Ever seen a goal so good that the celebration nearly stole the show?
In this week’s Sutton United Talk Time on Podcast, I was joined by Seb, Nick and Alex to relive one of those unforgettable football moments where skill, timing, and sheer drama combine. From David’s acrobatic backflip to the inch-perfect ball from Sims, this episode isn’t just about the goal itself — it’s about the emotions, the atmosphere, and the shared buzz that comes with being a Sutton United fan.
Mike Dowling
Hello, and welcome to another episode of Sutton United Talk Time on podcast. We have a full house today. We're an association with Lucky Star Gin. If you're a very regular listener, thank you very much. I really do appreciate it.
Mike Dowling
If you're new, I appreciate you too. Hope you stick around. I'm your host, Mike. And today we have a couple of people making their debut.
Mike Dowling
We have Nick, and we have Seb, and we have Alex making sure I behave and treat them both very well. We love hearing from you all. We love the engagement, the shares, the likes, the retweets, and all the comments. Alex, thank you very much when you do that.
Mike Dowling
and it's at Sutton Podcasts on all socials. So, what we're going to do is something slightly, slightly, slightly different. I didn't set a knowing me, knowing you question because I figured, well, there's two new people on here, so we can find out a little bit about them anyway. So, in a second, guys, I'm going to just ask you about your connection to Sutton and how you started supporting Sutton.
Mike Dowling
You don't need to give a whole life story unless you want to, but it's just how you started supporting Sutton. Seb, should we start with you? What's your connection to Sutton and how have you got so involved over the years? Because you're very involved.
Seb
Yeah, very. Well, it was like 11 years ago. Obviously, I grew up in Sutton and I wasn't really a big football fan as a young kid. But then it was 14-15, the 14-15 season.
Seb
And obviously, we just lost on Boxing Day, I think. And then Sutton went home on the 28th and my granddad decided to just take me, see if I actually would get into football. And since then, kept kept going ever since. Yeah.
Mike Dowling
Yep. And you do the drum.
Seb
At the time,
Mike Dowling
we
Seb
were
Mike Dowling
a little bit anti, weren't we, Seb?
Seb
Yeah, at the beginning, yeah. I didn't say
Mike Dowling
I wasn't going to give it a go. Thank you very much. We will come back to the atmosphere in a moment. Nick, over in LA, remind us what your connection to the club is.
Nick
I mean, I said I'm from up there. I went to school there. I moved to the States. getting on for 12 years now.
Nick
I mean, I was always, I've always looked for Sutton scores, you know, but it wasn't the first game I would go to. But a few years ago, I mean, I came down to my, we used to play there as well, you know, County, little league games would be played at Sutton. So I remember playing once when I was young there on the old pitch. But I really got into them.
Nick
I'm 23, 24 season. I came to the Notts County game, the 5-1. I thought, well, this is good. And then, you know, we all know.
Nick
But yeah, but no, it's just, I love, you know, I live here now, but, you know, credit to the comms team, by the way, that they did at the beginning of the season, the part about, If you move, if you move away, you never, the one thing I'd say is, is the comms team, I think the thing said something like, if you move away, you're afraid to admit it, but you always miss it. I mean, I would only take issue that I'm afraid to admit it. I miss Sutton.
Nick
It's a great little town. Great little place. Great place. And
Mike Dowling
you were over fairly recently for quite a while as well.
Nick
Yeah. I'm still family in Sutton, so I'll come over and visit them and then, try and coincide my dates as many home games as I possibly can, and the other way game as well, so.
Mike Dowling
And she did say yes to me when I sort of ambushed her with a question, but did she enjoy games?
Nick
My daughter, yeah, she's... She won't admit it, but I think she actually quite likes coming down, actually. She's, yeah.
Mike Dowling
She's very polite, which I really like, and saying, she was like, yeah, yeah, yeah, just go
Nick
away,
Mike Dowling
you strange, you strange man. Alex, tell us, remind us, I haven't asked you. Do you want to bore the listeners again with this? Yeah,
Alex
well, yeah, similar to what's been said, I grew up in and around Sutton, so I started going with my dad's quite a while ago now and it just sucks you in doesn't it and you know at times it was National League South Bay so we weren't very good and arguably we're still not but we'll come on to that I'm sure but yeah it's just it's just the the community feel of it and going down with it as I say originally my dad and then now my uncle and some mates as well it's even though I live in London now it's never been a question as to whether or not I'd renew the season ticket that I've had for a while it's so easy to get down and yeah
Mike Dowling
it drags you back doesn't it yep yeah and you don't realize you're in until you suddenly miss a game you're like oh no well you know especially
Alex
especially in the the relegation season recently where it was you know pretty obvious for quite a while i know we rallied a bit at the end it was pretty obvious for a while that we were in trouble and you just you just suddenly find yourself on the train on a tuesday night and going i am going down again you haven't really thought about it it's just second nature
Mike Dowling
standing there in the freezing cold going yeah why
Speaker 4
yeah exactly
Mike Dowling
yeah um right a little bit club news the ladies team lost four nil to a very strong salt bean side um and the supporters coach um as of yesterday they need three more for altering them so um i know a lot of people kind of go independently but it's really really useful so if anyone does want to I think it's 60 quid, I think I saw. Yeah, the Ultra Room game, if you want to get on that coach, talk to him on Wednesday. They've got a couple others as well lined up, so get in there nice and
Speaker 3
early.
Mike Dowling
Nothing really special for the podcast except I did an amazing interview in hospitality yesterday. No one heard it because the microphone died partway through. It was amazing. Alex, you're in hospitality as well.
Mike Dowling
What did you think of the food? Yeah, the
Alex
food's improved, definitely, with the new caterers and stuff. Well, you did two interviews. The second with De Silva was really good. I thought he came across really well.
