Away day masterclass topples League leaders

Sutton Common Rovers 1 Balham 3

An almost flawless early morning away performance resulted in a beaming set of players and parents at the final whistle. Balham were superb throughout, first to every 50/50, tackling tenaciously, and lethal with their clearcut chances. It was a thoroughly deserved victory, which clearly rattled Sutton Common who seemed to expect to win from the off.

Due to REMG being waterlogged, it was a very early start down in Wallington with a 9.15 KO on a small pitch with a slope. Whilst most of Wandsworth were in bed, a hardy set of boys were at it from the off. Tomasz warned them about being lacklustre in the first few minutes, which had been the case in the last couple of games, and the Whites responded superbly. Playing a 4-1-4-1 formation, Balham looked solid, controlling the midfield throughout and were by far the better passing team. Sutton seemed reliant on long balls to their very skilful forward, but Ty had him in his pocket for the whole game.

The first ten minutes saw both teams feeling each other out, not really knowing what to expect having never played each other before. Wilbur had a half-chance, Ty was able to pose problems with some lofted free-kicks, Max's shot resulted in a 'Playstation save' by the keeper and George fired over after some excellent dogged wing play from Matthieu. Balham were dominant, with a couple of free kicks in dangerous positions just outside the area but were not able to make the pressure count.

A deserved goal game though, after a corner was flicked on by Jude. As usual Matthieu was sniping in the box, and poked the ball in from a couple of yards out for his 9th goal of the season.

Balham lost their way for a few minutes, and started taking too many touches in midfield - dangerous on a muddy and small pitch. Sammi was hustling and put in several key tackles to prevent the League leaders from gaining any momentum. A free kick gave Sutton their best chance of the half but it was hit wide and deservedly the Whites maintained their lead. As soon as Balham started playing quick football again, they looked incisive and the slow Sutton midfield could not cope. James had a fantastic chance to double the lead just before half-time 1 on 1 but the vocal keeper made a good block.

It was definitely one of the strongest halves of the season, but the boys would have to play the second uphill with the sun in their eyes. Accordingly, Sutton started well and had a few set-pieces without causing any serious problems to our defence. The Yellows were getting increasingly rattled as some excellent Balham pressing caused their defence to make mistakes, and Balham used the indiscipline to their advantage. Some wonderful one-touch passing ended up with Max and Matthieu combining well down the right but the ball was cleared with the defence stretched. The striker had a chance after a glorious chipped through ball from Matthieu, but he was nudged in the back just as he was about to fire past the keeper. After some great passing across field, Balham won a throw-in on the right wing which caused mayhem in their defence. With the ball bobbling all over the place, finally George was able to get the ball under control and slot home his first League goal of the season off the post.

Balham were by far the better side, and the ongoing frustration from Sutton's players and coaches was evident. Disappointingly they got back in the game after the boys dangerously passed the ball across their own penalty area, leaving Charlie no option but to pass back to Jacob who air-kicked his clearance. The Whites were in for a nervy last five minutes.

Sutton showed some pressure at the end, again without really testing the defence too much. From an excellent Ty free-kick, a rampaging Dylan showed a clean pair of heels to slot the ball in with the final kick of the game.

Balham are up to fifth, and should aim to take their 2023 undefeated streak into next week.

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