Have you ever watched your team go behind early and still felt confident they'd come back to win?
Mike Dowling
00:00 - 00:49
Hello and welcome to another episode of Sutton United Talk Time on podcast. It's the Sutton podcast in association with Lucky Star Gin. I'm your host Mike and with me today we have Neil and Harry. In this episode we are going to discuss the the AFC Faldwin, we're going to discuss the ladies team and we may briefly mention the Halifax match that I didn't do a pod on but it will be a very very brief mention I promise.
Mike Dowling
00:50 - 01:07
We love hearing from you. Join the conversation, stay connected, share your thoughts on the episode, follow us on social media at Sutton Podcast, and give us the likes, shares, thumbs up, and all the other ego-boosting stuff. Neil, how are you? It's been a couple of, well, a little while for you, I think, but how have you been?
Neil
01:08 - 01:27
Yeah, really good. Thanks. Really good. Yeah. I'm trying to probably averaging one game a month, trying to fit them in amongst family life. But no, I've been good. I watched the filed one on TV on DAZN. So we'll get we'll come on to that in a bit. I'm sure but it's such a different experience watching on TV and watching
Mike Dowling
01:27 - 01:27
someone on
Neil
01:27 - 01:28
TV as well.
Mike Dowling
01:28 - 01:29
You actually see
Neil
01:29 - 01:35
who's doing what in the field rather than being pitch level at the VPS, but no, I'm good, thank you.
Mike Dowling
01:35 - 01:47
Just your bit. Yeah, excellent. And Harry, for those not watching, Harry's got one of the pink hats on, which we will no doubt be discussing. But Harry, how have you been?
Harry
01:48 - 02:03
I've been good friends, Mike. I'm still feeling the effects of, obviously, Tuesday night still catching up with me. And, obviously, last night, obviously, I was debating whether to sort of go to the ladies game. But I thought, I'm going to go support the ladies team because I've obviously often seen the reserves play and
Mike Dowling
02:04 - 02:04
I
Harry
02:04 - 02:12
don't often get to see the ladies play. So, I thought, it's a nice opportunity to get down the ground to Green Lane, to not just, obviously, support the men, support the women for a change.
Mike Dowling
02:13 - 02:57
Yeah, absolutely. It's nice to see him at Gander Greenlane because they've been elsewhere, so it's quite difficult for me to get to matches as well. Right, I did give you a little question earlier. I'm just going to do the... what's it called? Jingle? That's it. My brain's gone. So the question is, if you could go back and experience your first Sutton match again, Would you do it and why or why not? So think about your first match experience. Was it a good one? Was it a bad one? Would you, would you want to go back and experience it again for the first time?
Mike Dowling
02:57 - 03:16
You're both pondering. So I'm going to give you a couple more seconds. I'm going to tell everyone there's a bit of jeopardy tonight. My flag fell over earlier. It just flopped down so that we could see the flag drop and you could see my terrible wall behind it. Um, but Neil, you look ready. Um, what was your first game and would you like to go back and experience it again for the very first time?
Neil
03:17 - 03:52
I'm pretty sure it was us against Swindon on a Tuesday night a few years back. And I remember Swindon bringing a lot of fans. They'd filled out their end, you know, it was before the ground was reorganised. Their away fans were under where the Amber Army sort of stand is now. And it was, I remember just bringing quite a deafening atmosphere. So yeah, it was, It was a one-all from memory. I remember videoing lots of it, always trying to catch a goal, but I wasn't lucky enough to. So I would go back and experience it.
Neil
03:52 - 03:54
It was a really, really good atmosphere and I really enjoyed it.
Mike Dowling
03:56 - 04:28
Excellent. Was it the February one, the Valentine's one? Because I think we won it. Good question. Was it night time? It was night, yeah. We actually did win that. Did we win that? Jenny mentioned that one the other day as well. It was one of her favourite matches. Obviously she hates Swindon with a passion. Harry, what about you? What was your first game and would you like to go back and watch it again with fresh eyes or why not?
Harry
04:29 - 05:01
Considering how long I've obviously been a Sutton supporter, like with where I've watched so many games, I can't actually remember back to the day I actually went to watch Sutton for their first game they actually played. But I feel like it was around the sort of similar time when I started to join to play for the community team and like an August, like a pre-season friendly or a July pre-season friendly. at the age of about 15 when we were just sort of playing on the Collingwood Rec and then the opportunity arose to sort of just go in after it to watch a sort of game.
Harry
05:02 - 05:14
And then each weekend after the sort of training, people were going in afterwards. Then just obviously further down the line, I didn't think I'd obviously just stay on for as long as I have. And then I've just sort of seen the journey go.
Mike Dowling
05:16 - 05:50
Yeah, excellent. So yeah, give us your answers. What was your first game? Would you like to go back and watch it again with fresh eyes? I think I would because it was way back. I was a bit nervous going Donkeys ago. It was like 88 or something against Enfield. I know we won it and I know Lenny Dennis scored and it kind of hooked me on the drug that is Sutton United. Let us know what game you first saw and would you want to go back and watch it again. So, various bits of club news, but we will do the important one first.
Mike Dowling
05:50 - 06:19
Harry and I, and others, lots of people actually, were at the ladies game last night. Fantastic 4-3 win. I got to go on the Curver. I was the only one on there. I kind of snuck down. Not think I was supposed to, but I still did. What did you think of it in general, Harry? I mean, we were 4-1 at half time, I think it was, and some absolutely fabulous goals. What was your thoughts on it, especially as it's one of the first times you've seen them?
Harry
06:20 - 06:49
I thought it was a very, sort of like, quite high intensity, sort of going back and forth. And there was sort of like, sort of the lot of intent to sort of get forward and sort of just try and make things happen for those obviously sort of watching to try and make it the best spectacle for those who have actually come out to sort of watch it to try and make it the best competitive game for those supporters that have actually come out to sort of watch to try and make it more of a watchable icon for future games.