Alex
He seems like such a nice lad. I wouldn't mind him getting a bit more game time, to be honest. He's obviously off on international duty now with Sri Lanka, so we probably won't see him for for a couple of games and then yeah the first interview he was just so unlucky because the mic died for those who weren't there the mic died so that was all right for a bit because they could carry on sort of just talking loudly on the stage between the two of them but then in trying to fix the mics that some wrong button got pressed and all the volumes of the TVs in the room which are playing the Chelsea
Alex
Fulham game increased so we had we were at the back we were back left near the bar we didn't have a clue what you said but apparently it was very good so well done yeah amazing
Mike Dowling
one of the best ever it was really funny yeah i did a part i mean it wasn't my fault but i didn't massively apologize to Ricky um but he had an amazing top on he had like this really old-fashioned sort of jumper shirt type and it was all
Speaker 4
brown and yellow
Mike Dowling
it was like where did you get that
Speaker 4
from but
Mike Dowling
anyway
Speaker 4
i can't remember what you said it
Mike Dowling
was somewhere he's making sure miles away wasn't it it's just totally not
Alex
something related just happened to have the colors yeah
Mike Dowling
yeah i just lost track at
Alex
that point
Mike Dowling
Okay, so I've made notes, but this is going to kind of be all over the place. And I deliberately tried to say, let's not talk about every player. And I think I've got 10 of the 11 written down to
Speaker 4
say
Mike Dowling
something about,
Speaker 4
which
Mike Dowling
is pretty harsh, but lineup and expectations. So going into the game set, what were you thinking of? What were you thinking was going to happen? And was there any surprises in the lineup considering before everyone was plague infected and whatnot?
Seb
Yeah, I definitely thought we'd be missing a lot of key players with all the sickness bugs and all that going around. But when I saw
Nick
it,
Seb
I thought, like, it's actually a decent line-up. I think we might have a chance of doing really well. And obviously, we actually did, which is kind of surprising for the first time this season after, you know, we have not been playing the best. But I think yesterday was definitely the best performance we've had so far this season.
Seb
Excellent.
Mike Dowling
Nick, what about yourself? What time do you have to be up?
Nick
It's eight hours. We're eight hours behind, so kick-off is at seven. I'm usually up at six, so I set the line up. And of course, you know, again, we've signed a new player.
Nick
Is this like a sort of last minute thing? Because the Sixers basically ravaged the entire squad. But I dare say we'll talk about him. He wasn't bad, was he?
Nick
He was really good. But yeah, thankfully, Simps was the main absentee from what you'd expect to be the starting 11. But I was pretty, I was relieved at that. I honestly thought that we would tie.
Nick
I hate to admit that. Obviously thrilled. But my expectation was, I think I predicted 1-1 on the score.
Alex
Alex, what about you? I was less optimistic. I just, well, only because Carlisle have started really well. I think they were 11 points from five games, weren't they, before yesterday.
Alex
So they've had a decent start, well, more than decent start. And then you look at our form with a fully, relatively, I mean, we've had some injuries, but like, you know, a non-sickness affected squad hasn't been great. Then you throw the sickness in and yeah, I wasn't that optimistic, but Yeah, I agree with what's been said. I was pleased to see the line-up was, I think, better than expected, given what was said on Friday about the illness and stuff.
Alex
I thought it might be a bit more depleted than that. And actually, as we'll come on to talk about, it works really well having some of the big names like Simpa on the bench, because we never get to see that, really, him coming off the bench. He's pretty much always starting or unavailable. And actually, throwing him on for the last 20, 25 minutes was great.
Mike Dowling
Funny enough, he came off the pitch a few weeks ago, and he got a little bit cross about that. Well, yeah. If he
Alex
wants to
Mike Dowling
play, I don't blame him. I
Speaker 4
did see him off, and he
Mike Dowling
went,
Speaker 4
eww. He went, leave me alone. I'm not used to being subbed.
Mike Dowling
I actually went the opposite. So I put that little team out on the fan hub and I was basically saying, these are the players we haven't got available. Everyone's going, I don't know why we've chosen Sandat, he's on loan. Vincent's suspended, Vaz is injured.
Mike Dowling
Yeah, not one of the players I put on there is actually available to us. But I did say, no players, no wins, team near the top of the league, we're going to win this, lump on. And we did. But just want to talk, first half there wasn't Well, there was more talking points in the second half.
Mike Dowling
It wasn't that the first half was awful, but there was some impact in the first half by someone who wasn't on the pitch. They were near the subs bench. They weren't on the subs bench. But Alex, talk us through your psychological impact on the Carlisle team.
Alex
Okay, I think you might be slightly overstating the impact I had on the game. So I of great football fame, including Wales manager for a long time and obviously Man United legend Carlisle manager. And I was reminded of that on my journey down to Sutton yesterday. So I decided to Google him and found out that his full name is Mark Hughes, which I did not know that Leslie was his actual first name.
Alex
And all that happened, Mike, in my defense, was just I just every comment, and there weren't that many, but whenever comments were directed at Mr Hughes from me, they were prefaced or suffixed with Leslie. So for example, shut up Leslie, sit down Leslie, you know, just that kind of stuff. And he did, he bit and was rattled very quickly. But look, if he's focusing on us rather than the game, then that's only to our advantage.
Alex
So yeah, I won't, I can't repeat what he said because it's a family podcast, but there was one bit, there was one cry of sit down Leslie that didn't go down very well.
Mike Dowling
You can leave that
Alex
to us. It's not my finest moment, but it's not his finest moment either. What's more important? He just told me to shut the F up.
Alex
Which, to be fair, he is well within his rights to do if you've got some yappy idiot behind selling him to shut up and sit down with his name that was given to him by his parents.
Mike Dowling
That kind of thing is only a big deal and made out of that if the person doing it suddenly gets all umpy and goes, oh, you can't tell me to do that. He was well within his rights to say that.
Nick
I loved
Alex
it.
Mike Dowling
You loved it back. OK,
Alex
fair enough. definitely
Nick
it might it might explain like uh the slightly churlid comments post-match interview when he came across as right pissed off he was pissed off
Mike Dowling
right so there was there was a few bits but i wanted to talk um right at the end and he'll hate this but nathers um good chance. I spoke to someone in the bar moments after and we came up with an opinion and I think that opinion was borne out. But Nick, what did you think of that chance by Navas right at the end of the first half?
