Sutton United secured the three points this afternoon at the VBS Community Stadium after a late goal from Ashley Nadesan that cancelled out a brave two-goal comeback from the Fleet in the second half.
Harry Watling made one change to his starting eleven that secured three points at the Kuflink Stadium, Craig Tanner coming in for Toby Edser while new signing Sha’mar Lawson was on the bench with Charles Ondo returning to the squad next to him.
But it wouldn’t be the start that Watling and his side would have hoped for when the hosts found the breakthrough with just seven minutes on the clock. Josh Wright lost out in the midfield, allowing a ball forward into the path of Will Davies. The number nine found himself one-on-one with Mark Cousins and tucked the ball out of his reach to give Sutton the early advantage.
The closest chance for the Fleet came in the 20th minute when a free kick in a promising position from Craig Tanner hit the wall. He arrived for the rebound and hit a form low strike from distance as the wall parted but goalkeeper Steve Arnold got across in time.
A couple more threats from the Fleet came just past the half-hour mark when a long-range strike from Ben Chapman curled just off target and then Rakish Bingham’s effort from much closer in was wide of the mark.
Sutton claimed a chance right before half-time when Chapman brought down Davies as he ran through towards the box but the resulting free-kick was off target and then came the whistle.
The first chance of the second-half fell in favour of the U’s when Nadesan carried the ball forward and his snap shot on goal was deflected out for a corner. Sutton’s second arrived when Lewis Simper picked out Jayden Harris from the byline who worked the ball into a shooting position and executed it perfectly to double the hosts’ lead.
Sutton might have thought they’d wrapped the game up with that but Fleet had other ideas and responded just before the hour mark through half-time substitute Dom Poleon. Ben Chapman got away down the right and found Wes Fonguck driving forward. He beat the Sutton defence to the ball and moved it into the path of Poleon arriving towards the near post who finished accurately for 2-1.
Encouraged, Fleet were bright and 10 minutes later shocked the home support with an equaliser. Tanner’s attempt to lay a ball into the path of Bingham didn’t quite come off but a clearance fell to Franklin Domi who hit a thunderbolt from 30 yards out and it sailed into the top left corner.
The Fleet pushed for the lead as a corner delivered by Chapman floated towards the back post where Bingham climbed but couldn’t connect.
The lead was regained by Sutton, however, on 77 minutes when Nadesan latched on to a delivery from Eduino Vaz across goal to tap home the third for the hosts.
The Fleet still went for it up front – after Cousins made an excellent save from Davies – and in the fourth minute of added time Poleon did well to win possession off Chinwike Okoli in the area but he blasted the shot from close range across Arnold who did well to make the save.
EUFC: Cousins, Chapman, Page, Olagunju, Dallison, Wright (Lawson 55), Fonguck (John 79), Domi, Tanner (Tanga 90), Randall (Poleon 46), Bingham. Subs: Cundle, Ondo, Berry
SUFC: Arnold, Okoli, Ransom, Coley (Odelusi 68) Simper, Davies, Barbrook (Sivi 68), Waller, Harris, Nadesan, Eccleston (Vaz 46). Subs: Sims, Rush, Boateng, Wadham
Attendance: 3,131 (215 away)
Image courtesy of Ebbsfleet United/Ed Miller