Mike Dowling
06:50 - 07:26
Yeah, I mean, it did also get a little bit feisty in stages, which doesn't always happen. It doesn't always happen in women's game, but it did get there was a bit some niggles going on. And, I mean, there was a very big scare where they, I mean, I think Lucy said it in a post-match, we're in control. Then the referee decided he was having a lot of fun. So we started making some interesting decisions and brought the game back to 4-3 and they had a very good chance in the dying minutes. Harry, were you still there?
Mike Dowling
07:26 - 07:27
Were you watching that? And do you remember
Harry
07:27 - 07:40
that? I don't, I was sort of like, I think at times, just sort of like dipping, sort of like getting a little distracted with obviously just the things going on sort of around me. So I was missing aspects to the sort of game sort of thing.
Mike Dowling
07:41 - 07:52
Yeah, you're annoying people like me talking to you. But it was, there was a very last minute tackle almost off the goal line. And it saved it from being 4-4. So that was a nice little bit. Yeah,
Harry
07:52 - 08:04
I do. Yeah, I remember that opportunity when we fought with like, my sort of just like thinking, oh, then they just sort of, their managers just sort of like looked turned away sort of thing like, oh, I just couldn't believe it. We just, yeah, I do. Yeah.
Mike Dowling
08:05 - 08:43
Yeah, but it was a really good game. Lots of people there. So hopefully we'll be able to retain that. I don't know how many more times I'll be back down the green lane for the rest of the season, but hopefully we'll be able to get more people along, as you said. And I have apologised privately, but Emma, who scored two of the goals, Mike struck again and very confidently called her Hannah. twice or three times to her face. I've got previous for this, so it's not you, but yeah, sorry about that again. So I was at the Halifax match.
Mike Dowling
08:45 - 08:47
Were you both there or Neil, were you listening to that one, I think?
Neil
08:49 - 09:06
Yeah, I was listening to that one whilst the kids were in their class, various Saturday classes, so it wasn't, Part of me was glad I wasn't at the ground. Yeah, so no, I caught the highlights and it sounded like a really, really difficult afternoon.
Mike Dowling
09:07 - 09:14
Yeah, it was. Harry, sum it up, give us some thoughts for yourself on that game.
Harry
09:16 - 09:53
I hadn't even got into the ground when the first goal came in because I was still manning where I was after five minutes into kick-off and I heard someone say a cheer and I said, who's that who scored? It definitely didn't sound like our lot because it would have been a much more raucous cheer and I thought, At this point, oh no, this is just not the start we would have obviously just got off to, wanted to get off to, especially with our home form when that would have just put a dampener and the mood sort of just to flatter as it is, as it has been that sort of at home, which I think the players have sort of felt the energy with that added on pressure.
Harry
09:54 - 10:04
then I just felt the sort of thing that was just riding on them from the sort of start. And then I think the pressure was obviously just sort of mounting. And then obviously before we knew where we are, we found ourselves two
Mike Dowling
10:04 - 10:04
nil
Harry
10:04 - 10:12
down. Then it was just, we were just sort of just trying to turn everything, the clocks and sort of thing. The decision wasn't sort of happening for us.
Mike Dowling
10:13 - 11:06
Yeah, for whatever reason, it just wasn't happening. And yeah, we're going to come on to the flat atmosphere later because we're going to talk about the next match. But luckily, I had actually planned no pod because I had to work. So I still don't really want to talk about it, but it was lucky that I didn't organize a podcast. It wasn't because of the result that was already in place. I have a bit of news. I don't know if anyone's or you've seen yet I know there's been some comments but we've announced the season ticket prices and there's for renewals and it's been a bit of an increase to my knowledge This is gonna be the lowest price so anyone who's got a ticket If you buy it at this price, it's the lowest you're gonna get it might be the early birds at the same price I don't know any other details, but I know this is the lowest price.
Mike Dowling
11:06 - 11:19
So any other increases maybe more for general sale, but Any thoughts or I mean, I don't know if you have a season ticket now How are you probably still come under the community? So I do still play. I
Harry
11:20 - 11:33
Yeah, I do sort of get one sort of subsidised for me, but I think last year I wasn't sure whether they was doing sort of how many they were going to get. So I paid for one for about, I think, £180 odd for the 19 to 23 category, which I pulled into.
Mike Dowling
11:38 - 12:09
Yeah so yeah I mean there's been an increase and lots of people got lots to say on it but probably I'll gather some more comments and cover that a bit more on Sunday so yeah so Alex and Claire watch out because we'll be talking about it. So we're gonna jump on to Fylde. There's a lot to go through. So first of all, the lineup and expectations. So Harry, what were your thoughts? Were you conscious, sober enough to start thinking about the lineup and what your expectations were at that point?
Harry
12:11 - 12:38
I wasn't sure what line-up, how Steve was obviously going to sort of shuffle the pack, because sometimes we just don't know how he's going to sort of set his team sort of out, sort of thing. He's the best person to sort of know his XI sort of thing. We might think he's going to put this player in, but only he's probably got the best indication of how he's going to sort of... So, I always find it hard to sort of know, like, what to expect with this sort of line-up sort of thing, or who he's going to sort of put out.
Harry
12:39 - 12:58
Well, obviously, there's a few sort of surprises as to sort of, I think, when certain names weren't on the sort of bench, but, and that obviously sort of showed in the sort of how we sort of, I think, looked, sort of, I think, started. And when the sort of, the changes were made, sort of, second half, which I felt he obviously knew from how he sort of put that, it sort of, the game sort of turned, turned.
Mike Dowling
12:59 - 13:03
Yeah. And yourself, Neil, what were you thinking at the line-up side?
Neil
13:04 - 13:41
Yeah, similar. I wasn't really sure what the line-up would be. I know there's been sort of a medley of injuries and so a few things. I wasn't overly surprised by the line-up and we'll probably come on to it in the first, you know, when we talk about the first half but He always strikes me as a Edwina Vaz. And then I think that Ryan Jackson, I'm not sure if he's a natural right back, just watching him play and things like that. So I don't know if he's filling a gap there, or if that is his natural position, but he just hasn't impressed as much.