Nick
I mean, I just felt for him so much. You could tell his body language, he's really feeling it at the moment. I mean I'm confident. We all know he's a great player.
Nick
We saw in pre-season he was putting them away. He just needs that to go in and he's going to be on a run. But he's cut a very, very frustrated figure of late. Like I say, his body language has really broken volumes.
Nick
and I was just willing it to go, but it'll come. I mean, what they say, class is, form's temporary, class is permanent, and it will come, so. Well,
Mike Dowling
you touched on one of the points that was made by Nick Williams, actually, and he said he felt that service that Nadas had been getting recently wasn't the greatest, so probably he wasn't snappy enough, and obviously he's been ill. So he had a little bit too much time. Seb, you were at the other end where I was, so
Speaker 4
I
Mike Dowling
was failing. But how did you see the chance and what did you think?
Seb
To be honest, I didn't really see the chance. I just saw it sort of like go past the post. I was like, oh, OK, another chance. But, you know, like it's already been said, Nads is lacking a little bit of confidence at the moment because we know he's a brilliant player and we know he can score goals as seen in pre-season.
Seb
But I think maybe yesterday he should have been put on the bench and let N'Joku play out front because he was brilliant yesterday as well. Maybe he's just feeling a little bit of the sickness bug on him a bit much yesterday and probably why he wasn't the best on the field yesterday.
Mike Dowling
Yep. The other thing that we said, Alex, is had we scored right on the stroke of halftime, would that necessarily have been a good thing? Because Carlisle would have gone in, focused on right, blah, blah, and they would have come out probably a lot better. So talk us through your view of the good chance and whether you think, in hindsight, that's
Alex
Much to Lesley's delight, it started raining about five, ten minutes before that chance. So we actually went behind that goal where the chance was before moving to the other end for the second half. So we were right in front of us. And I think to call it a good chance is a bit generous.
Alex
It was an absolute sitter. And I think it's okay to call it that. I'm
Nick
not
Alex
having a go at nadders by saying that. I agree with what's been said. He is lacking confidence. His body language was quite down yesterday.
Alex
I mean, fair enough if he's feeling rubbish because he's been ill and obviously he's frustrated to not score and stuff. I like Nick's point that once one goes in, that will perk him up and hopefully he can build off that. I'm hopeful that's true. I'm sure it will be.
Alex
I'm not sure I quite buy the, it was a bad time to score.
Nick
argument,
Alex
but look, if that's the chain of events that led to us winning, then I
Mike Dowling
don't
Alex
care.
Mike Dowling
I'm sticky with that. Yeah, if we'd scored, they would have come in and come out with the whole
Speaker 3
doing
Mike Dowling
an act job. In that case, well done,
Alex
Nadesim.
Speaker 3
Yeah, he's
Mike Dowling
absolutely psychological, you see? He's an incredible player, I've always said it. Well, we did come out second half and even Mr Hughes or Leslie said that it was a different side focused. They didn't come out at all.
Mike Dowling
We came out really well and we took control of the game. I mean, when did you think, we'll start with you Seb, when did you think of this half is going to be going to be a good one? We're going to get something here. Don't say when David's goal winning, when Rudy's goal winning.
Mike Dowling
You talking to me?
Seb
Yeah. I think it was just the start of the half. It just looked a little bit more positive than it was in the first half because I'd say the first half was a bit boring from both sides. Minimal chances, mainly Carlo, but once we got...
Seb
It was from a corner, wasn't it? I guess one pretty scored the momentum for after that. And yeah, and I think atmosphere second half yesterday was really good. My arms are still waking.
Speaker 4
Yeah,
Seb
I think that was sort of a key factor, but also obviously don't know what was said in Jessamine, but it looked like the performance wise that second half at 45 minutes was the best piece of football we played all season. Yeah.
Mike Dowling
Alex, do you agree, I mean alright, we'll say he didn't prove it because he scored quite early. I actually came out, was walking along and went, well I'm going to film this because we're going to score. And being the old git that I am, I had to put my number on my phone, couldn't do that. Then I got the camera up, realised it was a selfie mode, turned it around and by then the ball was in the back of the net.
Mike Dowling
Karl was standing next to me absolutely wetting himself at me because I couldn't get it in time, but I did call it. But Alex, how did you see the goal and when did you realise that we were getting something out of this game?
Speaker 4
Yeah,
Alex
I mean, I don't think I fully knew we were getting something out of the game until the full-time whistle went, such as our, you know, but that's because of the recent forms and stuff. I think it was clear at the start of the second half we played well, not just the goal, but the first 15, 20 minutes in particular at the start of the second half, we were really good. season. A word for Mo in midfield, I thought he was absolutely fantastic yesterday.
Alex
Probably, I appreciate he went off with 25 minutes to go, but probably still would have given him out of the match, I think, certainly for the time he was on the pitch, although he was class. put a couple of good corners in before the one that we actually scored from, if my memory is serving me correctly. There's at least one, I think, at the start of the second half before the one that we scored from. So, you know, we were on top, the deliveries were going well, their keeper didn't look too sharp from
Nick
the
Alex
corners and stuff. I'm sure Seb had something to do with that, which is good. So, and it's a cracking delivery and a cracking header, but just generally, I think just the sharpness and intensity at the start of the second half, it was clear that they were up for it.
Mike Dowling
And Nick, how did you sort of, once that goal went in, did you think, oh, something's happening here?
Nick
Well, it's funny, I actually didn't want the first half to end, because we were having the better of it that last five, six, seven minutes, and Jadon had actually had a spot on top. I can't remember whether it just flashed past the post or whether the keepers, but he hit it really, really cleanly. I was really glad, just a word on Jadon. I thought he was absolutely brilliant at Salah.
Nick
I really thought we missed him. He hasn't quite got his level back yet. I can't help thinking that something clicked in him when he hit that ball. Because after that, he was everywhere, charging down from the ball, cheering, clenching his fists just to put it out for a throw and stuff like that.
