Sutton Hold Heads High Despite Arsenal Defeat
- Johnnie Lowery
- Feb 21, 2017
- 3 min read
Despite defeat in front of a sell-out crowd and the BBC One cameras, Sutton United can be extremely proud of their performance against Arsenal on Monday night.
The early stages saw United frustrate their illustrious opponents effectively, with a compact shape and committed defending often forcing the Gunners into mistakes. Craig Eastmond had appeals for a penalty after he went down under a challenge by Nacho Monreal, though referee Michael Oliver was unmoved. When the goal did come for Arsenal it came after a swift counter attack, Granit Xhaka winning the ball and playing in Lucas Pérez who cut inside and hit an effort across goal. Whether he meant it as a shot or a cross is unclear but with Walcott not getting a touch on the ball in squeezed in at the far post to give Arsenal the lead. Further opportunities of sorts did fall to Arsenal, largely after neat triangles to get in behind the U’s defence. The best of those opportunities fell to Alex Iwobi after a low cross across the box was only half cleared – Beckwith got just enough on the block to deflect the ball out for a corner. Sutton had chances too though; the best of them falling to Adam May after Ospina scuffed his kick straight to the young midfielder. Unfortunately under pressure from Arsenal defenders he shot wide.
The second half nearly had a very interesting start when Rob Holding’s pass back to his keeper nearly ended up in the back of the net, but soon after Arsenal looked to make the game safe with a beautifully worked second goal. A neat one touch passing move put Walcott in, and he made no mistake at the far post to score his 100th Arsenal goal. A lot of sides would have crumbled at this point but the goal seemed to drive Sutton on more, and they looked equals to their Premier League opponents for the remainder of the game. Max Biamou couldn’t find the power in his shot from the edge of the box, before Jamie Collins headed just over from a corner with Ospina nowhere near the ball. The closest United came was a stunning 20 yard effort from Roarie Deacon, which thundered against the crossbar. Alas it wasn’t to be and the game finished 2-0, a far cry from the hammering many predicted. The performance from the team showed the watching world the quality of Sutton United and the National League, and everyone associated with the club can be very proud.
Manager Paul Doswell was delighted with the efforts of his players:
“I’ve got a feeling of immense pride for the club, our supporters, and our players”
“They’ve done everything and more today – they were out on their feet with 75 minutes gone against what was a fantastic Arsenal eleven”
“To come in with 2-0, and have three excellent chances, they can’t have done any more than that”
“The club volunteers, I can’t speak highly enough of them – people giving up their holiday days to sell tickets, it’s quite emotional when I think of the work that everyone does here”
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger was satisfied with his side’s performance, and was full of praise for Sutton:
“They didn’t drop physically at all…they remained absolutely focussed, organised, and had a huge desire in their game”
“If we were not mentally prepared we would not have gone through today”