Neil
13:41 - 14:15
So I was a bit surprised by that, because I remember, where was it? I was at the Spennymoor match, which was not like, when he played in, it wasn't, you know, entirely his fault as a team, as a team collectively, we just didn't, we just didn't click that day, maybe similar to Halifax, but he seemed to get stuck, he wanted to move forward but he didn't want to, He was strong going forward but then he left obviously gaps at the back and things like that. So I wasn't sure if that was just a covering position where he was filling in basically.
Neil
14:15 - 14:21
But I wasn't overly surprised by the starting lineup to be honest. I thought the first half was really interesting. We're going to go on to that.
Mike Dowling
14:22 - 14:52
Yeah, he was, he's a right back or right wing back. I can't remember if he's actually a right back and he's doing the right wing back role, but that is his natural role, I think. There's a lot on him at the moment because he's one of the more experienced guys. I think he probably was feeling a bit embarrassed for the field match because he was called man of the match against Halifax and he was on the bench so... I'm being harsh with Steve. Steve said that in the interview.
Neil
14:55 - 14:57
Yeah, yeah, he said he said he didn't even get on the pitch. Yeah,
Mike Dowling
14:57 - 14:57
I
Neil
14:58 - 15:00
heard that. I was just like, my God.
Mike Dowling
15:01 - 15:38
But he made four changes to the starting lineup, which kind of expected from the mood he was in on Saturday. And there was some kind of key changes made during the second half. You mentioned the first half. Now, I've had different people say different things. Obviously, I watch everything through amber glasses. So I was kind of of the opinion. We weren't doing too bad. I know they scored, but we weren't doing too bad. We were keeping the ball. It's just that final third. We weren't finishing. How were you feeling? Let's say the halftime moment, because we'll skip the first half almost.
Mike Dowling
15:39 - 15:49
How were you feeling for that first half and at halftime? Were you uncomfortable or were you quite happy? Obviously not at the score. Yeah,
Neil
15:50 - 16:26
happy to go first on that. I thought, I agree. We didn't look troubled, to be honest, aside from the goal. And after the goal, I was impressed. We didn't really panic. We actually played some really good football. And there was a few bit, I mean, I made some notes whilst I was watching. We had a couple of good chances and 25 minutes in, there was a really good run and a cross by Baz and a header by Davies. I thought it was a really strong chance. He headed it straight to their keeper, but there was no one else there.
Neil
16:26 - 16:52
That could easily have been a goal. And there was a couple of chances after that. So I wasn't uncomfortable with that 1-0. It was disappointing, but I thought a goal was coming from us because we were creating, definitely threatening more and more as the half went on. I think Fylde were definitely on the back foot going into the first half and they were looking forward to the break, whereas we would have carried on playing. It's similar to yourself.
Mike Dowling
16:53 - 17:11
Yeah, about yourself, Harry, how were you sort of feeling? I mean, obviously, it was an early goal. Steve said the wind got behind it, so it was a bit sort of harder than maybe we were expecting. But how were you feeling in that first half? Did you feel that we had possession? We just didn't have that cutting edge? Or was it more frustrating watching it in person?
Harry
17:12 - 17:40
I just felt we, obviously, in certain games, we see a lot of the ball But then I think, like, the players just think, like, they're trying to overcomplicate things, what they want to, sort of, do the ball. They know what they want to, sort of, do up there with it, but then they're just, sort of, panicking if it goes wrong. Like, they're thinking people are going to get on their backs. I think they just need to try and back their instincts more to try and, obviously, just get the ball in the box more, which us, as fans, would be, like, we'd be more, sort of, behind, that sort of thing.
Harry
17:41 - 18:14
But as sort of, I think, to say was I sort of, I think, worried or concerned at half-time, I thought not particularly with how the way the game was sort of going and how we was obviously sort of dominating majority of the ball and just sort of just trying to play in possession and stuff. And then I just always thought as the sort of half was going to sort of go on, we was always going to sort of just pick up some form of momentum Because we were always going to improve, I think, as the half was going to come on.
Harry
18:15 - 18:17
I just felt it was just coming.
Mike Dowling
18:18 - 18:48
Yeah, I mean, you make a really valid point there. I think it was Josh when he was on said, sometimes when you're playing, if things aren't going well, you'd rather pass the responsibility on to someone else. So you kind of do your bit and just be safe so you don't give the ball away or anything. So that kind of builds to that thing where they're building up and then they end up going backwards. I think, yes, you're quite right, we would much prefer the ball launched in, get it in the mixer, something's going to happen.
Mike Dowling
18:49 - 19:31
But we don't play that way anymore. We kind of want to keep the ball and rotate and recycle it. But it's one of those things of, it was one of the chances we had and I was just counting because we took a corner and the ball kind of went 33 passes I think before it touched one of their players and I was like well does that count as a set piece like I've said this before it's like we took the corner it was a short corner it went all the way around the world and came back again yes they cleared it away in the end but I'm like if that got in would we where would they have shown that from they would never have shown it from the corner because it was just way way too long But yeah, it is difficult because you hear everyone around the pitch when we're taking free kicks or anything, just get it in there, get it in there.
Mike Dowling
19:31 - 19:35
But they've obviously got a style that they don't want to do that or need to do that.
Neil
19:37 - 20:01
It's changed, doesn't it? It really has changed. That passing game is, we sort of live and die by it. But it can be frustrating to watch sometimes, I'll be honest. You see Bonfour would get to their third and then the ball comes back again because our player's under a bit of pressure. And then it's like, I get it though, you recycle it and you switch sides and try again. But...
Mike Dowling
20:02 - 20:12
Yeah, when you're there in the moment, as you said, and Harry, you're going to jump in as well, I guess, you just want that ball to get in there. You want Harry on the pitch. Yeah.
Harry
20:12 - 20:18
I don't know if you dropped me on the pitch. I'm not really that sort of in that sort of area. I'm just more of a defensive-minded player.
