MATCH REPORT

Sutton's youngsters came up short in this enjoyable local derby, conceding four goals against a classy Spalding outfit which happened to be tailored exactly to exploit Sutton's lack of experience. Joss Calderbank played a great match in goal and there was some excellent defending from Dan Oldfield and David Shire. The midfield could not get their passing game going at all, possession was conceded far too easily and the home side's pacy sweeper kept Kane Portass and the returning Alex Wilkinson well in check. On the positive side, Pavel Saponenko continued his improvement, Harry Synnott played better the longer the game went on and the whole team kept fighting to the end.

The players voted Joss Calderbank to be Man of The Match for his sterling efforts in goal, but on this occasion I am over-ruling their wishes and nominating Simon Wakeham instead for what was a heroic effort. Scrapper took a heavy fall in the first half when a Spalding player accidently hooked his ankle and sent him flying, landing on his ribs. Although obviously suffering Scrapper played on, only succumbing to the pain in the last two minutes and allowing himself to be substituted. He spent the evening in Pilgrim Hospital , finding out that as a result of the fall he had suffered a punctured lung.

So for his unyielding commitment to the team and his old-school, stubborn refusal to acknowledge the pain he played under, we award this week's Man of the Match to Simon Wakeham along with best wishes for a speedy recovery from all the Fourth Team.

Report by Ian White.