DORKING WANDERERS 1 SUTTON UNITED 2
Pre-Season Friendly
July 5th 2022
'Sutton’s quality prevails but Muitt and Jebb shine for Dorking in pre-season friendly'
As both managers heavily rotated between halves, ‘a game of two halves’ rang true at Meadowbank. The hosts opened the scoring with an own goal from Sutton’s Jon Barden inside the first ten minutes, before Donovan Wilson and Will Randall put Sutton in the ascendency.
Marc White named the same starting eleven which began Saturday's pre-season opener at Roffey, before again making several changes during the interval.
There were some encouraging signs for the manager as Wanderers started the better team and for large parts of the first half. New signing Jack Jebb, the Arsenal scholar, found real joy in the heart of the midfield. Jebb often found pockets of space between the Sutton defence and attack and was the main creative spark for his side in the first half. Dorking’s goal came as a result of his resilience and calmness in the penalty area. He found space in behind the Sutton defence, after cutting back and evading a couple of challenges, his ball across the face could only be turned in by a helpless Barden.
Particularly in the first half, Dorking were victims of their own downfall, Huk and Cheadle were often left stretching whilst trying to contain a very organised high press from Sutton. After a couple of early scares, the determination of the visitors paid dividends shortly after the opening goal; a sloppy back pass from Cheadle to Huk left the keeper short, who when trying to sweep it wide to Harris, misplaced the pass, leaving Wilson with an empty net. The front-man was Suttons biggest threat in the first half, shortly after his goal he hit a shot off the bar.
Muitt was able to grow into the game, he found much joy down the right, where he completed 4 dribbles alone in the first half. Seager was able to get more involved than Saturday's game and impressed on his home debut; his ability to come short, hold the ball up and find some good passes out to the wide men proved a handful for Suttons defence, who never really got to grips with the Wanderers No9.
Half-Time: Dorking 1 Sutton 1
Despite Sutton’s press not being as suffocating for Dorking as in the first half, the visitors seemed to stamp a real authority in the second half. Will Randall was the stand-out, he frequently found spaces just inside the Dorking half, where he was able to drive with the ball and cause a real threat for White’s new-look backline. El-Abd, who was one of Dorking’s better players in the second half, won many of his duels, it was down Dorking’s left where they were having problems. Randall and captain Milson linked up well on many occasions, a trademark Randall run ended with a shot from the No7 just on the edge of the area, which forced a terrific save from Lincoln to keep it at 1-1. Lincoln had a strong half, his composure and ability on the ball was vital in getting Dorking up the pitch.
Some great work from Randall once again enabled the visitors to find the lead, linking up nicely with Thomas of Sutton before skipping round multiple challenges and finding the corner to put the visitors ahead.
Despite Dorking’s struggles to find their feet in the second half, the ever-lively Jimmy Muitt continued to cause problems for Rob Milsom down the right, the Sutton captain even gave his match-up some acknowledgement when he got subbed off, the two had a richly entertaining battle. In the dying moments Seager carved out some half chances for himself but they weren’t enough to rescue a draw.
A clash of heads saw Cheadle replaced in the first half, but any scares would've been removed as he was re-introduced in the second half.
Marc White’s men next host Farnborough, who have just been promoted to National League South, on Saturday.
Dominic Bleackley
Wanderers 1st Half: Huk, Fuller (c), Harris, Cheadle (Kennedy 31'); Muitt, Moore, Jebb, J. Taylor, Mekki (BJ Taylor 31'); Rutherford, Seager
Wanderers 2nd Half: Lincoln, Philpot, El-Abd (c), Kennedy (Cheadle 83'); Muitt (Wheeler 67'), Gallagher, Jebb (Stegall 67'), J.Taylor (McShane 67'), BJ Taylor; Rutherford (Seager 67'), Ottaway
Goals: Barden og 8'
Sutton United 1st Half: Jack Rose, Jon Barden, Trialist, Louis John, Sam Hart; Trialist, Craig Eastmond, Harry Beautyman, Enzio Boldewijn; Kylian Kouassi, Donovan Wilson
Sutton United 2nd Half: Brad House, Roman Charles-Cook, Coby Rowe, Ben Goodliffe, Rob Milson; Alistair Smith, Adam Lovatt, Trialist, Will Randall; Kwanme Thomas (Craig Dundas 85'), Trialist
Goals: Wilson 11', Randall 73'
Att: 831