Mike Dowling
20:21 - 20:47
So, we did have possession and we kept our call, but there was another moment. We could have been 2-0 down. Penalty. I don't think it was... Well, I don't... I don't think it was a wrong decision, I was going to say. I think it was one of those that you want given to you, but when it goes against you, you're like, oh, come on. I mean, Harry, you shook your head as I was partway through that. What did you not think it was? I
Harry
20:48 - 21:04
thought it was sort of from, obviously, I don't obviously have a good view as to what the angle was, the referees. And then just from looking at it, I think it probably was somewhat a bit, sort of, maybe a little bit clumsy, but I just thought it was literally just sort of, just the way how it all happened, sort of, happened about, sort of thing.
Mike Dowling
21:06 - 21:09
Yeah, what about yourself, Neil?
Neil
21:09 - 21:52
Yeah, I agree with Harry. It looked like a clumsy, sort of a clumsy sort of bundling down rather than, there's nothing malicious in it. It probably was a penalty, like on balance. And the annoying thing on DAZN I found, and I've only watched a couple of games on there, national league matches but they don't often show replays they'll show replay for goals but I don't think they showed the replay for the actual penalty and so like you didn't actually see it again unless you sort of you know rewound the rewound the channel and and what showed you know to watch it more carefully so but I know it was a penalty but it was it just felt like a fairly soft one one day you'd be really upset like you know you were upset giving it away but you'd be shouting for it for if it was your player that got bundled down
Mike Dowling
21:53 - 22:29
On the zone, when they show replays, they will show the replay no matter what's going on. So there was one point we could hear the commentators talking about a corner coming in, and they were still showing a replay of the thing that made the corner. I'm like, if we score from this, we win the war. um but on the penalty jack made another save um people seem to be confident certainly i was i was watching lambert's bar sorry roland's bar and people seem confident when he's in goal for a penalty are you confident neil or do you still watch with your hands over your eyes
Neil
22:30 - 23:01
I haven't sort of assessed his shots and stuff, but he just seems a really good natural shot stopper. I did have a sense of confidence when I was watching that penalty that he could save it. It wasn't the best penalty in the world. It wasn't terrible. It was struck reasonably well, but it was quite close to him. But it still needed saving, right? It was probably a metre and a half away from him. So yeah, I was confident. I felt very much 50-50. Whereas normally, if it's someone else, you think 90% chance that It'll go in the back of the net, right?
Mike Dowling
23:02 - 23:06
Yeah. What about yourself, Harry? Do you think you're confident with Jack there?
Harry
23:08 - 23:37
Yeah, with how he sort of just commands himself in that position of that goal and there's the presence he sort of just gives to that sort of back four and that's the sort of, that's the sort of, that doesn't sort of strike as a sort of the person to show that sort of, sort of fear in him. And that's the sort of thing he just sort of just level-headed and composed either. I just felt in the moment, there's always an opportunity with Jack Simms. He's just going to sort of do something to keep us in the game at sort of a vital time.
Harry
23:37 - 23:41
If we had gone 2-0 down, it would have been quite a different game. So
Mike Dowling
23:41 - 23:41
I
Harry
23:41 - 23:51
had it in the back of my mind because he usually sort of registers something like that to sort of do it, where he pulls something out of the bag like that and he just proved it.
Mike Dowling
23:54 - 24:23
Also he's in all pink and he wore one of the hats, I think there's a photo floating around somewhere of him wearing one of the pink hats. He subs at halftime. I messaged him, sort of kind of going, well, you might want to point out it was 1-0 when you came on and we won the game, especially Nana. He came on in 77 minutes and we were 1-0 down and by the end of the match, we won it. But what did you think of their performance? I mean, Josh had quite an influence on the game, fresh legs.
Mike Dowling
24:24 - 24:30
Harry, what was it feeling like when he came on there? Did you kind of think, oh, we're going to get something moving now? And obviously he won the penalty as well.
Harry
24:31 - 25:01
Yeah, as soon as I sort of, I think, Josh came on, because he was probably, like, he was always going to be sort of fired up because he'd just been on the sort of, I think, bench, and I don't think anyone would be happy to be on the bench. So when he sort of came on, I think he just knew he wanted to prove a point to sort of Steve Morrison. And I think he very much justified that in his sort of second half performance with, like, how he was just trying to get on the ball and really just sort of run at his sort of fallback and just really caused their defence problems.
Harry
25:02 - 25:05
And then that obviously got rewarded when he won the penalty.
Mike Dowling
25:06 - 25:13
Absolutely. And Neil, what do you think of the subs and the influence they had, impact? Yeah, no, I agree.
Neil
25:13 - 25:48
It was a good sub. The substitutions are good. I think it was Coley, Josh replaced Vaz, I think, Edwina Vaz, who I think had a He had a decent first half. What I'd say is that without being too harsh, he feels like a, he feels like he should, he should be, he feels like more of an ideal player to come on as a sub, if I'm honest. Rather than starting, he played, you know, he had some good runs, but the quality of his ball, into the box. And I think Will Davies had a go at one point.
Neil
25:49 - 26:28
It wasn't great. It was okay. It was the right substitution. I won't repeat what Harry said, but Harry's spot on that. Josh made a really, really big impact. More of a wider point, Josh, Maybe I'm just not remembering things right, but the first, I don't know, 15, 20 games of the season, Coley was, I seem to remember starting most of them. Then he's, I think he had a bit of an injury, you know, a few games out and then he's coming on more regularly as a sub rather than starting. And that's the impression I've got in the last sort of five, 10
Mike Dowling
26:29 - 26:29
games
Neil
26:29 - 26:29
anyway.
Mike Dowling
26:30 - 27:14
definitely was he was playing also higher up pitch earlier in the season so he was scoring quite regularly and then he got that injury so he was out came back and um obviously you sort of nurse him back a bit and then i think he got another injury so um it was yeah not not great but um we also With Vaz, first off, I actually said it in the bar, first half, him and Topolai were running up and down a sandpit. There's no other way of explaining it. And the ball was obviously struggling sometimes. And I did say, I bet you any money in the second half, what's going to happen is they're going to be on the nice clear side of the pitch.
