MATCH REPORT

10 Game unbeaten run comes to an end! 
 
Long Suttons Ladies 1sts battled hard to keep a very impressive unbeaten run going which had stretched back to the 26th October 2013, but on this occasion they came up short against a determined hard working Royston team who as a result of the win move to third in the league with Sutton dropping to fourth but on equal points of 31, being separated only by a slender goal difference, however with Royston carrying a game in hand. Mathematically it was also a day which extinguished any remaining hopes of winning the title as league leaders Letchworth won. 
 
Ironically Suttons unbeaten run started at Royston with a 3 - 2 win so it might have been in the stars that it would end on the reverse fixture!  
 
Royston started well and applied early pressure on the home side who were playing with a very strong gale blowing behind them. Sutton settled though and started to ease their way into the game and forced a spate of short corners which were defended well by Royston to keep the scores at nil nil. The game was scrappy as both teams contended with the extreme wind which made it equally hard for both sides. However mid way through the first half Royston struck after a long punt forward had been wasted but Sutton failed to clear the sixteen yard hit allowing Royston to attack and a couple of passes later were rewarded with a well taken goal scored by Ali Carrol. Sutton battled hard through the middle with Gemma Parr and Sarah Walker beginning to dominate proceedings and on 27 minutes Long Sutton levelled the scores after Lisa Baker pounced on Jeorgia Carr's first strike which was blocked by the Royston keeper but leaving Baker the second chance which she made no mistake with. The first half fizzled out with Sutton welcoming the break to sort things out but reckoning on the wind in their faces for the second half! 
 
The game followed the same scrappy pattern but with Royston keeping Suttons goalkeeper Lorraine Wallis the busier, and as in the first half Wallis pulled of fine and crucial saves to keep Sutton in the game, aided in particular by a goal line clearance from Tania White. If the weather was unkind in the first half it notched up more angrily ten minutes into the second period with even stronger winds plus hail and sleet to boot - driving into the faces of the Sutton players making it particularly more difficult. In the midst of this more extreme weather Sutton succumbed to a second goal scored on 50 minutes. Royston broke down the left and worked the ball deep into the Sutton D with Sophie Gathercole being well placed in front of goal to bag what turned out to be the winner. 
 
Sutton looked the more likely to equalise despite being down to ten players after Baker was carded for an instinctive above the head stick movement. On the balance of the game Sutton had more short corners than Royston but failure to convert them proved costly. To the end and with Baker back Sutton created several opportunities and attempts on the Royston goal but a combination of missed half chances and great defending by Royston ensured it was the visitors who celebrated the win.  Sutton will look to their remaining three games with nine points in mind which would most likely see them finish in a well deserved third place and in what has been a very strong league.  
 
Player of the match was Long Suttons goalkeeper Wallis who without doubt is the best keeper in the league if not the Land..................

Report by Martin Hudson.