Nick
So when we were going in, I thought, hang on, we could have, we've finished the half on a high. And we came in the same way. So yeah, it didn't surprise me when the ball went in, actually. The only thing I'll say is that, if the that allows him to, I'm pretty sure it's him that does it.
Nick
He puts it over the head of the defender, puts it in, and then he goes out for the corner that he draws from. That's a central defender, you know.
Mike Dowling
Well, I mean, you guys have already said some of the players, but we're going to talk about them a bit more. The three central defenders, Ruti, Jack, and Fipsy, they all individually had
Speaker 4
a great game.
Mike Dowling
Some people, there was some Carlisle fans saying, oh, if the keeper stopped worrying about pushing the defender, the attacker out of the way, he could have got to it. When I looked at it, I was like, he could have got to it and he might have broken his hand because there was nothing stopping that header. And his celebration afterwards, oh my God, it was just like, but between the three of them, there were moments in defense. I mean, Dipsy was everywhere, again, taking everything out of the way.
Mike Dowling
and Jack. I mean, it's getting boring, almost. But a word, we'll start with you, Alex, this time. A word on the three central defenders and their individual performances.
Alex
Yeah, fantastic. I mean, I mentioned Mo as a man of the match contender, but I know Phipps, he got it. You could have given it to any of those three, but you just said they were absolutely immense. Oh, fair enough, I suppose with the goal.
Alex
But yeah, they were absolutely immense, the three of them. Not just, I mean, firstly, winning headers. Massive bugbear of mine in recent seasons is the lack of headers we've been winning at the back. And all three of them, I am now backing them to win the header when they jump for it.
Alex
And that is such a nice feeling to have. And secondly, just positional stuff. I know that we've had some chopping and changing on the fullbacks in recent weeks with And I do feel like sometimes the right and left centre-backs have been dragged out to cover that a bit. I thought they were much better yesterday as a five and the positional play was really improved.
Alex
And also, carrying the ball out from the back, all three of them had moments where they brought it out from the back. And if they can keep doing that and comfortable to do that on the ball, the relief of pressure that that brings, I think, will be really important for us. And it helps the midfielders as well.
Mike Dowling
Nick, what do you think of the three together?
Nick
came towards our defence. I just expected Sutton and Hedda to clear it and intelligently it would often go to Sutton and Hedda. I think Steve mentioned it in his interview, the only thing about Jack Taylor and his carrying the ball out of defence is that somebody would come for him and take him from us and it's one of those things maybe go under the radar, be a bit less conspicuous, you know, if you can.
Nick
We've only got one more day. When's the window close? Tomorrow
Mike Dowling
at 7. I'm thinking like when it reopens. the He's in the next batch. We'll come to him, don't worry.
Mike Dowling
Seb, what did you think of the three defence? I mean, there was one moment, and I've spoke to him and I've said it's boring, but in the first half with Jack, where he was defending right in front of us and he almost ran over the ball, stopped it, turned around and came back to take it off the attacker. It's like, you can't be doing that.
Mike Dowling
But what did you think about the three of them together and their individual performances?
Seb
I think they've been fantastic so far, especially yesterday. I think they've got a chemistry at the back, which hasn't really quite seen recently. Like Alex said, they win a lot of headers and two of them have already scored goals from corners, which is another bonus. which is what we need.
Seb
We need goals. But I think yesterday, not just them three, I think the whole backline in general, including Junior and the new one, Bhutan, isn't it? Bhutan. Yeah, they were all fantastic yesterday.
Seb
Obviously, Carlisle's attack has really experienced the Football League. They scored a lot of goals. Like, Regan Linney's already got five this season and he had barely anything. Even Jaco was making a lot of saves from him.
Seb
So, I think Overall, the whole back line was perfect and especially those three in defending Carlisle corners. Absolutely perfect. First ball every time.
Mike Dowling
Yeah, well, we'll do the free half batch together because although you've mentioned it, Nick, I think they gave a performance which was good, but as expected now, which is not a problem for Junior. But basically, Junior has come in, everyone's like, oh, he's Academy, let's give him a little bit of leeway. And all of a sudden, he's banging out these performances, which is going to be a problem because people are going to be going, well, actually, we want you up here now all the time. But Junior, Jack Modern, and Simmo, all great, but not unfortunately, but there were others that caught the eye a little bit more.
Mike Dowling
But what did you think of those three? I mean, Simmo kept saying it a couple of times, Nick. What did you think of those three in general?
Nick
Jack Wadham, Jack Simms, and Junior Eccleston. Yeah, I already mentioned Junior. Yeah, I mean, credit to the Academy bringing these players through. Simmo, I mean, that save, what was it, in the 86th, 87th minute?
Nick
He put it out, you know, to be able to save it, but also put it out away from a danger area as well. That might have been a turning point for the game, actually, because had they scored then, what did they score in the 94th minute or something? We would have had to defend a lead for a little bit longer and I wonder whether, you know, that saves. Other than that, I mean, a lot of his saves were straight at him, but that save was absolutely superb.
Nick
And yeah, what a great, you know, put the ball in right on, right where it needed to be, and flick on. So, yeah, to a man, superb. Yeah. Yeah.
Mike Dowling
Seb, I think with Jack Wadham, not a problem in any way, shape or form. But he's
Speaker 4
a
Mike Dowling
good player, and I just think he needs to understand he can be really good and go, this is my pitch. I'm going to take control
Speaker 4
of this
Mike Dowling
game. Just have that little, this is me now. But how did you feel that those three, again, played really, really well? I don't think anyone's spoken to it about any of them as any man of the matches, but they all played eights or nines, I think.
Seb
Well, like Nick said, Jack Simpson's saves were pretty much right, except the one right at the end, which I didn't really see because I was too busy trying not to wait for them to concede. So I just had my head down the whole time. I just didn't want to hear it. Just waiting on full time.
Seb
But Jack Wadham, I think with him, he's an exceptional player but he just needs to have a little bit more confidence in what he does on the pitch. Like maybe take a bit of notes off Simpa and he could do a lot more. Obviously, he doesn't really go up that much but he could score a lot of goals like Simpa does. And he's a good drawing back midfielder as well to help out in defence.