Mike Dowling
27:14 - 27:43
And the ball's going to be over that side on the sandpit again, all the time on the right side. And it kind of was. But Barbrook's goal. Now, I do take the piss out of Nader's quite a bit from some of his assists, but this one was spot on. I did balance it up by saying, OK, well, if I give you credit for that assist, I do have to talk about the open goal. So what did you think about Nader's ball in, Neil, Will's dummy and Finn's finish?
Neil
27:44 - 28:17
No, I thought it was brilliant. It was the type of ball you want in. On another day, the first man would have cleared it or something. There was a bit of luck, I think, involved. I can't remember exactly, but it did sort of wriggle through a few of the players. But then you've got to take your luck. I thought it was a good ball in, a threatening ball. Barbrook always strikes me as a player who He just tries to play with real quality. He has that extra, I think, split second on the ball compared to others.
Neil
28:20 - 28:25
When I saw he was on the end of it, I was quite confident that he was going to stick it in basically.
Mike Dowling
28:26 - 28:47
He always seems to score angry goals. He always seems really angry. What about yourself, Harry? What do you think of the ball? I mean, I'm going to dismiss Neil. I'm going to say Nala's played that perfectly through the eye of a needle. What did you think of it, Harry, the ball, dummy and the finish?
Harry
28:50 - 29:26
I think it was an all well crafted move. Sometimes what I think Steve is trying to drill into them, how we can play football, that was a good way of showing what we've got within our sort of thing. that sort of ball that shows the relationship and that they've got the sort of that they can trust the sort of thing that's the ball from McNallis to Davis the dummy they're just sort of they're on the same page then like Finlay Barber was able to sort of read read what was going to come with it then he was just there
Mike Dowling
29:26 - 29:26
to
Harry
29:26 - 29:27
sort of just put it away
Mike Dowling
29:27 - 30:00
yeah no it's him very good point well made that if you know someone's going to be doing the running you can play those kind of balls going like someone is getting on the end of that um after that went in it absolutely changed the momentum straight away i was kind of confident we were going to score again. I don't know why, it was just this up, we're going to do it. We've already mentioned Josh winning the penalty, but when Davis stepped up to take it, Harry, did you have any doubts or were you like, right, we're 2-1 up here?
Harry
30:01 - 30:27
I just knew, obviously he was hot, goal-streaking form, I just had every sort of doubt that he was going to sort of put it in the back of his head with how high his confidence is. And there's probably no, probably a striker, probably in the league, unless those probably with as much confidence as those who are sort of above him or like close to him, probably wouldn't have thought they were probably going to bag that penalty.
Mike Dowling
30:28 - 30:31
Yeah. Now, what about yourself, Neil? What do you think when you're stepping up?
Neil
30:32 - 30:35
Yeah, no, I was really confident. I mean, I
Mike Dowling
30:35 - 30:36
don't know
Neil
30:36 - 30:39
how many goals he scored this season. Was it 14, 15, something like that?
Mike Dowling
30:39 - 30:39
I
Neil
30:39 - 30:41
don't know. He scored... I think
Mike Dowling
30:41 - 30:44
it might be 17 overall, but it's like 14, 15 in the league.
Neil
30:44 - 31:08
Yeah, something like that. So I was really confident. But it's a really good point Harry made actually about the understanding between Nathers and Davies, I think combined they've got 21 or 22 goals, something like that, but you know, between them. And you can tell, you can tell they work, they operate really well together. So I was really confident. I wanted to see that Gucci bag celebration. That's
Mike Dowling
31:08 - 31:08
what
Neil
31:08 - 31:18
I was waiting for. I really enjoyed that little episode after York City. And the memes on social media and stuff.
Mike Dowling
31:19 - 31:54
That was good. Steve alluded to it, but a late show for us rather than the late show against us. Neil, we'll start with you. How important do you think that's going to be moving forward? knowing that we can now do these late comebacks. And again, I have witnesses that I said in about a halftime, you know what? You can't come back if you don't go behind. That may have been too many Amber Spectacles, but what do you think it's going to mean to the players knowing now that we're not just having this against us, we're going to do it for us now?
Neil
31:55 - 32:30
Yeah, I think, I imagine it makes a big difference, like to your sort of, confidence and sort of resilience in the game as well. When you go a goal down, albeit, you know, there's a, you know, what is it in the relegations, I said, you know, if you maybe more difficult, get stronger team, but nevertheless, they were playing well, they were not playing badly. And so I think that will fill the team with a lot of confidence going forward. It's just nice to have it, like you said, go for us rather than against us. That's a good philosophy in the bar.
Neil
32:30 - 32:36
Was that quite you said a couple of weeks ago? I quite liked it. It doesn't matter if you don't win as long as you don't lose or something like that.
Mike Dowling
32:36 - 32:59
Oh, no, that was Steve that says that. Yeah, Steve says that. Oh, OK. I saw it on your... Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Harry, I'm guessing it was a very different journey back from some of the others where we'd won this time late. How were you guys in the stadium with that late winner and holding on as well, importantly, to seal the win?
Harry
33:01 - 33:36
Obviously, as soon as we sort of scored, we thought there was a sort of elation, like, yes, sort of thing, because we probably didn't think the way the game was going, we were going to get the win, sort of thing, or get the two goals in short succession. Then obviously, we obviously did. So then there was obviously a sort of like, yes, sort of thing. then afterwards, there was opportunities that we were in a sort of thing like coming into the dying embers, how games have maybe sort of gone and just sort of after 90 minutes, we've sort of conceded.
Harry
33:36 - 33:48
So then there was a little bit of sort of worry and sort of like concern that that could potentially, because they had sort of, they could still have something to sort of fight for, but we managed to grind it out.
Mike Dowling
33:50 - 34:03
Yeah. I mean, Obviously there was big celebrations in the stadium, there was good celebrations in Rowlands, but I'm thinking, Neil, you couldn't have done much because they must have been in bed. You must have been sitting there going...
