Match 8. Sutton Athletic v Fisher

 

Saturday 6^th October 2012 @3pm

Kent Senior Trophy Round 1

SUTTON ATHLETIC 2-4 FISHER

London Hire Services Ground, Lower Road, Hextable

Admission: £5 including programme (A5, 28pp)

Attendance: 55

FOOD: Bacon & Egg in French Stick £2.70

DRINK: Bottle Coors Light, £2.50

With family duties meaning a local new ground to visit, Sutton Athletic were ideal, having moved to Hextable this season as part of their attempts to progress to the Kent Premier League.  Their new ground has bags of potential, being situated about a mile along Lower Road, not where the Postcode indicates on Google Maps.  There is enough space for about 50 cars, alongside the main touchline where the dugouts are situated, which was full by kick off.  There is no cover so it was lucky that the Friday rain had moved on. There is a stony surround around the perimeter railed pitch; again this will fall foul of the Ground grading at Step 4.  There is the club building, located by the corner flag and a mobile van offers a cholesterol filled extravaganza of grilled fillings.  The clubhouse is in its infancy, with lager pop on tap and no Guinness.  A can of Spitfire the nearest to beer you’ll see.  The chairman was chatting to visitors before kickoff, with sponsorship getting off the ground and plans for development, it’ll be worth a re-visit in a couple of years if plans come to fruition.

 

I spent the match chatting to a regular who has adopted Sutton as his non league side, after following West Ham for 40+ years, another Premier fan disillusioned with League football.  2 grumpy (old) men were in reminiscing mood.

The match actually turned out to be a fascinating game of football.  It began in a scrappy, error filled manor, but came to life halfway through the 1^st half.  Sutton was a match for their former Surrey Docks, Southern League visitors, and took the lead on 25 minutes through Sean Heather.  Fishers’ best player was their no9, Mohammed Baldur who levelled just 10 minutes before half time. Richie Monan gave the lead to the visitors just after the restart then Mohammed added the third and then scored a penalty for his hat-trick.  A late attempted comeback by Sutton was not enough even though a late penalty reduced the arrears.