You know that feeling when you just know something is about to happen? That uneasy sense that lingers in the back of your mind, even when things seem to be going well? That was the theme of our latest episode of Sutton United Talk Time on Podcast, where I was joined by Rory and Claire to unpack Sutton’s first home defeat to Hartlepool and the end of our impressive unbeaten run.
Mike Dowling
00:58 - 01:27
Hello and welcome to another episode of Sutton United Talk Time on podcast. It's a Sutton podcast in association with Lucky Star Gin. I'm your host, Mike. And joining me today, we have Rory and Claire. We are going to talk about how unbeaten runs are massively overrated once they get to nine games. They become a distraction. No one wants them anymore. The loss to Hartlepool and we'll look forward to the trip to Oldham. I have padded some extra news items. Just keep us talking because I'm not sure what happened in that first half, but it wasn't a lot.
Mike Dowling
01:28 - 01:46
We love hearing from you. Join the conversation, stay connected, share your thoughts on this episode, other episodes, and let me know what you think. All social medias at Sutton Podcast. Rory, are you awake? It was a nice short trip for you guys yesterday. How was the home game?
Rory
01:47 - 02:15
It was really nice. I think we confused a lot of people. People were like, oh, we hardly pull away. Why are you down here? I mean, it was really nice. She bumped into loads of people. Well, my son Toby really enjoyed it. Lots of photos with some of the players, including some of those like Ryan Jackson and his favourite player is Jaden Harris. And he was just standing there literally just behind us. So, yeah, it was lovely coming down. Actually, it was really nice apart from Apart from the result, it was a really nice day.
Mike Dowling
02:15 - 02:33
Yeah, I haven't written this one down, but actually, I think Frankie put that it's the first time we've lost at home to Hartlepool, but then last week was the first time we won away at Kidderminster, so you know what, it swings around a lot. Claire, how are you?
Claire
02:34 - 02:35
I'm okay, thank you.
Mike Dowling
02:35 - 02:38
Good, good, good. Another busy, busy week for you. I
Claire
02:39 - 03:00
mean, I had a week off. Yeah, you know, another year older, no wiser. So, yeah, I had a week off. I take a week off for my birthday. The whole week. Joyce, you did say to me, he's like, oh, you're still celebrating birthdays. And I was like, I will stop at 40. Don't worry. Like I've got
Mike Dowling
03:00 - 03:00
two more
Claire
03:00 - 03:01
left. And then that's it.
Mike Dowling
03:01 - 03:12
No, you don't. You get over there. The birthday should be encouraged more because you don't have me. Yeah. Anyway, what do you call by himself for your birthday tree?
Claire
03:14 - 03:33
Oh, he didn't this year, actually. He normally does. For context, Rory, Paul, my brother, the photographer, and I always go out for birthday day, like we take each other out. Me for his birthday and vice versa. But we have this tradition where it seems that we go out to buy each other presents, but we end up just buying ourselves presents. But on
Speaker 5
03:34 - 03:34
We're
Claire
03:34 - 03:34
going to jump into the
Speaker 5
03:34 - 03:35
Knowing Me,
Claire
03:35 - 03:36
Knowing You. The music is here.
Mike Dowling
04:01 - 04:12
Everybody loves it. So we're going to start with Rory. What was the funniest, what is the funniest, almost unusual thing you've witnessed at a game? Now I've kind of resumed Sutton United, but I suppose it could be any game, but
Rory
04:13 - 04:13
what's
Mike Dowling
04:13 - 04:14
the funniest thing you've witnessed at a match?
Rory
04:15 - 05:11
funniest thing. I'd say unusual I suppose. I remember Forest Green away and this was like 20 years ago. I think we were winning 1-0 and then the floodlights just completely went after about 60 minutes and that was it. And then the game finished. So that was quite unusual. But funny wise it was York actually a couple of weeks ago. I haven't laughed quite so much in quite a long time I think because their right back left back was called Felix. So you had Felix there and you had John as well was another player and so everyone just every time Felix came near us just kept shouting Felix for no apparent reason and then when John came over everyone was shouting John and then Felix why are you not passing to John John Felix Felix John and I don't know it was just a very random for no apparent reason, people shouting names of players that were their second names, which should have been their first names.
Rory
05:11 - 05:11
That
Mike Dowling
05:11 - 05:13
was very funny.
Rory
05:13 - 05:13
I'll go with
Mike Dowling
05:13 - 05:36
those two. I do like that Felix. He's actually, I really wanted to sign him. Everyone was banging on about Ollie Pierce in the summer. And I was like, you know what? If we can get that Felix instead, it would be a much, much better, better prize than Ollie Pierce. But he went anyway, so who cares? Don't like him anymore. Claire, have you had the chance to think in the last two minutes?