Neil
34:03 - 34:36
Yeah, basically, yeah, just silently going, yeah, yeah. But you're right, I think, given it was against a team battling relegation, It's, you know, that's a tough game. And then it's also a tough game playing a team near the top of the table. If we were playing, I'm not saying it would have meant less, but if we were playing a mid-table team with much less to play for, that comeback probably wouldn't have You know, it would have been great, but the impact wouldn't have been quite as good. I felt bad for Fylde. You know, I did feel for them.
Neil
34:36 - 34:37
But it's
Mike Dowling
34:38 - 34:38
one of those,
Neil
34:39 - 34:39
yeah.
Mike Dowling
34:39 - 34:55
That's the very next point I was going to say. Do we have any sympathy for Fylde? Because they call it a smash and grab. So, I mean, it's happened to us. So do we feel any sympathy or is it just like, yeah, you know what? Take your medicine, goodbye.
Harry
34:58 - 35:19
Well you've got to in some sort of way, sort of thing, from their sort of point of view, considering how they were sort of like 1-0 up and then how long they've held on for as long as they can sort of thing. On the flip side, like you said, how it's been happening to you, to have it on the other foot, it's a bittersweet feeling.
Mike Dowling
35:27 - 36:02
Very nice, yeah. Right, so, couple of points. We've now reached 50 points. Was pointed out to me yesterday when I was getting very, oh not yesterday, whatever day it was, I was getting very happy about that. It's like, yeah, but the 50 points was important when we're in the league above with less teams. So it's like, oh yeah. We're in the top half again, which is very important. We're now six points away from the playoff spots. I know how stupid I sound talking about it, but it is only six points. I think we're 13 from the relegation spot, so I think we can possibly, everyone can stop talking about that.
Mike Dowling
36:03 - 36:14
Do you think we have a tilt at the playoffs, Harry? Or do you think, nah, let's just plod through, make sure we get as high as we can?
Harry
36:15 - 36:21
If I'm to be realistic, I don't think we will get play-offs.
Mike Dowling
36:21 - 36:21
I
Harry
36:21 - 36:56
know I sometimes say that it's still very mathematically, there's still opportunity, there's still a chance. I'd love for us to still get play-offs or play-offs is still on. but in a truthful sort of reflection on my sort of self, I know I say sometimes other things, but I don't think we will this season with the squad we've got. No disrespect to the sort of squad because sometimes, like, it's just that we'll win a few games and they might lose sometimes. In order to sort of, we want to sort of get playoffs, we need to be a bit more consistent, I feel.
Mike Dowling
36:57 - 37:02
Okay, fair enough. Neil, what do you reckon? We're only six points, come on. Yeah, and
Neil
37:03 - 37:08
a couple of games in hand over some of the teams above us, isn't
Mike Dowling
37:08 - 37:14
it? Some of the teams, yeah. Rochdale have got loads of games to catch up, so that can be a burden as well.
Neil
37:15 - 37:56
Yeah, yeah. I can't remember who, I think it's the Dizone commentators or the analysts at Halftime said, games in hand only matter if you win them. So it's one of those. I think we're probably going to fall slightly short, if I'm brutally honest. So, but I don't think we'll be, I think we'll probably move up a couple of places still. The one thing I've noted, and without sort of getting into stats too much, is that we've scored 49 goals, I think this is, maybe this is not, this doesn't count, this is not counting filed, the filed match, so maybe it's 51 goals in total.
Neil
37:57 - 38:30
And that's up there with most of the top teams, except who's right at the top? I can't remember now. Barnett. Barnett. I think they're weighing in, they've scored 80 or something like, something ridiculous. We've conceded 47. And just to give you an example, Halifax have conceded 32. So our defence is probably, you know, defence and then the midfielders probably on occasions let us down. Not anyone individual, but it's the system we play in and collectively. Or they're just inexperienced. I think, Next year definitely, but I think this year we might just fall short just at the back end.
Mike Dowling
38:32 - 38:44
Boo to both of you. Right, so there is a knowing me, knowing you, so I've got sent some questions and some points to say. Sorry to say Harry, you're going to have to do a lot of talking.
Harry
38:45 - 38:45
Am I?
Speaker 4
38:53 - 38:54
you.
Mike Dowling
39:08 - 39:27
Okay, so firstly is a point from Chris who said the supporters had a great day out of Blackpool and the pink hats have to be worn at each match for good luck. Talk us through the pink hats because Neil will confirm the commentators even mentioned the pink hats on commentary. So talk us through the pink hats, Harry.
Harry
39:27 - 40:34
So, well, obviously some of us when we obviously arrived in Blackpool we took a sort of like a little stroll down to sort of like where the sort of I think the pier and the sort of like the pier sort of was and the sort of beach and there was a local sort of pub on the sort of corner so then Some of us opted to go in there, while some of the others went for a little potter along the seafront, where there's something a little snoop about and seeing what's about. I think a group of them went into one shop, and they were seeing what was in the shop, and then they obviously purchased obviously one of these hats and there was quite a few of them coming back together as sort of you could see them all coming back then like into the sort of pub sort of thing then that obviously just sort of spurred some people that were in the pub to sort of go and get some so then like me and I think someone who already got one to go back and get a few more for some of the others, because they all wanted to be part of the pink hat brigade.
Mike Dowling
40:37 - 40:52
Very good. Um, so they're coming on Saturday as well, I believe. And Donna, Donna Taylor, who I met last night. Um, nice to meet you, Donna. She showed me a video, Harry, dancing.
Harry
40:55 - 40:55
Oh yeah.
Mike Dowling
40:56 - 40:58
Talk us through the dancing video, H. Come on.
Harry
40:59 - 41:18
It's where we were, I think. It was quite, I think... quite in there I think because we were like the only ones in there. There was a couple of sort of polls so we just thought we'd always thought we'd seized the opportunity to sort of just sort of just to test our sort of fireman skills and just to sort of just jump up the poll and see how good we were in it.
