Sutton United were running a promotion for this match. Season-ticket holders at Premier League and Championship clubs could pay £10 to come and watch. The south London club started the day bottom of League Two, so it was a call for all rubber-neckers. If you were a Crystal Palace, Fulham or Millwall fan, say, it was a chance to see how the other half are living. Or struggling.
On a day when Matt Gray’s side were the only London team in the Football League playing at home, it was also a sensible piece of marketing and a clever idea to get a few more fans for their most important game of the season. And it worked, as more than 3,500 came along, their biggest gate in this campaign.
Tranmere, without a point away from home before kick-off and on their second manager this season, Nigel Adkins, started the day two places and two points away. In other words, catchable and vulnerable. Yet it was their supporters singing: “How shit must you be, we’re winning away,” after Rob Apter’s 16th-minute goal deflected past goalkeeper Dean Bouzanis off Ben Goodliffe.
A win for the hosts would have meant hopping off the bottom and out of the two relegation places. And a chance to catch their breath, as Gray talked about before this game. Instead, despite this draw, thanks to Louis John’s 88th minute short-range poke, he has got a whole lot more talking to do to get his team out of their rut.
How has it come to this? Gray got the manager’s job at the fan-owned club in 2019 and two years later they were champions of the National League and promoted to the Football League for the first time in their 123-year history. By 2022 it seemed as if Gray, who was on Tottenham’s books as a schoolboy, could do no wrong. They reached the EFL Trophy final at Wembley and were leading Rotherham 2-1 in stoppage time. Six minutes later the Millers had equalised and went on to win in extra time. Sutton were denied a first senior trophy. Nevertheless, the matchday programme and lineups from that afternoon hang proudly outside the boardroom.
Gray was earning the club a reputation as a Football League upstart – they finished eighth in 2022 – given that Sutton are known principally for their FA Cup achievements. Beating the 1987 FA Cup winners Coventry in January 1989 will never be forgotten at Gander Green Lane – or in parts of the Midlands.
Stockport make it 12 wins in succession
Stockport equalled the record for 12 consecutive wins in League Two as they beat Colchester 2-0 at Edgeley Park to move six points clear at the top of the table.
Not long after Colchester had struck the crossbar, County took the lead just before half-time when Kyle Wootton bundled in from close range.
Callum Camps volleyed home from a corner at the start of the second half as Stockport matched Luton’s winning run in the fourth tier from 2002.
Wrexham lost ground with a 2-0 defeat at Accrington, where there was a lengthy stoppage in the second half after objects appeared to be thrown onto the pitch from the away end.
Tommy Leigh put Stanley in front with a 50th-minute penalty and Rosaire Longelo tapped in a second after the Wrexham goalkeeper Arthur Okonkwo spilled a long-range shot.
The match was paused by referee Neil Hair during the closing stages to allow the pitch to be cleared, with 10 minutes added on – during which Paul Mullin, pictured, crashed a penalty against the crossbar.
Unbeaten Mansfield moved up to second after a 2-0 home win over Newport with a brace from Davis Keillor-Dunn
After Keillor-Dunn gave the Stags an early lead, Rhys Oates saw his penalty saved on the half-hour.
Keillor-Dunn bagged another in the 52nd minute to secure Nigel Clough’s side a fifth straight league win.
In the early kick-off, Macaulay Langstaff scored twice as Notts County beat Bradford 4-2 at Meadow Lane which ended a run of back-to-back defeats.
David McGoldrick gave County an early lead and Langstaff struck a brace before Dan Crowley had the home side in complete control.
Bradford made a fight of it in the second half, reducing the deficit through an own goal from Richard Brindley and then Jamie Walker pulled another back with 15 minutes left.
At the other end of the table, Grimsby fought back from 2-0 down to draw 2-2 at Forest Green.
Kyle McAllister put Rovers ahead from the penalty spot and added a second with a chipped finish just before half-time.
Gavan Holohan pulled a goal back for the visitors in the 65th minute and substitute Donovan Wilson equalised with 10 minutes left to secure a point.
Barrow beat Crawley 1-0 at Holker Street with a goal at the start of the second half from forward Dom Telford against his former club.
Gillingham beat Salford 3-1 at Priestfield Stadium.
On-loan Huddersfield midfielder Connor Mahoney put the Gills in front, before Matt Smith nodded the visitors level with his 14th league goal.
Gillingham restored their lead through Tom Nichols in the 54th minute, before Dom Jefferies’ towering header wrapped things up.
Harrogate and Swindon drew 1-1 after Jack Muldoon cancelled out Jake Young’s first-half opener for the visitors.
In League One, Stevenage moved up to fourth with a 1-0 home win over Lincoln.
Jamie Reid broke the deadlock with 20 minutes left to move Boro within three points of Oxford as new Imps boss Michael Skubala suffered defeat in his first game.
In the only other fixture, Blackpool saw off Shrewsbury 4-0 to close up on the top six.
Jordan Rhodes put the Tangerines ahead from the penalty spot in the 19th minute, with Jake Beesley doubling the lead before half-time.
Kyle Joseph fired in Blackpool’s third with 15 minutes left and Beesley added a late fourth.
Then came 2017, and another Cup run, including wins over AFC Wimbledon and Leeds, and the unsavoury events of the fifth round. Their kit man and reserve goalkeeper, Wayne Shaw, in their televised game against Arsenal, was seen eating a pasty, which it transpired was linked to a very public betting offer.
He was sacked and several months later fined for influencing a betting market.
Fast-forward six years and last season they finished 14th – safe but something of a sophomore slump – and now after a summer of player upheaval they have the worst defensive record in League Two. That is something picked up on by one fan, Andrew, 57 and a season-ticket holder: “We haven’t got the same defence we had last season. That’s our crucial failing. We need to shore up the defence and get more solid in midfield and if we do that we’ll be OK.
“As for the manager, this is Sutton – we’re not going to sack him. It’s too late. I would have liked to see a change earlier on when things were going bad for us. I don’t see the point in sacking him. We need to get to the end of the season and see where we are. It’s been a disappointing season. It hasn’t been great. If we do survive, we’ll be in the bottom half.”
Lucy, another regular fan, has a glass which is half-full: “They’ve got a great manager and everyone believes in him. I do. He took us into this league. People want change but you always get that. You can’t please everybody all the time. They’ve had bad form before and turned it around.”
Gray said this was Sutton’s worst performance in their past six games but was still looking up: “It would have been nice to gain ground on Tranmere but the most important thing is we didn’t get beat when we were losing at half-time. You can see how the players believe in what we’re doing. It’s not been a great start for us but I feel we’ve turned a corner.”
Round that corner is a trip next Saturday to Grimsby, who are three places and six points away. Sutton – and Gray – will just have to make sure that corner doesn’t lead down a blind alley.