Seb
And Junior Epperson yesterday, some of the tackles he was making, especially the one down our end in the second half, where I think it was Linney on the right, slide tackle, and he fell into the barrier and he broke it, didn't he? He's a brilliant player and he gets up a lot. So I think overall, those three players are brilliant. And I think Jack Wadden just needs a little bit more confidence than he thinks.
Mike Dowling
Yeah, I mean he sets himself really, really high standards because I remember Alex last year against the Man United on the 21s, he scored and he didn't celebrate. I messaged him going, what was that about? Are you a Man United fan? He goes, no, it was an awful game.
Mike Dowling
I couldn't pass the ball properly and my blah blah. It's really hard. It's not that he's not confident. I think he does everything right, but I think he could just go that little oomph.
Mike Dowling
But then, as Nick said, if all our players go that little extra oomph, we won't have any left. But what did you think of that trio in particular? Yeah,
Alex
just one brief point on each of them. I agree about about Jack Wadham, I think particularly that applies when Simba's not playing, about the point that you and Seb have made about him sort of stepping up and being the main man when Simba's not there. That's what I'm looking for him to do. I think he'll do that, he's got the talent to do it.
Alex
Sim's really, I'm in danger of sort of taking him for granted. I appreciate what we're saying about the saves being straight at him. You're right, he didn't have that much outstanding stuff to do yesterday. But every save is clean, doesn't spill them, doesn't do anything stupid with his feet, gets the assist for the second goal.
Alex
Let's not forget as well, there's a cracking area to put that ball in where the keeper didn't know whether to come or not. He's just so solid every week. He's a class act. And then junior, yeah, it'd be really interesting to see.
Alex
And I know we need to manage Jonesy's minutes on the right-hand side. And look, he's the captain, so he's going to be getting most of the starts. But how great is it that we have not just a fantastic, I don't want to call him a backup, but a
Mike Dowling
rotation
Alex
option when Jonesy needs a rest and someone from the academy. It's just great. The
Mike Dowling
only thing with Sims is his poor ankles. A whole half without needing some kind of treatment. Gets a lot of cram fat, man. Yeah, poor boy, poor boy.
Mike Dowling
Right, we briefly mentioned Noah. No one knew it was coming. I definitely didn't know it was coming. Buggered up everyone's 11 out of 11s on FanHub.
Mike Dowling
Yeah, great game. Settled in really, really well. And you think, Christ, he's that good on day one. I think we signed him on Friday and we didn't announce it.
Mike Dowling
Yeah, if he's that good, there's some big things to come for him. But the three highlights didn't score, but Mo Jadon and Brandon. Seb, just a quick word for each of them. I mean, basically won one game, but they did all play so well.
Mike Dowling
This is not just, hey, isn't it the greatest thing in the world? But they all played really, really well yesterday. So have a little word on each of them, Joe, Jadon and Brandon.
Seb
I think they were all outstanding. That's the word. That's the word. Fair
Speaker 3
enough.
Alex
Alex? Do I have to pick one word or can I have more than one?
Speaker 4
You can have more than one word. A lot
Alex
of things Seb's right. It's very easy to summarise it all without sounding... Yeah, Mo, look, as I said, fantastic. You know, that's the first time I've seen him live.
Alex
And I just thought he was everywhere. We've had Strom as well. He's not a tall man. He's not a big man.
Alex
strong and puts himself about and gets his body in the way and just but good on the ball as well I think you know the prospect I know we didn't see it yesterday because they came on and off at the same time but prospect of him and Simba playing together in centre mid I'm excited by because you know not to you know characterize him as one thing but if Mo can sort of do the dirty work and win the ball back and give it to Simpa, that's a fantastic, that's a good combination to have. Jayden Harris, best game in a satin shirt, I thought, yesterday. Nick's touched on it, I think there was, yeah, the right, that snapshot he had that was saved by the keeper at the end of the first half was a springboard for a fantastic second half performance.
Alex
Running and running and running and pressing and a few tackles, you know, it's sort of in their left back and right back slots when they're looking to get out and put pressure on us that he tackles out for a throw in and gets the crowd up and Yeah, I thought he was excellent and unlucky to not score yesterday as well. I thought he was, yeah, best game in a Sutton shirt.
Nick
Who is the
Alex
other one? Oh, Brandon. Again, probably the same and I appreciate he's had fewer games in the Sutton shirt, but again, his running of the channels and his hold-up play is so good for not a big guy, you know, but he's a strong guy and, you know, I don't think the the playing him and Nadas together quite worked yesterday but
Speaker 4
I
Alex
thought he was the main man and I thought that is a credit to him because it'd be so easy for Nadas with you know his longer time in the club and stuff to and being a more experienced player to be the main man but I thought it was Brandon yesterday and again unlucky not to score I thought he had a cracking game.
Mike Dowling
Yeah, I mean, Jaden was pleased afterwards that he'd got his first 90 minutes in ages. I think he was pulling me up because I sort of said, right, it was all great, but you know, that last six, seven minutes, calm down a little bit. We needed you on the pitch. He went, I didn't get booked.
Mike Dowling
He goes, I've not been booked at all this season. He goes, Simp has been booked twice. I've not. And then it's my first 90.
Mike Dowling
And I was like,
Speaker 4
okay, fair
Mike Dowling
enough. But Nick, what did you think of the trio? I know you've mentioned them already.
Nick
Yeah, I'm a huge fan of Jadon. I'm confident he's up there. Mo Dabra, yeah, he was everywhere. He got a player booked in the first half because he was away.
Nick
I thought he should have himself got a booking for a tactical, maybe the ref. did us a favour there. But, you know, fair play to him. Brandon, I'm slightly worried because he could go off injured.
Nick
I'm just hoping that it's nothing serious. I'm hoping it was just a prank. Because, yeah, you said already that he's not a big guy. And, of course, the defender marking him, Thomas, I think was his name, Brandon could always lean into his chest and put him off.
