The 1st half kicked off with Oscar Noto the Cobras keeper facing a strong low sun and a slope angled towards him. Despite the hindrance of the slope, it was the Cobras who made most of the early running in the 1st half. With the opening 15 minutes played predominantly in the Sutton half, Cobras had a succession of corners and threatening runs in behind the Sutton defence, which they failed to make the most of. With the midfield battle going our way, the Cobras used their well-earned space, to put together some lovely passing combinations down either flank of the pitch. When they won yet another corner midway through the half, it was the Cobras LB Toby Ratcliff who ghosted across the box to flick the ball into the Sutton net at the front post. I only knew it was Toby who scored, because of the high pitched, slightly surprised tone of Toby’s dad- Dan, standing behind me- “its Toby”. Well done Toby, 1st goal for the club since he joined at the start of last season… 1-0.
After some stern words from the Sutton coaches following their teams slow start, they were galvanised into more of a threat themselves as the half drew to a close. In the space of 5 minutes they had capitalised from some space afforded to them in the middle of the park, to play some lovely weighted through balls to their rapidly quick striker. They hadn’t counted on a slightly sunburned Ozzy being up to the task. On both occasions he stayed big in his goal, and made some great saves low down on either side in the glaring sun, to keep the Sutton attack at bay.

The Cobras knew that they were going to be up against it in the 2nd half. Sutton relentlessly probed the Cobras defence but the trio of Dan “the wall” Murley, Harrison Cooper, and Fred “the hammer” Palmer, were more than up to the task. When the defence were shuffled around as the game drew on, Toby and Isaac ably slotted in and continued with the dogged work the defence were putting in. When the defence was breached, Ozzy was more than a match for the Sutton strikers and earned a well deserved MOTM accolade. The hard work and crunching tackles continued in midfield with Christian, Harrison, Chris, Noah T, and Jasper, getting through endless amounts of hard work, reinforcing the team effort that has grown since the notorious Butlins trip back at the end of last season. When the Cobras countered, it was Leo, Harry, and Noah K, that showed the quality and composure needed to keep hold of the ball and progress the team further up the pitch. The Cobras were still a real threat going forward, and were unlucky not to add to their tally when Harry was crudely brought down outside the box, when we were 2v1 on the Sutton goal. We even had a stonewall penalty turned down minutes from the end, when Noah K was pushed to the floor after knocking the ball past the Sutton CB.

A well deserved win for the Cobras, who showed ways to win a game not often seen in the past from this group of boys.