Collins Double Defeats Aldershot

Jamie Collins came back to haunt his old club at Gander Green Lane on Saturday as an unlikely brace from the centre back gave Sutton United a 2-0 win.

The first chance fell to Roarie Deacon who managed to get in behind the away side’s defence, but he shot badly wide when one on one with Aldershot keeper Mark Smith.

It was the U’s who dominated the early exchanges with a number of efforts on goal being blocked by either Smith or his defenders in front of him. Biamou in particular will have felt disappointed after his effort at the near post was saved by Smith, who had a decent game. There were chances for Aldershot too, the excellent Ross Worner saving from McClure, who also had an effort just wide about five minutes later. On 37 minutes it looked like the away side were nailed on to take the lead when Gallagher had a free strike inside the box, but once again Worner was equal to the effort. The first major controversy came in the 40th minute as Eastmond burst into the box and was hauled down by chasing defender Kellerman. With nothing immediately given Eastmond continued to battle for it and was seemingly tripped again, this time by the Shots’ keeper. Referee David Rock bizarrely gave the decision the other way, and perhaps this way playing on his mind when he showed Aldershot’s Gallagher a red card on the stroke of half time – quite what it was for was a mystery for most of the spectators but presumably something had occurred off the ball.

Now with a man advantage United took control, with Dickson missing a good opportunity to put his side ahead when he screwed wide from 12 yards out. There was concern around the ground as Saville went down with what appeared to be a serious head injury, so there was relief when he managed to jog off the pitch for treatment. However this relief was short-lived for the Shots, now temporarily down to 9 men, as Collins got ahead of his marker to head the U’s into the lead from a set piece. Doswell made the changes with Fitchett and McAllister coming on to help control the game from this point, and for the most part it worked a treat. However the away side did still have a couple of chances, Allen having the best of them after Sutton switched off from a long ball. Luckily for the United defence Worner was out quickly to smother. With ten minutes to go Collins put the game to bed after he controlled a ball over the top of the Aldershot defence, before smashing home past Smith. To their credit Aldershot didn’t stop pushing but couldn’t cause Sutton any real problems and the game was comfortably seen out.

Sutton manager Paul Doswell gave his thoughts after the game:

“I thought it was a real end-to-end game in the first half, I thought we had the first 25 minutes and Aldershot had the next 15”

“That (the sending off) was a game changer because Jake Gallagher is a big player for them”

On the opportunity Iffy Allen had 15 minutes from the end and the importance of Jamie Collins’ second goal which followed 5 minutes later:

“Even with 10 men and with the pace they’ve got there’s always the risk”

“Ross Worner’s had to make another fantastic save, and if that goes in at 1-1 that would have been a game changer as well because I think we might have struggled to recover from that”

Tickets for the Cheltenham FA Cup 2nd round game can be bought in advance and went on sale on Monday 21st November. There will be three ways in which you can purchase tickets for the game:-

in person at the club over the phone (0208 644 4440) with credit/debit card by post with Stamped Addressed Envelope if sent in by Sat 26th Nov. (cheques payable to Sutton United FC) - later applications will have to be collected on matchday.

Tickets will be available to buy in person at the club at the following times:

Mon 28th - 10am to 12 noon (office), 7pm to 9pm ( Members' Bar)

Tues 29th - 10am to 12 noon (office) ; 6pm to 7.30pm and 9.45pm to 10.45pm ( VP bar)

Wed 30th,Thu 1st, Fri 2nd - 10am to 12 noon (office), 7pm to 9pm (Members' Bar)

Tickets will be on sale on matchday but it is anticipated that stand tickets will sell out in advance.

Crowd segregation will be in force, with Cheltenham supporters at the Collingwood Road end, so home fans must use the Gander Green Lane turnstiles. We know the Robins expect to be well supported and they have taken their full allocation of tickets.

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