Claire
05:37 - 06:29
I mean, that actually did really jog my memory of something that happened again with a floodlight failure was Stevenage away in 2022. And I know this because I've literally just found a photo of it because I couldn't remember where it was. And the floodlights went. But there was a couple of us that may have had a few to drink and we couldn't work out. We didn't notice that it happened. and like we were sat there and there were loads of people over in the other stand like turning their torches on on their phones and we were like what is this like some kind of Ed Sheeran concert or something that's really embarrassing what they're doing and then at the end of the game there was quite a lot of extra time added on and we again couldn't work this out and then it transpired that there'd been a floodlight failure but we were so drunk we didn't notice so probably not my finest moment but I had a lovely day out.
Claire
06:32 - 06:35
You told me to think of something sober with the Gandamonium Law
Mike Dowling
06:35 - 06:37
and that's quite
Claire
06:37 - 06:37
the opposite.
Mike Dowling
06:38 - 07:03
Absolutely. Well, give us your thoughts. What's the funniest, oddest thing you've witnessed at a game? I've got an awful lot. Every time I think of it, I keep thinking of the ball going out into the crowd and that. It's a clip on YouTube that someone going out in the crowd, hitting someone, their food going up in the air and then knocking someone else over and stuff and it's like, it's never gonna be anything like that. We did have a fan take one full in the face behind the goal once.
Claire
07:03 - 07:09
I've been smacked in the face whilst eating a burger. Burger went everywhere. Yeah, it was.
Mike Dowling
07:09 - 07:11
Why didn't we talk about that one?
Claire
07:11 - 07:13
Oh,
Mike Dowling
07:13 - 07:15
it happened to you. It wasn't that you saw. It happened to me. I was
Claire
07:15 - 07:16
electroplastic.
Mike Dowling
07:17 - 07:17
I
Claire
07:17 - 07:21
will never forgive Steve Watts for that. It's, you know, it's what it is.
Mike Dowling
07:21 - 07:58
Steve wants to be on the show again soon. Anyway, what's your best moment? Right, so there's quite a bit of various bits of news I've picked up. We won against Nottingham Forest and went to the next round of the competition. Come with me onto the bandwagon and we've got no idea of the format but it's a quarterfinal so we're in it. I do really prefer the FA Cup replays. But anyway, we're in another quarterfinal. We will see how it happens, what happens soon. But yeah, well done. And we signed a new right back, right wing back or right winger in Junior Robinson.
Mike Dowling
08:00 - 08:37
I think he got a bit of a difficult debut yesterday with the player he was up against, but he didn't disgrace himself, but it was a bit of a baptism of fire. So looking forward to seeing him. Will got the EFL, not the EFL, National League Player of the Month, EFL Player of the Month, it will be next year. And so congratulations to Will. The women's team on their European debut, they won 4-0. Okay, that went on longer than I expected, but he still deserved his
Speaker 1
08:37 - 08:38
well done.
Mike Dowling
08:39 - 09:16
They seem to have a great week, not midweek, a little midweek trip out there and Lucy said the bonding was really, really good. This one, maybe Rory, Toby will be doing this, I don't know. There's a football manager competition where you can be a director for the day. I think Amazon is just trying to deliver something so the dogs are barking. So it's basically you show off your football manager career, getting something to the Premier League and beyond, if you like, and you send it in and you could potentially be a director for a day.
Mike Dowling
09:18 - 09:49
I don't think it's in the small print, but I think that director might be Joycey. So you'll be on car park duty and all sorts of other stuff, which will be fun. Claire, I'm going to pass to this one for you. Steve's team talk on Tuesday. Tell us all about that now, just to make sure I'm covering everything. Claire sent it to me as a message and I very quickly signed up for it, but didn't get the point of, do you want to share this?
Claire
09:49 - 10:05
I mean, he does this thing where like I send him text messages and he doesn't reply to me and like, he doesn't even have blue ticks so it's not like I get left on red, I just feel unloved, and anyone that knows me knows that I'm incredibly needy, so that's not very nice, but we've worked through it, haven't we Mike?
Mike Dowling
10:07 - 10:10
I put all the tables and chairs out yesterday for time for my scenes.
