Badshot Lea 2-4 Sutton Common Rovers

Where to start with this one, six goals, two red cards and chances galore.

Two early goals put SCR well in control, although Cadete had the first chance for the home side at 0-0 with a well controlled effort just wide of the post. Badshot Lea, playing with three centre backs will be asking questions as the first two goals were both through balls that opened them up. Fernandez latched on to a perfect pass from Henry to make it 1-0 slotting calmly past Lunn. The roles were reversed minutes later when Fernandez turned provider to set Henry away and he elected to dribble round Lunn and fire into an empty net. Badshot Lea won a few corners in the first half and with the towering presence of Matthews they were always a threat but SCR dealt with the danger.

Mac Ford caused problems for the visitors with a number of forceful runs at the heart of the defence and Cadete and Caubo worked tirelessly up front but were unable to force a comeback and on 43 minutes it appeared it was game over as Twum darted into the box and following a tangle with Dampha, the Referee, much to the disgust of the home fans, which was very vocal, pointed to the spot and awarded a penalty. Fernandez sent Lunn the wrong way, scoring his second and SCR’s third. In the melee after the goal being scored, Matthews was cautioned and sin binned.

Badshot Lea needed to register first in the second half to give themselves a chance of a comeback but on 50 minutes a sloppy pass from Upton was intercepted by Henry who immediately put Murphy-McVey through on goal and he effortlessly rounded Lunn and rolled in number 4. Game over? Not quite, as for some reason SCR got sloppy both at the back and up front and Matthews rose highest to head down on 71 minutes with Dean Rule applying the finishing touch from a yard out. There was tension from the SCR bench which translated on to the pitch with players beginning to argue a bit with each other instead of cruising to victory. Skipper, Michael Eacott, in the SCR goal kept calm and dealt with any advances from Badshot before turning defence in to attack with his booming clearances. One such clearance led to Twum darting down the right wing and being taken out by a lunge from Dampha that earned him a second yellow card and he departed. Murphy-Mcvey should have put the game to bed but tried to be a bit too clever and the effort was wasted. Henry then got himself sent off after lashing out at Carlisle making it 10v10 for the last few minutes. There was time for Matthews to again set up a goal with a header in to the six yard box that was poked in by Upton.

For the neutral this was an enjoyable spectacle but the Badshot Lea bosses will be none too pleased with some of the goals conceded and on the SCR side of things they will be scratching their heads at the way their side played after going 4-0 up. At the end of the day they secured 3 points at a tough place to visit and remain top of the table with a 4 point cushion. Maybe this is the season for Sutton Common Rovers but past history points to a good start to a season before falling away. This season however, it looks like the assembled squad is deep enough to carry a real threat. Time will tell with plenty of other teams wanting to knock them off the top.