Nick
He's a real handful. He's running the defence and chasing lost causes. They often turn into chances.
Mike Dowling
Where I was, some of the slightly older supporters, they took great delight in his shit housing, basically.
Speaker 4
Yeah, it was
Mike Dowling
like, we like this guy, we like this guy, and told him afterwards and told David, who we'll talk about in a sec, afterwards, and he was like, oh, you don't like that? Oh, we love that. So more of that, please. But also, the second goal, David's goal.
Mike Dowling
We're not going to dispute anything about this goal at all. It didn't come off his arm. It didn't come off his arse. It was a beautiful, beautiful goal.
Mike Dowling
Seb, talk us through that long ball merchant goal.
Seb
Oh, Jesus. I don't even know. I just saw it because I was turning away because someone was nudging my arm and I turned back and I saw it was just going over the keeper. I was like, damn, missed it.
Seb
But no, I think Brilliant goal. He's on his own over there and the keeper's rushing out. The one thing that was going to come to your head, just chip it over him and just hope it does go in. I think it was a brilliant goal and the backflips after.
Seb
First
Mike Dowling
class. Well, I don't know, that landing. That landing,
Seb
you see. Yeah,
Mike Dowling
in the air, it looked great, but the landing, come
Seb
on,
Mike Dowling
even Rosie was sitting there going, oh, we could have fallen there. But Alex, what did you think of that? You, oh no, hang on, Alex, I've seen what you thought of that, because you're in the
Alex
picture. Yeah, so I think what's happened there is that there's a, Paul's taken a cracking picture of David mid-air upside down you know during the backflip and you can just see my face gone from like bedlam and cheering to just open mouth like shock at the at the celebration and yeah I don't know it I did feel a little bit old actually afterwards because I was like oh your ankles Don't get injured. But yeah, the goal, as we've touched on earlier, cracking ball from Sims, really judged the length so well, where the defender didn't know if he could leave it or if he could head it back to the keeper.
Alex
Keeper didn't know whether he could come. But despite all that, you still have to be sharp to it. And David was so sharp. And then to have that presence of mind to get there and then produce a finish like that was just a real moment of quality and oh yeah I mean just Bedlam in the stands because it's been a while since we've been two goals ahead in the game and
Alex
that you know I appreciate they put one back later but that when that went in that really did really feel like we were going to win and that's a great feeling
Mike Dowling
yeah I mean Nick, Alex has already said, it's the decision making at that moment of do I try and take it around the keeper, do I try and blast it past the keeper, do I lift it over? I mean, to make the right decision in that is just split second. But how did you see it? And you had the benefits of replays as well, didn't you?
Nick
Yeah. Oh, actually, um, on, um, we're not, it replayed, it was weird yesterday. Um, at the end of the game, it was replaying certain plates, but only from the eighth minute or something like that. So, so I had to, um, um, but no, it was Bedlam here in Los Angeles.
Nick
Well, it's 7.00 AM or 8.45 or whatever at the time it was here. So, um, my wife, they scored again. Um, I mean, with the back I actually could see it coming and I was like,
Speaker 3
don't
Nick
do it, don't do it. We might already have lost one player, we could lose another one. But yeah, what a shot that Paul got.
Mike Dowling
there was some criticism of David afterwards of do you not know where the cameras are why did you run away from all the cameras run towards the cameras and do these things what are you doing man um but yeah so first win of the season And the reason this has gone on so long is it wasn't just a win. It was a good win. There was no kind of excuses that anyone could give.
Mike Dowling
We won the game and there's a lot of adversity before it. They were doing well. I did say last week the run starts against Carlisle. So hopefully we're on there.
Mike Dowling
Nick, you've mentioned a couple of times Leslie's interviews. Now, there was one thing I did want to pick up on. Obviously, no managers are ever going to really go, yeah, we were beaten. I mean, Steve did actually.
Mike Dowling
But it was about the injuries. I know I've said before, I wish Steve would be a little bit more open because we care about the players. But Hughes just absolutely shot that question down. It was, any word on these injured players?
Mike Dowling
No. Yeah. But what do you what did you think of both his comments and in Steve's comments about the match? I mean, Steve thought it was it was fantastic.
Mike Dowling
We should have been outside as well.
Nick
Yeah, I think he was right there. We could have had, you know, there's a goalmouth scramble. I thought I thought they're keeping shaky as well. If I was a car, I wouldn't have had much kind of.
Nick
And we might have got a few more. Yeah, Steve, he deserves that. I mean, you can tell he's been put through the, you know, it's been a difficult month. And, you know, he was unanimous.
Nick
He gave the credit to his players. And Arkie, well, that was his player name, wasn't it? Lessons of a manager. Leslie.
Nick
No, it was. I had an inkling, I remember him as a coach when he was in the Premier League, but he always came across like really churlish. And I looked at his post-match interview and I thought, you know, a little bit, and I'd have to watch it again. He was saying that Sutton were, he might have used the exclusion pikes of Sutton, I'd have to check it again.
Nick
But he was criticising the long time wasting in football. You've been in football for how long? If you're up 2-1, you're going to take your time over a throw, mate.
Mike Dowling
But it was passive aggressive, wasn't it, Seb? It wasn't, oh, they were time-wasting. It was like, well, there was a lot of time-wasting. But it's what happens.
Mike Dowling
It was the excuse for, oh, no, it's OK. It's fine. But what did you think of the separate manager chats, interviews? I
Seb
haven't even listened to either interviews yet, so I might have to do that after. Research
Mike Dowling
said, come on.
Seb
Mark Hughes has been in the game for so long,
Nick
he's
Seb
surely got to know if a team's winning 2-1 in the last minutes of the game, no matter what they do, the corner, throw in, free kick, corner, they're going to take their time and he's just got to accept that. There's no point trying to pinpoint excuses over a loss to a team that were better on the day.
