Midweek Trip To Essex For Sutton
- Mark Bravery
- Jan 8, 2017
- 2 min read
After feasting on the media banquet of Saturday's FA Cup tie against AFC Wimbledon, Sutton return to the bread-and-butter of league action on Tuesday evening as they travel to Essex rivals Braintree Town.
This is a match postponed from Saturday 3 December, the date on which both clubs were playing in the second round of the Cup.
Sutton will be looking to make amends for one of only three defeats at Gander Green Lane this season, Braintree having won 2-1 there in September's league fixture. In that game Nicky Bailey had given Sutton the lead from the penalty spot only for Chez Isaac to equalise with a penalty for Braintree, the same player scoring a dramatic late winner on the break shortly after visiting defender Ian Gayle had been sent off.
Despite that win, Braintree have been struggling in the lower reaches of the table for most of this season and have managed only two league victories at their Cressing Road ground. Results have improved a little lately under manager Hakan Hayrettin, who succeeded Jamie Day a fortnight after that game at Sutton. The Iron currently stand eighteenth in the table, four places and eight points below Sutton.
Paul Doswell's men will be hoping to build on an impressive recent defensive record that has seen them concede just one goal in their last five matches. Following Saturday's game though there were fitness concerns about defenders Jamie Collins (calf) and Kevin Amankwaah (knee). Braintree will be missing defender Reece Hall-Johnson and midfielder Ebou Adams, both suspended for this game.
This will be Sutton's first visit to Cressing Road since March 2008, when they lost 1-0 in a Conference South fixture.