Mike Dowling
41:19 - 41:40
You weren't looking like a fireman mate, you're wearing a pink hat spinning on a pole, that's no fireman. Luckily, she didn't send me the video, so you're safe. And last one from a guy called Robbie Keane. Oh, yeah. Are you better at scoring goals or chatting up Irish girls?
Harry
41:44 - 42:01
Oh, that's a tough question. That is a tough question. That's a question that whatever I might say, he might say different. I'd probably say I'd probably say scoring goals because if I said chatting up girls you'd probably have a different answer to say to that!
Mike Dowling
42:04 - 42:09
I've known Robbie a good few years, he's played goal for us. Yeah,
Harry
42:09 - 42:27
I was only speaking to him the other day, funny enough, as it happened, and he was just sort of, sorry to go a bit off topic, Neil. Thank you. No, no, no, go for it. But obviously, sort of, I know, I think something, we were looking to do something in the pipeline, a podcast for, like, something team to go related, wasn't we?
Mike Dowling
42:27 - 42:42
Yeah, we were, yeah, yeah, a while ago. But I think he then went off and had a baby, so. uh yeah so he got he got sidetracked but yeah whenever he wants to do that we'll happily do that so if
Harry
42:42 - 42:44
i was to sort of get him to sort of reach out
Mike Dowling
42:44 - 42:44
to
Harry
42:45 - 42:47
you or just sort of sort something out and we can try and sort something out
Mike Dowling
42:48 - 43:26
yeah absolutely he's a great it's a great little um group that your company does as well um right we're gonna very quickly finish up for yesterday and it's oh it wasn't yesterday so basically you've got three games to choose from there's a good the bad and the funny um whichever you want to choose one second so over the three games Harry what do you want to you can pick anything you like on the pitch off the pitch whatever you like Harry what was your good
Harry
43:28 - 43:38
probably I'd have to sort of probably the day out in Blackpool. Neil, what was your good?
Mike Dowling
43:46 - 43:46
It
Neil
43:46 - 43:59
has to be the hats, right? They were called out twice at least on DAZN. You guys could be a massive trend, like next year at the VBS, everyone's going to be wearing them. That and the result, right? That and the result.
Mike Dowling
43:59 - 44:07
Go on, Vicky, get them in the shop. It's like a cowboy house. Neil, what was bad for you?
Neil
44:08 - 44:30
Oh, bad? Well, I mean... I didn't watch the Halifax game, but it sounded like Steve was really, really upset at the effort put in. And, um, and then, you know, and it sounds that that was disappointing to, if that's the case, like, cause you know, you can, you can accept losing, but if you can't really accept not giving 110%, so that was probably
Mike Dowling
44:31 - 44:35
the minimum, isn't it? Um, Harry, what was bad for you? Um,
Harry
44:42 - 45:01
Probably, I don't really want to say what Neil said, but it probably would have to be probably that sort of game. Of course, the sort of last three games is what the question was alluding to, right? Yeah. Yeah, that would probably be the bad, bad.
Mike Dowling
45:02 - 45:07
Yeah. Excellent. And what was funny for you? You can't do the pink hats now, we've already done them.
Harry
45:10 - 45:26
um what was funny probably just just the whole sort of just the sort of the whole sort of thing about obviously that's the sort of blackboard the sort of just the whole sort of part of it really
Mike Dowling
45:28 - 45:31
excellent and neil what was funny for you for across any of them
Neil
45:32 - 45:51
or Dazon's replays or the lack of them. I think there was one on the TV, on the TV. No, no, it was for the goals, but you're right. So, look, I'm glad they're showing National League football on there, but yeah, it does need a bit of work on the editing and things.
Mike Dowling
45:51 - 46:36
Well, it wasn't just that because we were watching it and we're looking at the sort of breaks, the adverts in halftime. We're like, This is the same tape as last week. And they were advertising some NFL thing from the 19th of February to the 2nd of March. And we're like, hang on. Yeah. Advertising something that's gone. Yeah. Right, lovely. Very quickly, we're on to Saturday, early kickoff Saturday. We are in the Aubergine kit, which is going to go beautifully with the hats. But what do we think about Saturday? I mean, Dagenham I feel like it's going to be
Harry
46:59 - 47:36
sort of a quite a balanced, sort of, I think, sort of start between both sets of, sort of, teams. Because our home form's not been great. And I think it's all, like, they're going to, sort of, just very much, sort of, gather what they can get from what's going on around them, sort of thing. So, I think it's going to be a fairly, sort of, even-ish, sort of, I think, sort of a start. And then I think hopefully as the sort of game sort of goes on, it might just get a bit more open for both sets of teams.
Mike Dowling
47:38 - 48:04
What about yourself, Neil? How are you seeing it? I mean, I think they've just dropped into the relegation zone, or they might be just outside it. Should probably check that out. No, they're 19th, so only two points off. But they've got, again, their game's in hand. Boston's got two games, Woodson's got two games on them. So how do you see it going? Do we need to kind of get at them from the start or do we just need to soak up the pressure at first?
Neil
48:05 - 48:05
I
Mike Dowling
48:05 - 48:05
think
Neil
48:05 - 48:41
I'd like to see us sort of impose ourselves on the game a bit, you know, drive forward and be confident about getting those balls in, like the one that led to our first goal basically. um the barber of god for example walls like that again then so i i think we'll win but i think it you know they'll be tough as well um so you know i can see being winning by one goal margin but i'd like to see us play really quite positively which i think it gets filed we did um by and large um or we certainly certainly made a bigger effort there than previous games i'm i'm confident
Mike Dowling
48:43 - 49:02
yeah it's funny because i think if we had lost people would have said, well, we weren't pushing enough, we were this and the other, but because we won, it's like, oh, actually, you know what, I can see what we were doing. So I've said this to them in the past, it's like the result drives our opinion on the match. I'm really sorry, but we're very basic people. Yeah,
Neil
49:02 - 49:02
completely.
