Our first FA Cup First Round tie in 30 years came away against Sutton United of the National League.
Chris Davies named a strong eleven, certainly what you would consider to be one of our best available sides. Most might have expected a rout from Blues, but Sutton’s strong defensive work, and a lack of willingness to go forwards themselves and give up space, made for a dull encounter.
Blues finished the game with 75% possession, and 13 shots to Sutton’s 3. It is fair to say that Sutton, when they did break, had a couple of decent chances. Eduino Vaz found himself behind our backline in the first half, and instead of shooting opted to dive for a penalty – a trend that would continue throughout the game. Substitute Ashley Nadesan would fire into the ground and over the bar in a half chance towards the end of the game, and that more or less covers Sutton’s attacking threat. Ryan Allsop didn’t have a single save to make.
The ITV commentators made much of the fact that Sutton had left their pitch a longer length to disrupt the Blues’ passing play. It didn’t stop us from playing out of the back and retaining possession, but perhaps had an impact when trying to pass through the lines in the final third, as several passes were slowed down and cut out by their compact back line.
The referee didn’t help much either, giving a few baffling decisions. Some minor, giving throw-ins the wrong way and being inconsistent with the level of contact he deemed acceptable in play. The most egregious of which Blues were on the wrong end of in the first 15 minutes. Ethan Laird battled his man on the right hand side and ran into the box before getting taken out clearly in the box. The ball rolled onto Stansfield and Anderson, and ended up in the Sutton net. The ref however, instead of allowing the goal or calling the penalty, pulled back for a free kick outside the area, much to the confusion of the players in Royal Blue. Even the commentary team took to openly questioning referee decisions as the game went on. Thankfully though for Blues, the man in black did not buy any of Sutton’s three or four dives in the penalty area throughout the game.
Still, Blues have much more quality than their southern opponents, and it showed on the 34th minute mark. Paik whipped in a great cross towards Willumsson, who did just enough to direct the ball goalwards with his foot and put it past the keeper.
That aside, it was a game of few chances and Blues simply controlling the play. Stansfield could’ve done better when the ball flashed across him early in the second half, and Jutkiewicz won a few headers that he couldn’t convert after coming on as a sub. None of which put clear daylight between the sides on the scoresheet, and Sutton continued to simply deny Blues space to play in their third right up until the final whistle.
A drab game, but a relatively comfortable win in the end. Blues are into the second round of the FA Cup and are back in league action next Saturday at home to Northampton Town, who will want to bounce back from their FA Cupset against local non-league side Kettering Town.
Ratings
Starting XI
Ryan Allsop: 7
Allsop had no saves to make, but once again looked composed and did his job on the ball to retain possession. Showed variety with a selection of arrowed long range passes when appropriate.
Ethan Laird: 7
Laird's heatmap must make some mistake him as a right winger, as we dominated the ball and Ethan spent his game playing high up the pitch. Got past his man a few times, and arguably should've earned a penalty in the first half.
Christoph Klarer: 6
Solid and strong once again, and with a theme that runs through most of the players today, did what was needed of him without setting the world alight.
Ben Davies: 6
Not much to separate the centre back pairing. I continue to be impressed with how Davies has stepped into the shoes of Bielik and not harmed our play without our captain.
Alex Cochrane: 6
Solid from Cochrane again, didn't have much impact but once again, did his job. I do wish we got to see more of the marauding left wing back that Hearts sold to us, but Cochrane often sits deeper to provide balance when Laird plays so high up the pitch on the other side.
Paik Seung-Ho: 7
Our usual central midfield pairing were the centre piece of our control of the ball. Paik looked to go forwards and picked up space on the left hand side frequently, and was successful with a cross from that side which Willumsson diligently tucked away to win us the game.
Tomoki Iwata: 6
Tomoki showed his all-round game today, tidy on the ball and won his physical battle against a big Sutton side. His security allows Paik to roam further forwards and pick up the positions where he can cause opposition problems.
Willum Þór Willumsson: 7 - Man of the Match
Willumsson didn't have the tidiest of finishes for his goal, but it was ultimately him that has put us through to the third round. He retained the ball high up the pitch very well, facilitating our suffocating pressure on the opposition.
Luke Harris: 6
Great to see him back from injury as he gives us another option in forward areas, in the absence of Hansson and Wright. Looked energetic, retained the ball but didn't look overly dangerous either. Had a shot from a good position blocked in the second half.
Keshi Anderson: 6
Keshi was unable to find his way past his man as much as Laird did on the right hand side. A tough outing for all our forward players as Sutton continually denied us space in the final third - Keshi had a bit of a nothing game as a result of that.
Jay Stansfield: 6
A typical Stansfield performance in terms of his relentless work-rate and movement off the ball, but like his teammates, had little success due to the lack of space. Perhaps should've done better with the ball flashed across him, I'll let him off with the pitch being how it was.
Subs
Alfie May: 6
Alfie had a 30 minute outing, and similar to Stansfield, worked hard and made plenty of runs in behind, but was ultimately ineffective. Hooked a ball across the 6 yard box towards Yokoyama, but it was dealt with comfortably by the Sutton defender. Didn't have much impact that aside.
Ayumu Yokoyama: 6
Ayumu came on with Alfie, beat his man once or twice but had limited opportunities to run at his man.
Alfons Sampsted: 6
Alfons replaced Ethan Laird with 10 minutes to go, played one good ball around the corner, and did his job defensively to see the result out.
Lukas Jutkiewicz: 6
Jukey made the biggest impact on the game out of his fellow substitutes. Provided an aerial outlet up top and won a couple of headers in the box that didn't trouble the keeper, but did ruffle up the defence who had a fairly easy time physically up until that point.
