Monday night saw us take on Alfreton Town in the Emirates FA Cup 2nd Round Qualifying Replay, following on from the very entertaining 2 -2 draw on the previous Saturday. With a few players injured, and those returning to be available for selection changes were made to the starting 11. Lewis Gwilliams, Daniel Lomas, and Max McNulty all make the starting 11, with Connor Hopkins and Dominic Dell rested on the bench, and Kieran Dawes not available for selection.

The game started in a much reduced tempo as seen on the previous match between the two teams, though Letford did break clear in the 2nd minute finding himself in a position to shoot but narrowly puts it over the bar.

On 3 minutes Alfreton immediately came on the attack with a clever run on the left opening up the space for Bacon, who put his shot wide.

With 10 minutes gone the game was relatively even with Sutton pressing to make the opening.

On 19 minutes Alfreton’s attack resulted in a fine goal. A cross came into the penalty area which Bacon controlled in the air with his back to goal, turns and fired in to the net – Gwilliams could have no complaints with the finish.

With 21 minutes gone, Alfreton were clearly on top following the goal, and in quick succession Gwilliams was forced to make a smart save with another going over the bar.

Chance! On the 25th minute Letford broke free of the two centre halves and found himself one on one with the Alfreton Keeper who produced a fine save to deny the equaliser.

On 28 minutes Alfreton doubled the lead through Sinnott with what can only be described as a 30 yard rocket into the top left, Keeper Gwilliams could have done nothing against that shot.

The last 15 minutes of the first half saw Alfreton create several more chance but the Sutton defence remained strong until half time.

HT Alfreton Town 2 – 0 SCTFC

The second half started the same as the first half with a slow start for both teams, with Sutton’s best moment falling in the 51st minute when a Sutton corner was cleared away. Shortly after, Bateson broke into the Sutton box from the right and shot wide.

On 54 minutes Bacon again pleased the home crowd with Alfreton’s third goal. Bacon received the ball outside the area and without thinking hit a stunning effort into the far corner of the goal.

The remaining half hour sees much of the possession remain with Alfreton, who continued to press Sutton back using the full width of the pitch, with several chances not going their way, which is much the theme up until the final whistle.

FT Alfreton Town 3 – 0 SCTFC

Attendance 194

The tie was a big task for Sutton taking on the tier 2 team twice in 3 days, with several players not available due to injury. This was the 5th game in the Emirates FA cup, with 8 goals scored in total. It can be said in the replay, as with the game on Saturday that Sutton did not embarrass themselves, and defended strongly and confidently while being able to create several good chances. Ultimately Alfreton scored 3 excellent goals to progress in the tournament. Over the 180 minutes of football it can be seen a good team is being put together this season under Neil and we can look forward to seeing it improve week on week.