EFL League 2: Colchester United 1-1 Sutton United

11th November 2023

Colchester United vs Sutton United @ Colchester Community Stadium

EFL League Two

15:00 KO

£21.50 entry (includes a free programme)

Attendance - 3,732 (228 away fans)

Half-time score: Colchester United 0-0 Sutton United

Goals:

Colchester United: Read - 80'

Sutton United: Sowunmi - 95'

Brief match highlights are on YouTube, see link below:

Highlights | Colchester United 1-1 Sutton United - YouTube

Final Score: Colchester United 1-1 Sutton United

Another trip down to Essex to watch the U's, this time taking on bottom of the table Sutton United. Coming in off the back of a hot run of form, winning 3 on the bounce, they come in strong favourites, however, Col U rarely win 4 in a row, and we have a poor record against struggling teams, so I was certainly expecting a close game. Col U are still without a manager since Ben Garner was sacked, for the record a manager I really liked as he made a lot of positive changes, but for today Matty Etherington was continuing to play his interim role, and having a good impact thus far. It was worth noting that the Sutton United starting line-up included two former U's in Ryan Jackson, who was brilliant when here, and Sowunmi, who never really performed as promised.

Todays complimentary programme had Arthur Read on the front cover, the midfield playmaker arguably the stand out performer so far this season. The centrefold was young No.9 Samson Tovide, another player having a strong season.

With it being the November 11th, and with a strong military history in Colchester, there was a well drilled pre-match ceremony to mark this sombre day, with the Royal Anglian Regiment on parade, playing in the Last Post before a minutes silence was impeccably observed by all. During this, the Colchester United players, in blue and white stripes, and the Sutton United players, in yellow, lined-up on the centre circle on this mild sunny autumn afternoon.

KEY MOMENTS

CU = Colchester United

SU = Sutton United

5' - CU - Taylor drives a dangerous ball across the box from the left wing, but although Tovide is stretching, he is unable to make contact with the ball.

21' - SU - Sutton United break quickly from a sustained Col U attack, O'Brien is played in down the left-flank, he gets past the last man and shoots from inside the box, but he drags his shot wide across the face of goal, a big let off for the U's.

28' - CU - Read turns just outside the box and makes the space for a strike, it is hit with venom, but too close to keeper Bouzanis, who parries it away.

45' - CU - A flicked on clearance from Taylor allows Tovide to break, he shuffles the ball out to Taylor who was sprinting to his right, he takes the ball into the box and cracks in an effort at the near-post, but Bouzanis is there and bats the ball away to concede a corner.

45'+2' - CU - Some brilliant strength and determination from Taylor sees him turn his man, seeing the run of Tovide he immediately slides the ball through for him, Tovide is through on-goal and bearing down on Bouzanis, I was expecting the net to bulge, but he looses his composure and blasts over the bar, what a waste!

48' - SU - A long free-kick is pumped in to the box, Goodman comes out to collect, but there is disarray in the Col U ranks, and he is knocked by a Col U defender causing him to spill the ball, Sutton pick it up, and in quick succession come two reaction strikes, but both are fortunately blocked by the scrambling Col U defence.

51' - SU - A cleared ball falls to Gape on the edge of the area, his volleyed effort pings between three defenders, but luckily eventually falls into the clutches of Goodman.

80' - CU - GOAL (1-0) - Substitute Ihionvien controls a long-ball and finds Read out to his right, he takes the ball into the box, twists around the first defender, then cuts back to wrong foot the second, allowing him the space to curl a superb left footed strike round Bouzanis and into the far side of the goal, cracking finish and skill to put the U's in to the lead, what a lad!

93' - CU - Col U break through substitute Chay Cooper, he marauds forwards and slips the ball out to Ihionvien, seeing Bouzanis off his line he tries to chip him from 20 yards, but his effort travels harmlessly wide of the mark.

95' - SU - GOAL (1-1) - In the final minute, McGeehan puts in a stupid challenge on the left flank to concede a free-kick in a dangerous position, and pick up a yellow card in the process. N'Guessan steps up and whips the ball into the mixer, a glancing defensive header is recycled back into the box with a low driven ball, it deflects off a Col U defender and falls perfectly to ex-Col U centre-back Sowunmi who turns and buries the ball into the roof of the net to stun the home fans. Two points dropped in final seconds, as the full-time whistle is blown a few seconds after the restart.

Heartbreak for the U's as they concede an equaliser in the final moments, triggered by a needless and wreckless challenge from McGeehan which ultimately led to the goal, which was predictably scored by Sowunmi, who was immense today, having been largely anonymous when at Colchester.....But truth be told, the U's never really got firing today, they laboured against a poor opponent and upon reflection a draw is perhaps a fair result, although I would argue that Col U crafted the better goalscoring opportunities. The point, however, moves them up from 18th to 16th in the table, sitting slap bang in the middle, being both 7 points away from the play-offs and the relegation zone. After a lacklustre performance, it is difficult to pick out star performers, but the red-haired midfield maestro Arthur Read again showed that extra spark. Other strong performances came from Mitchell and Dallison who were solid at the back, Fevrier went on some nice runs down the wing, and both Chay Cooper and Bradley Ihionvien looked sharp when they came on. I am hoping Col U can stretch out their 4-game unbeaten run to continue their march up the table. I will be back in December, hopefully then they will have a new manager in place by then, but until then, UP THE U's, UP THE U's, UP THE GOOD OL' WHITE AND BLUES!!!

Line-Ups:

COLCHESTER UNITED: Owen Goodman, Zach Mitchell, Tom Dallison, Mandela Egbo, Jayden Fevrier, Cameron McGeehan, Arthur Read, Will Greenidge, Noah Chilvers (C), Samson Tovide, Joe Taylor. SUBS: Fiacre Kelleher, Tom Hopper, Chay Cooper, Bradley Ihionvien, Jay Mingi, Sam Hornby, Frankie Terry.

SUTTON UNITED: Dean Bouzanis, Joe Kizzi, Louis John, Omar Sowunmi, Ryan Jackson, Harry Beautyman (C), Dominic Gape, Christian N'Guessan, Josh Coley, Harry Smith, Aiden O'Brien. SUBS: Omari Patrick, Dion Pereira, Lee Angol, Jack Rose, Craig Dundas, Tope Fadahunsi, Rob Milsom.