Sutton Fall Just Short

Sutton welcomed Wolverhampton 2s to Walmley Road on Saturday and put up a great performance before finally falling to a 30 points to 21 defeat. That scoreline, however, does not tell the whole story. Wolverhampton arrived with a record of 11 wins out of 11, averaging 45 points a game for and only 3 against so for Sutton to push them so hard was a great all round effort. Indeed, with 10 or so minutes to go a deserved win looked on the cards but Wolverhampton’s superior fitness and the rub of the green saw them over the line.
On a blustery but largely dry afternoon Sutton started on the front foot with the benefit of the wind. An early penalty by Chris Duckworth gave the home side a 3 point lead. Wolverhampton responded but Sutton’s desire to defend their line shows how far the team has progressed since the start of the season. With the lineout and scrums working well territory was being gained through the hard running of Armand Ro, Vaughan Brown and Steve Marshall but the points were hard to come by.
With the game having a pleasing flow to it, most of the time, Wolverhampton struck next with a rare attack to the Sutton line and over it for a try and a 5-3 lead. Sutton responded well and prompted by the forwards and the trio of Pete Hall, Matt Morgan and Duckworth, they had Wolverhampton on the back foot and skipper Marshall thundered over for a try eventually given by the referee. The conversion drifted wide but a penalty by Duckworth minutes later meant a 6 point lead with the score 11-5 with 15 minutes or so left of the half. It got better for Sutton as Mark McEvoy sniffed out a chance on the right wing and went over in the corner. Again the conversion attempt drifted wide. Wolverhampton came fighting back and registered a penalty from bang in front of the sticks after an advantage that went on for ever!!!! So 16-8 at half time and a feeling on the side that the advantage hadn’t been stretched out far enough.
The men in green made a good start to the second half as Ben Knockter finished off a flowing backs move to plunge over in the corner with the conversion again proving to be too tricky to knock over. Sutton led 21-8 but Wolverhampton, playing with the confidence of a team unbeaten all season, plugged away and gradually took control of the territory. The pressure told as 3 late tries 2 conversions and a penalty came the way of the away team through a mixture of good teamwork, relentless pressure, Sutton’s fatigue and the run of the ball!!!! The final score was 30-21 to Wolverhampton with the points they conceded in one game being two thirds of the points conceded all season.
So, a great performance for 70 minutes before tiredness set in. Wolverhampton were pushed all the way for their win. I’ll end with an observation and a question. Sutton conceded ground and penalties for not always supporting the man making the break. The question. Do we make the best use of replacements in the laudable attempt to give everyone a game in a league game???