Claire
10:10 - 10:50
Yeah, so Tuesday night, in the NBA for season ticket and half season ticket holders. Steve and John Meaney are doing a bit of a team talk special. They'll run through kind of a clipped up game, talk about some tactics and what game plan was and where that kind of translates to in play. So it should be really, really interesting and something a little bit different that we've never done before. Also a good chance to come and listen to Steve and John have a little bit of a chat. So I do encourage anyone that's about to come on down and enjoy it.
Claire
10:50 - 10:52
I think it's going to be a good night.
Mike Dowling
10:53 - 11:08
Yeah, I love those kind of things. And I've obviously been lucky enough to have conversations with John, especially in him explaining different things to me. And as soon as he explains it, I'm like, Oh, OK, that makes a bit of sense now. I mean, he's I
Claire
11:08 - 11:15
mean, he's fascinating to talk to about football. Like he can just go on and on for hours and like you can
Mike Dowling
11:16 - 11:16
learn so much
Claire
11:16 - 11:20
from him. Like and he's such a nice guy. So, yeah, definitely worth.
Mike Dowling
11:21 - 11:41
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. But it's just the little things like, obviously, we were always going, oh, get the ball forward, blah, blah, blah. And then he was like, if you get the ball forward to no one there, they just lose the ball. We're going backwards and we're keeping the ball. And it's like, when you're watching it again, you're like, OK, all right, fair enough. I can see it. But when you're in, I do keep saying to them, when we're there watching it, we can't see any of this stuff. All we see is it's not going into their goal.
Mike Dowling
11:42 - 12:08
That's it. But yeah, I did buy my ticket. Oh, not buy my ticket, it's free, but I signed up for the ticket. I got your message, saw it, signed up for the ticket. I just didn't do the rest of it. So the Dagenham and Redbridge match has been chosen for the TV, so that's an early kickoff, less than a month away. Another one for you, Claire. Fans match, 18th of May. Any exclusive? Have we got full teams?
Claire
12:09 - 12:11
I can't give you, I'm not going to give you any exclusives because,
Mike Dowling
12:12 - 12:12
I'm
Claire
12:12 - 12:18
not going to tell you who's managing or anything like that, because that would be a massive exclusive.
Mike Dowling
12:19 - 12:24
I could start a rumor that it's me and you can't deny it one way or the other. I can. No one's going to figure it out. You can't say who the manager
Speaker 5
12:24 - 12:31
is. Did you play on that bike? He's not playing, much to the relief of the managers.
Mike Dowling
12:31 - 12:37
Listen, I turned up last year and the year before and I don't think I played. Well, it stood on the pitch for a bit. I don't think you could class it as playing.
Claire
12:41 - 12:58
I've got two squads of 22 at the moment, so I've got a few spaces left if anyone still wants to sign up and play. You've got a couple of weeks to get your name in and sign up before I have to send my kit order off to O'Neill's.
Speaker 5
12:59 - 12:59
So
Claire
12:59 - 13:26
there's a deadline of the 21st, so if anybody does still want to play, then they can drop me an email, slo.united.net, and I could send them all the details. It should be a really good day. Yeah, 90 minutes, rolling subs, two great managers lined up, should be a really good day. I'm very excited about it. The last few have been really, really fun. So yeah, really looking forward to it.
Mike Dowling
13:27 - 13:34
They have been good. I've been on the losing side both sides, but hey, I'm not sure that's a direct correlation of my skills. He's the
Claire
13:34 - 13:36
genius who's not playing
Speaker 5
13:36 - 13:37
this year, so it's fine.
Mike Dowling
13:38 - 13:50
But no, they are really good, and it's just a whole nice experience of just sort of... I know everyone, or most people have been into the change rooms, been around, but it's actually sitting there getting changed and being like, oh, I'm about to walk out on such a nice pitch. It's actually great.
Claire
13:50 - 13:56
And I do say so myself, because I did design the kits this year. Very nice.
Mike Dowling
13:57 - 13:57
Nice.
Claire
13:57 - 13:57
I'm
Mike Dowling
13:58 - 14:28
gonna have to put that, that jazz thing of when he turns to the camera going, nice. And Dundas Testimonial ages away, but it's ramping up. What a lineup. Well done to whoever's kind of sorted that out. It's amazing. It does. The only downside is some of the players I saw almost straightaway going, yeah, yeah, I'm well up for that. Like you got Dale Binns and Craig Wilkins. I'm sorry, you're not an over-released teen slugger. I don't know whether
Claire
14:28 - 14:31
those people would be... Bobby's organising it, so
Mike Dowling
14:32 - 14:32
he's
Claire
14:32 - 15:03
doing an absolute stellar job. So when some of the names got announced in the week, I did drop him a text and said, I don't know if you've seen this, but people are very excited, even though it's quite a way off yet, but people are really raving and they're really, really excited, which he was chuffed about. And I'm sure he'll find a way of incorporating as many people who want to be there as possible. And I'm pretty certain that even if they're not playing, that some of those people will still come down and want to celebrate the big man.
