Sutton
United v Eastleigh
SATURDAY
16th FEBRUARY 2008
BLUE
SQUARE SOUTH
Manager Ian Baird kept
faith in the side that had demolished Fisher Athletic the previous week, but
seven days later they could not find a way through the defence of the side
at the foot of the Blue Square South League table.
With their own team
selection problems, Sutton United were unable to field Eastleigh loanee
player Karim El Salahi in the match against them. With regular goalkeeper
Phil Wilson not available it also meant a debut for recent signing Kevin
Davies in the Sutton goal.
It was not the best
surface that Eastleigh have played on this season either and a biting cold
wind led to a goalless draw the game taking the aura from what the score
line reflects.
Eastleigh started
brightly enough, Andy Forbes’ shot from Anthony Rivieres cross was pushed
away by Davies whilst Chris Piper also saw a free kick effort being
deflected off target.
Mark Marshall had a
header from a Piper cross saved by Davies midway though the opening half,
though Sutton came closest to scoring through the whole match on thirty two
minutes. Harry Ottaway wide on the left played the ball behind the Eastleigh
defence allowing the strong run of Craig Dundas on to the ball. As David
Wilkinson came off his line to narrow the angle, Dundas slipped a shot just
past Wilkinson only for the ball to hit the inside of the post before
rolling away to safety for Eastleigh.
Forbes had a diving
header from a Peter Adeniyi cross saved by Davies and Jason Goodchild had a
shot from twenty yards that went over the bar, both in the five minutes
leading up to the interval.
HALF
TIME – Sutton
United
0-0
Eastleigh
A dull first half
was mirrored by the second period.
Tom Hughes headed a
Nicky Greene corner over the bar and Wilkinson pushed away a low shot from
Goodchild but scoring chances were very limited. Dundas arguably should have
done better after getting on the end of a Bashiru Alimi free kick but again
he missed the target.
Eastleigh had
introduced their latest acquisition Karl Murray who had their best chance of
the second period. With seven minutes remaining his shot on the turn inside
the area was saved by Davies.
If,
at the end of the season, Eastleigh do not make their bid to reach the play
off stages, then two games against bottom club Sutton United during the
season, that only produced one point from a possible six, might be their
downfall.
FULL
TIME – Sutton
United
0-0
Eastleigh
RAY
MURPHY