Mike Dowling
49:03 - 49:30
Do you think that Dion Pereira has got it out of his system of haunting us after he's done that in the last game against us? Do you think he's going to come back and haunt us again? And do you think there's going to be a bit of a change-up? Will we see Woody Hart get in the whole game after his illness? Will Josh be starting? What do you kind of see lineup-wise, Neil? Oh, he's just gone silent. He's put himself on mute, look.
Neil
49:30 - 49:31
Oh, I'm sorry. I was talking
Mike Dowling
49:31 - 49:34
to myself. He's like, yeah,
Neil
49:36 - 50:13
yeah. I'd like to see, and there's science behind this, but I'd like to see Boateng start. I see Vaz on the bench. And then Kohli start as well. I want us to have an attacking, a more attacking set-up and give Barbrook... Barbrook's had that freedom of play in the midfield. He needs to continue to do that. He's just really, really, really, really high quality there. So, yeah, I'm not exactly sure how he'll set up, but I think I'd like to see a few changes from the Bard game.
Mike Dowling
50:14 - 50:22
Yeah, well, you better save Harry. I know we had a quick chat last night, but what do you think? Who's going to come in or stick with it?
Harry
50:24 - 51:00
I'd like to sort of see Josh Coley come back into the starting XI because I think he's sort of back off his performance against Fardy's put himself in a position to sort of stake a claim to sort of I think start and as for some of the other positions it's sort of it's It's quite difficult to sort of know who he might go with, with what we've got to our disposal.
Mike Dowling
51:04 - 51:37
One other quick thing, congratulations Josh on 100 games up, it was posted out the other day so congrats on that. Steve did call for us to kind of get behind the players from the start. Now I know I've discussed in the past what's the right way around, is it the players get us going or is it we're supposed to get them going? And I've kind of come to this conclusion that it's a bit fluid. It's not one or the other. Sometimes we need them to get us moving, and sometimes they need us. And this sounds like it's one of the games that they're going to need us to get going.
Mike Dowling
51:38 - 51:55
How do you think, Harry, I mean, obviously, it's going to be quite difficult for you to get involved because you don't get to come out until about three or four minutes after the game starts. How important is it, do you think, for us to sort of, like I tweeted earlier, bring the noise early, get involved early to get the players coming out to a great atmosphere?
Harry
51:56 - 52:26
Because I think that would just sort of set it, sort of, from the start. Hopefully, they'll feel that energy from the fans, sort of, from the sort of start. So when they're sort of coming out, they'll just sort of see that the fans are sort of, I think, sort of, I think, feeling it. And they've got that sort of fire in their belly. Then that might just hopefully sort of instill that into them. So when they sort of start to play, it will sort of just give them a bit of new sense of life to sort of so that we're gonna try and do our bit sort of thing.
Mike Dowling
52:27 - 52:49
Yeah, I think if we do our bit from the start, then the onus is then on them to go, right, okay, we're giving you the energy, you gotta do something with it, which will then fire up the fans again. Neil, what do you think? I mean, I'm a real hypocrite here, because I'm one of the quietest people in the world standing at the ground, but what do you think we need as a collective to go, okay, you've called for it, you've got it.
Neil
52:50 - 53:25
Yeah, when Steve says that, I get the impression sometimes that he doesn't feel like there's backing from the fans from the start of the game. Do you know what I mean? Otherwise you wouldn't necessarily say it, like you wouldn't say backs from the start. And the other thing, and this is just completely anecdotal, if the weather's sunny, I've noticed every time I've gone to watch a game when it's a sunny afternoon on a Saturday, Everyone's feeling a bit flustered at the start. It takes our fans a while to warm up and get going. Whereas if it's a bit colder, you sort of get going sooner because you need to warm yourself up, basically.
Neil
53:25 - 53:34
I don't know. It's just something I've noticed. I was going to check the weather forecast for Saturday and see what it's looking like, basically.
Mike Dowling
53:34 - 53:40
They've taken the signs of the weather now to see what we need to do for the fans, to see if we need to get them in there early, have a few drinks before the game.
Neil
53:41 - 53:44
Exactly. Well, it's an early start, isn't it?
Mike Dowling
53:44 - 54:04
Yeah, it's 12.30 kick-off, so yeah. Bars open at 10.30. I don't think even I can start that. Yeah, so it's an early kick-off, so everyone have your breakfast, get down there. Right, we're going to wrap up, but I do need a prediction from you both. So Neil, give us a predicted scoreline.
Neil
54:04 - 54:09
It's going to be really boring. I think it's going to be a 1-0 win to us.
Mike Dowling
54:10 - 54:11
I've got
Harry
54:12 - 54:21
a feeling, I don't know, like, the pressure's going to be on us to win at home, but then I feel like Dagnon might get a go. I reckon it'd be 1-1.
Mike Dowling
54:22 - 54:52
Okay, well I'm going to go out there, I'm going to go 3-1 to us because I think we're going to do it. We're going to get a good, nice win. Hopefully nice and early this time. Right, thank you guys. We're going to wrap up this episode of Something Podcast. As always, we appreciate everyone's attention and feedback. Get involved in knowing me, knowing you. What was the first game you went to and would you like to go back and watch it again with fresh eyes and why or why not? Follow, like, share, do all the old thumbs up and everything.
Mike Dowling
54:52 - 55:18
The flag survived the episode. Don't forget to subscribe, like all the rest of it and leave us a review if you like. We will be back on Sunday after the Dagoner match and we have got Claire and Alex lined up. And yeah, as always, thank you to our sponsors, Lucky Sargeant. Thanks to the both of you for doing this and bearing with me, because it was going to be, we'll do it on this day, then we'll do it on this day, now ladies complain this day, and then I even messed it up yesterday. Harry had to go, when are we recording?
Mike Dowling
55:18 - 55:32
Because you said in the thing on Wednesday, and I was like, yeah, I'm an idiot. But thanks for everyone for listening. I hope you enjoyed this episode of Topten Podcast. Take care and goodbye.
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