Mike Dowling
I haven't got
Alex
much more to say about Leslie that hasn't already been said. As Seb's quite rightly pointed out, he's been in the game long enough to know what happens when you're chasing your first win of the season in the 97th minute and you 2-1 up. God knows we've had equalisers and late wins against us and all that kind of stuff recently. So, yeah, as for Steve, yeah, big reaction at the end, obviously meant loads to him and rightly so.
Alex
I think it's, you know, it's a cracking win, cracking performance. It is only one win and one performance. I think it's really good that we've got a home game on Wednesday to build the momentum and try and get two in a row against our beloved friends at Boreham Wood would
Speaker 3
be
Alex
cracking to get back to back. You know, it's like, as we've said, we had a tough start to the season in terms of fixtures and Boreham Wood's never an easy game. But
Nick
of all the
Alex
games to have, it's great we got a home one after our first win to just go and try and back it up back to back. And I think it's Tamworth afterwards, isn't it? So you can start to look at them and It's still early days, so we're still finding out a lot about each team, but if we can go on a little run as a result of this, wouldn't that be good?
Mike Dowling
Yeah, I mean, Ornwood at home isn't as bad as Ornwood away.
Alex
Yeah, we've done York away, we've done Forest Green away, we've done Rochdale away, we've done Carlisle at home. You know, these are teams that are going to be up there at the end of the season, and we've done a lot of them already. So yeah, two home games in four or five days, let's build it. I'm
Mike Dowling
going to come to Seb last on this one, but the atmosphere. The boys did good. He's going to get all embarrassed now. The boys did good.
Mike Dowling
I don't know how much you came across on the broadcast, Nicholas, but could you hear the noise behind the belt? Yeah, beautiful. And do you feel that helps the players?
Nick
I'd like to see some statistics. There's a reason that we want to shoot sports. I was at the Soho game And, you know, there was a moment, I mean, now we didn't win that one, I don't know, but there was a moment when, you know, the crowd, they were generating so much noise and the drum was like, obviously, like, you know, an integral to that.
Nick
And but but yeah, like credit credit to those fans that generate noise. It really is. A bit of a cliche, but it is the 12th man.
Mike Dowling
Really hope everyone is watching this one because Seb is getting so embarrassed. Alex, what was your take? I mean, you've supported a while now.
Speaker 4
Yeah.
Mike Dowling
It's something we've always struggled with. Undoubtedly, that stand helps because it's somewhere for everyone to be and it's got a roof on it, as opposed to my favourite part.
Alex
Exactly. Yeah,
Mike Dowling
it took the
Alex
words out of my mouth. Yeah, I was going to give Seb a 30-second breather and then come to him and his mates and embarrass them further. But yeah, take the words out of my mouth, Mike. The decision from the club to switch it round in the You're grimacing about it further.
Alex
I'm sorry about that. But when it was chuckling down with rain at one point yesterday and all the Carlisle fans were there making no noise at all because they're completely exposed to the elements, it just made me think, that is where the away fans should be. That shouldn't be where we're trying to make the noise from. Because it's really hard to make the noise when, let's just say, you're exposed to the elements.
Alex
There's no cover over you. And now that we've got that and the need to shoot that end in the second half, as you highlighted, has been really crucial. not just yesterday said, but you and the boys as a wider point since you've come in with the, not just the drum, but getting the group of you together and all of that over the last, over a season isn't it, however long you've been doing it for, has made a massive difference.
Alex
And as Mike mentioned, those of us who have been going for a bit longer can remember not having any atmosphere to talk about and Sun Library and all that kind of stuff. And, you know, it's all right if you're playing good football, but I don't think we were doing that much to help the players and the team at all. And I'm so confident that it makes a massive difference now. So just keep going.
Alex
And all of that group is, yeah, brilliant.
Seb
Yeah.
Mike Dowling
So, Seb, after the game, you had, well, you almost had some validation from the club captain.
Speaker 3
Almost, yeah. I had to mention it.
Mike Dowling
He came over and said to Harry, thanks for making all that noise. And you're like, it was
Speaker 4
me! I'm the noise! It was so funny, it's me doing it! Okay, I'm using credit as well.
Mike Dowling
I spoke to a couple of other players in the bar, and they did say it's fantastic, and they really enjoy it, and especially the push to get everyone out there early, which I know you, as part of the Amber Project, have said before,
Nick
and now they're
Mike Dowling
also saying. How much are you enjoying doing it? I know your arms are sore, but how much are you enjoying doing it, and how much does this organisation take?
Seb
Oh, God. I don't know. I sort of enjoy doing it, I guess. I mean, it's less fun when no one around is singing and there's only like three or four people singing.
Seb
You just feel like, oh, you're just doing it for the sake of it at this point. But, you know, sometimes when it's not that busy, like yesterday behind the goal, it wasn't that busy, but at least everyone was still singing. And I think that was a benefit because over on Parkside and the Curver, you can't make an atmosphere there. And when we first had the drum, when we got relegated, We had the drum, but there wasn't barely any noise.
Seb
So I think now we've got behind the goal, it's a massive boost. It helps us sound louder. It's more intimidating for when we shoot down that end in the second half of the Awakening, because then there's a big following behind us. and sort of intimidating them, I guess, but yeah.
Seb
And for organisation, for displays and stuff, it does take a while because obviously we speak to the club and we come in before the game and we just try and map out and see what we want to do. And if it works, it works. If it doesn't, it doesn't. And then we just have to multitask on the day and see if it can be successful as possible.
Seb
So it does take a lot of work, but we do get there eventually. No,
Mike Dowling
it's excellent. Now, next step is you have to organize some people to be basically child snatchers and walk around to get any of the young ones who are on their own, basically. Yeah,
Speaker 3
that's it.
Mike Dowling
I can't be
Speaker 4
doing that.
Mike Dowling
Look at
Speaker 4
me,
Mike Dowling
I'm 50 years old, I can't walk around gathering kids. That's a whole different problem. Move on, move on, next topic. Anyway, but yeah, that's the main thing, get people to join who aren't part of the group,
Speaker 4
that's how they'll be
Mike Dowling
part of it. But yes, moving on, we have Boreham Wood on Tuesday,
Speaker 4
Wednesday? Wednesday.
