Gander Green Lane: Sutton United 2-0 Doncaster Rovers

Sutton United 2-0 Doncaster Rovers

The recent rise of Sutton United has been remarkable. In 2017, they saw success in the FA Cup beating Championship side Leeds United at home and reached the fifth round of the competition eventually getting knocked out by Arsenal. The 2020/21 season, Sutton United achieved promotion to the Football League for the first time in the club’s history. During their maiden season, they reached the EFL Trophy Final at Wembley Stadium eventually getting knocked out to League One side Rotherham United and also just missed out on the League Two play offs by just one point. Now into their second season in the Football League, they currently sit in the top half of the League Two table with their eye on the play offs again. Meanwhile, Doncaster Rovers over the last decade have spent most of their time in League One however last season the South Yorkshire outfit were relegated to League Two. Similarly, Rovers have their eye on a play off spot too as they aim to bounce back to League One at the first time of asking. This was set up to be a rather competitive encounter between two in form sides. Being based at my (Ross) in-laws house in Oxfordshire over the weekend, it made the journey down to South London much easier, only taking an hour and a half via the M40, M25 and A24 through Epsom and Cheam before reaching Gander Green Lane (via a brief stop at Sainsbury’s in Epsom to buy some lunch). I parked my car on Tate Street which was a 5-10 minute walk from the ground. The ground itself is accessible between two houses and the phrase “blink and you’d miss it” springs to mind! Once you enter the club car park, the area around the ground had a non-league feel to the place with a social club where most of the fans went for their pre-match drink. As the drizzle came down, it didn’t seem a bad idea to go for half pint of London Pride and watch the entertaining early kick off between Premier League leaders Arsenal away at Aston Villa. Just after 2pm after the early kick off finished, I headed to the turnstiles with my e-ticket on my phone and had a walk around the ground. As previously mentioned, the ground very much felt like a non-league ground which has seen very little changes over the years. Gander Green Lane has been home to Sutton United since 1912 and can hold around 5,000 supporters. The Main Stand was built in 1951, although it has been altered throughout the years. The stand's red and blue seats, which do not reflect the club's colours, were donated by Chelsea. In the 1980s, two small wooden stands were replaced by a covered standing terrace, known as the "Rec Terrace" because it is on the Collingwood Recreation Ground side of the pitch, on top of which is a covered television gantry. In January 1989, the Lane hosted an FA Cup match against top division Coventry City, which Sutton won to create one of the biggest upsets in FA Cup history, in front of a sell-out crowd of approximately 8,000 supporters. In 1997, the Gander Green Lane end of the stadium was levelled off and new terracing was installed. In July 2002, the ground played host to AFC Wimbledon's first match following the relocation of Wimbledon F.C. to Milton Keynes. In a pre-season friendly, Sutton defeated the reformed Dons 4–0 in front of a notably large crowd of 4,657. Prior to the club’s promotion, due to Football League ruling, Sutton were forced to replace it with a grass pitch. In the first half, Sutton came closest to opening the scoring as skipper Harry Beautyman forced a save from Jonathan Mitchell before keeping out Lee Angol's long-range effort. Opposite number Jack Rose made a good low stop to push away Charlie Lakin's low effort from the edge of the area. The first five minutes of the second half proved vital as Rowe made a brilliant block to deny George Miller. Two minutes later he nodded Sutton in front after Ben Goodliffe headed a corner back across goal. Will Randall almost doubled the lead with a curling effort while sub Caolan Lavery squandered Rovers' best chance to equalise when he shot over with his first touch. Ajiboye clinched the points when he was slid through by Ali Smith's superb pass two minutes from time. At full time, I made a swift exit back up Gander Green Lane back to my car on Tate Road and back on the M25 around half an hour later. With some slow moving traffic around Heathrow Airport, I was soon moving again and back on the M40 heading northbound and I was back in Oxfordshire by 6.45pm.

