonner.

Against the run of play, Sutton hit the front on 25.  Bolarinwa drove forwards on the right side of the area and fired a low cross towards the near post, where Dan Fitchett nipped in ahead of a hesitant Ashmore to stab the ball into the roof of the net.

For the remainder of the half, Ebbsfleet struggled to deal with the frequent Sutton set-pieces, and found it difficult to regain a foothold in the game as their hosts slowed the pace down, ensuring they controlled the midfield.  Fitchett was inches away from latching onto another Bolarinwa cross from the right, but in the main, Sutton were being limited to long-range freekicks.

Sutton got a potentially killer second goal in first-half stoppage time, although the collision between Ross Stearn and Bryan van den Bogaert seemed to be accidental.  Mr Quelch, the referee, had little hesitation in pointing to the spot, where Gomis sent the Sutton crowd into raptures, beating Ashmore to his right.

The introduction of Anthony Cook at the start of the second half provided some impetus to Ebbsfleet’s attack, and he helped play a ball down the left for van den Bogaert to cross.  Danny Kedwell met the cross with a powerful header, but it was directed down and into the arms of Worner.

Godden put a shot on target, following Beckwith’s clearance rebounding into his path off Kedwell, but the Ebbsfleet forward would have been flagged offside had he converted the chance.

However, it was still Sutton creating the clearest opportunities.  Bailey’s raking cross from the right wing found Fitchett in acres of space at the back post, but somehow, unchallenged, Fitchett managed to direct his header over from three yards, with the goal gaping.

Bailey, who was by far the best player on the pitch, was controlling the midfield, sitting just in front of the Sutton defence, and mopping up any Ebbsfleet attack that strayed into his area.  He was so effective that the visitors resorted to hopeful long balls and, with Sutton content to just sit back and frustrate, it wasn’t until the last 10 minutes until Fleet had another sight of goal.

Stuart Lewis hit a shot that swerved late in the area, which Worner had to parry away from the danger area, and Cook worked his way into space only for Worner to save well low to his right.  But this was too little, too late for Ebbsfleet – the long-time leaders of National South until last Monday night – and they now have to prepare for the lottery of the playoffs; all the time still looking over their shoulder to retain 2nd place.

SUTTON UNITED: Ross Worner, Kevin Amankwaah (Louis John 79), Dan Spence, Dean Beckwith, Craig Eastmond, Jamie Collins, Tom Bolarinwa, Bedsente Gomis (Craig Dundas 72), Nicky Bailey, Dan Fitchett (Craig McAllister 85), Ross Stearn.

Subs not used: Denzel Gerrar, Jamie Slabber.

Goals: Dan Fitchett 25, Bedsente Gomis 45+2 (pen).

Cautions: Jamie Collins 42, Craig Eastmond 47, Bedsente Gomis 70,

EBBSFLEET UNITED: Nathan Ashmore, Matt Fish (Joe Howe 54), Bryan van den Bogaert (Aaron McLean 79), Stuart Lewis, Anthony Acheampong, Tom Bonner, Jon-Paul Kissock (Anthony Cook 46), Jordan Parkes, Danny Kedwell, Matt Godden, Sean Shields.

Subs not used: Charlie Sheringham, Jon Miles.

Cautions: Jordan Parkes 67, Tom Bonner 73

Attendance: 3,142
Referee: Mr Adrian Quelch (Winchester)
Assistants: Mr Ryan Hillier-Smith (Winchester) and Mr Aaron Moody (Chandler’s Ford)