Mike Dowling
So how do we, I mean, how do we stop Matt Rush? First of all, I have told Jack that he's got to stop Matt Rush and he said he said he will boot him. So we'll see what happens there. But Alex, how do we stop Matt Rush especially?
Mike Dowling
And how do we win the game against Boreham Wood? And what is Alex's prediction?
Alex
Well, you know the answer to the last question, but we'll come to that in a second. I think, okay, how do we stop Matt Rush? We pick the same, if presuming they're all fit, we pick the same back three, certainly, probably back five. I know that's a bit harsh on Jonesy, and if Jonesy comes in for Junior, I'm absolutely fine with that.
Alex
He's shown he's a good player, but those three centre-backs, I want to see them playing together as much as possible and just, you know, build that relationship they have with each other. And I know it's a relatively short turnaround, but I hope if, provided they're all fit and they've covered well from Saturday. I'd like to see them all together. And in terms of how we win the game, that applies throughout the team.
Alex
I won't begrudge a few changes because it is a midweek game, but I want the system to be the same. I want the players who, let's say, for example, he wants to get Simpa back in the team. I'd like to see him probably come in for Jack Wadham. That's not because Wadham's done anything wrong, but I just want a like-for-like replacement so we can keep the same system and try and build some consistency of selection and in-game tactics to try and get
Nick
the
Alex
players gelled and understanding the system that they're playing. And 4-0 to Sutton. Every week.
Mike Dowling
And Nick,
Nick
what do you think? I mean, again, you don't change your wicket. Maybe you'd bring Simpson for Jack Wadham, but he might have stated Jack after yesterday. How we stop Matt Rush?
Nick
We might not be able to. I don't think anyone will begrudge him scoring, but he can score more goals than them. I mean, you know, after scoring, Nades is going to score sooner rather than later. and we've got goals coming from all over.
Nick
We're not as wholly dependent, seemingly, on say, Will was just getting all of our goals last season. It does seem to be that they're coming from all over the pitch, all over the park. So I'm going to go for 3-1. I think Nader's...
Nick
I think he's going to score. and Jadon. I think Jadon's got a goal in him as well. I think that's coming.
Mike Dowling
What are your thoughts on Wednesday's prediction?
Seb
It's definitely a certain type of thing to lose to Boreham Wood on a Wednesday night, definitely. I've always hated Boreham Wood since they beat us in the playoffs in 2017. Ever since then, I always consider them to be a bit of a bogey club for us. We either get one win and then we can lose a
Nick
lot
Seb
more to them. Sometimes we just don't even play the best against them. But recently, we've done quite well against them. But I'm not going to be optimistic.
Seb
I'm going to play it safe and go for a draw, I reckon. Come
Alex
on, man.
Seb
It's just for a win. For anyone else, I'm going for a
Alex
win. That's too fair. PTSD from that playoff day.
Mike Dowling
But it's not, I mean, it wouldn't be the end of the world to back it up with a draw. I mean,
Speaker 4
obviously, I'm
Mike Dowling
not going
Speaker 4
to
Mike Dowling
draw,
Speaker 4
but it
Mike Dowling
wouldn't
Nick
be the end of
Speaker 3
the
Mike Dowling
world. I've gone for 3-0, because I'm not quite as confident as Alex, but I'm more confident than Nick that we're going to keep a clean sheet. And AI, who actually got it right apart from the goal scorer, has gone again for a 2-1 win. So we'll see.
Mike Dowling
It's gone with David to score again, but I'm not entirely sure if it's just gone, hey, they won their last game 2-1 and this guy scored, so I'm going to do that. Who knows? Who
Speaker 4
knows, but I don't
Mike Dowling
care. But yeah, don't forget, you can still join the Prediction League. It goes on all season and there's loads of points available, so don't think like you've missed out. But gents, thank you very, very much.
Mike Dowling
We're going to wrap up this episode of Summer Podcast. As always, we appreciate everyone's attention and feedback, especially for Joe. I was going to say get involved in the knowing me, knowing you segment, but I didn't do it properly this week. But I'll tell you what, Seb asked me a question the other night of who do you think our rivals are?
Speaker 3
It doesn't remember it much,
Mike Dowling
so anyone who kind of wants to put in there who do you think our rivals are, and I can almost guarantee I can guess people's age depending on the answer of that question. Sounds
Speaker 4
like
Mike Dowling
Sam's going to say Borewood.
Speaker 4
No, no, no. Sam
Mike Dowling
was also struggling the other night, but that might not have been for the question, that might have been for something else.
Seb
Borewood things just passed through. Yeah,
Mike Dowling
Seb's going to be 18 in a couple of weeks. Birthday against Tamworth.
Nick
You know, on that point of who our rivals are, on the screen yesterday, Kyle was shortened to Carl. And I kept thinking Carl Shorten. And I thought, can the people see that as well? That's
Mike Dowling
what I mean is there are people who are Frankie's age who will say Toot and a Mitchum, because way back in sort of 60s, early 70s, Toot and a Mitchum were big, and we were big. Then the next phase would be Carl Shorten, or Kingston, Kingstonian, sorry. Dencastle, we'll switch them around. Then we've got people who will say it's Bromley, because we happen to be close to them.
Mike Dowling
Then Wimbledon, which is weird. But my answer to Seb was, we don't really have any, because the historical rivals we've kind of left behind, and others we don't really care that much about. I mean, I know Bromley care a bit more about us than we do about them. I don't
Seb
care about them. I think we should start one with Bromley. You need
Mike Dowling
fans to have a rivalry.
Seb
We have fans, they don't. You need
Mike Dowling
people to sing against. There's no point in doing that. Might as well just do Karl Shorten again. Anyway, follow, like, share this episode on all social medias at Sotnton Podcast and subscribe while you're there and any other things.
Mike Dowling
Give me the thumbs up on YouTube. Thank you to the panel, Seb, Nick, Alex and thanks for listening. I hope you enjoyed this episode. Take care and catch up soon.
Mike Dowling
Bye bye.
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