Sutton United 1-0 Barrow

For any football fan travelling from the Midlands and the North, travelling to grounds in South London, Surrey, Sussex and Kent can mean a lengthy time on the road is to be expected. You have to cross the Thames and that enviably means the M25. Even when you come off there, your troubles are not over as the grounds in South London are not easy to negotiate. Public transport is all very well but from personal experience you don’t really save any time. So without trying to upset Sutton United fans, my heart sank when as last season’s National League winners, League 2 fare was finally arriving at Gander Green Lane and that meant I required a visit to continue my quest to complete the 92. Today’s game was my first available opportunity to take a trip south. I would have preferred different opposition as I had seen Barrow already this season when venturing to Holker Street. It was never going to be an easy day and when waking up to Hurricane Arwen and a covering of snow in low lying Leicestershire, I questioned my sanity as I put on 4 layers of clothing to drive down to Surrey. Would the game be on, I wondered. The journey down the M1 was not particularly easy with visibility poor and continual sleet but as I past Milton Keynes it eased slightly and it was noticeable there was no snow. My route on the M1, M25 and A3 was as good as you will get, slight delays on the M25 but not a real problem. I headed into Sutton going through the busy Worcester Park area and decided to park on Hillside Road opposite the ground for a hopeful quick getaway. Driving down Gander Green Lane, the ground is situated behind 1930’s houses with what appears to be one narrow driveway which takes you into the club. On further investigation I discovered further turnstile entrances, one for the away fans in the local park behind the ground. For the away fan, don’t expect any eating and drinking facilities in close proximity. The area is basically residential, there appeared to be a pub on the corner of Hillside Road and Gander Green Lane but that was closed under reconstruction. For a nation that now is obsessed with going out drinking coffee, no obvious coffee bars. The only facility out of the bitter weather seemed to be the club bar, which were doing sit down meals. There are two tea bars in the ground offering hot food of dubious quality! The ground itself, is spartan by modern day standards, it’s a non-league ground and it’s best to arrive 5 minutes before kick-off. The first impression is one of space, the stadium is situated in a large amount of land, and so future development is possible. A main stand straggles the half line, large high dug outs mean you can’t stand in front of the seats. Behind both goals are narrow covered terraces of around 6 steps and opposite the main stand is a deeper covered terrace and a hastily constructed disabled area. The ground was obviously at one time a bowl shape and two of the curved terraces are still there linking the home end stand behind the goal to the stands on both sides. The game was a meeting between the National League champions of 2021 verses winners in 2020. Sutton United in their first season of EFL have acquitted themselves well and another narrow victory against Barrow meant they continue in the League 2 play offs. The only goal was from David Ajiboye, the winger receiving the ball on the right, cut in with his left foot and shot low and hard past the keeper into the far corner. Earlier Zanzala missed a glorious opportunity to give Barrow the lead but was denied by Sutton keeper Dean Bouzaris. And minutes after falling behind he had another chance, this time firing wide with only the keeper to beat. Although Barrow controlled possession, they were often caught over playing in dangerous areas and really Sutton should have punished them. The fact they didn’t mean it was always an interesting contest and in the last 15 mins Barrow were encamped in the Sutton half, Gordon had a header off the line, Bouzaris saved well at his near post from Josh Kay and tipped over a Robbie Gotts shot in stoppage time. Sutton had their moments latterly, a breakaway by sub Donavan Wilson almost led to a 2nd goal but a smart save by Farman kept it out. So Sutton held on for another narrow win, something Barrow can’t buy at present but as they make the trip back to Cumbria they will reflect that they should have got something from the game. Fair play to the 164 Barrow fans that made the long journey south. My journey from the Midlands was as good as it gets, my return not so. I decided on a slightly different way out through Cheam and Ewell heading towards Kingston getting onto the A3 just before. Then it was simple M25 and M1. Even on Saturday night I was involved in delays and 4 hours and 129 miles later I walked into home. That night, I slept well!

Gander Green Lane

Thursday, February 23, 2023

Sutton United 2-0 Doncaster Rovers

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