Claire
15:03 - 15:04
Absolutely.
Mike Dowling
15:06 - 15:36
I can't remember who I was talking to yesterday, but it was just basically the amount of love there is for him. When he made his league debut, the amount of people just congratulating him, he's like, oh my god, this is like a who's who. So yeah, well done, Bobby. Well done, everyone organizing that. That is amazing. Podcast news. There's not a lot to go for, but now I'm now announcing new signings. do the pre-matching. You're really
Claire
15:36 - 15:37
avoiding talking
Mike Dowling
15:37 - 15:42
about the game, aren't you?
Claire
15:43 - 15:46
It is next.
Mike Dowling
15:48 - 16:01
I was there doing the announcement for Junior and that was fun, that was something new but I think they slightly, the timings wasn't great for everyone because obviously people finishing work midweek. I know there's reasons for it but it's
Speaker 1
16:01 - 16:01
Yeah,
Mike Dowling
16:01 - 16:08
it was fun. It was good. There was like a few people there and I didn't, I had confidence because I knew most of them. You all know I'm a moron anyway, so
Speaker 1
16:08 - 16:08
I'm
Mike Dowling
16:08 - 16:25
going to crack on. But, all right, Claire. It was a match. How were you feeling pre-match? We'll start with you, Claire, because you're obviously keen to get this over with. I mean, get on with it. Sorry.
Claire
16:25 - 17:00
I don't mean get on with it. No. It was a weird day, actually, I felt yesterday. I think I don't know whether it was the weather or what. It just all felt a bit flat, kind of from just the atmosphere a little bit. So I did kind of I didn't have a bad feeling, I just didn't have any kind of feelings going into it. It all just felt a little bit like we were running through the motions of a Saturday, yesterday, a little bit. And that's no reflection on the team, it just felt very like that kind of vibe.
Claire
17:02 - 17:27
But yeah, I was... reasonably hopeful, given that, you know, we were unbeaten since Christmas, and we're on a really good run and form. And I'm, I'm not like, I'm not massively upset about it. Like, I get that it's frustrating. But like, I'm, yeah, I'm not devastated today because of it. And I know I'm probably in the minority there, but...
Mike Dowling
17:27 - 17:41
Funny enough, that's one of the things that has come up as I was doing my research. It's like, the world is in the cold. Rory, how are you kind of feeling heading into it? Do your proper side against your local side?
Rory
17:42 - 18:02
Yeah, we were really confident actually after being unbeaten in 2025. I don't remember ever losing to Hartlepool. We always get into the away match and I'm sure every time we played them at home, obviously when we were in the league and all that, I don't remember ever losing to them. So I was really confident. I thought, and they're not a great side. Hartlepool
Mike Dowling
18:03 - 18:03
aren't
Rory
18:03 - 18:09
a great side. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Blanked out the fourth
Mike Dowling
18:10 - 18:12
round. I was there as well. That's
Rory
18:12 - 18:12
how
Mike Dowling
18:12 - 18:14
I live my life. Didn't
Rory
18:14 - 18:44
happen. I think we were so good first half. I was just pretending the second half didn't happen. But yeah. Yeah. I think you're right, Clare. It did feel quite flat, didn't it, from the start? We never really got going. Not to jump ahead, but that bit in the second half aside, we didn't get going at all for whatever reason. I'm the same as you. I'm not devastated about it at all. I think there was flashes there. But yeah, going into the match, Mike, I was pretty confident. I thought we could, yeah, on a roll. Will Davis on fire.
Rory
18:44 - 18:48
I thought we'd do a number on them, but yeah, never mind.
Mike Dowling
18:50 - 19:28
There was a first half, I know there was a first half because I was there. Obviously our attacking were at the end, well not obviously because no one knows where I was, but I was at the new stand and all our action was at the far end so I couldn't really see it anyway. So we could have had some great movements, I just don't know. but they had two pretty good chances which they didn't get on target so whilst I came well we could have been two down in fairness Jack could have saved them um so but they had two fairly good chances um but I think the general feeling was we could have been down at half time um and wouldn't, it wouldn't have been a shock.
Mike Dowling
19:28 - 19:30
I'm not saying we deserved it, but it wouldn't
Speaker 1
19:30 - 19:30
have
Mike Dowling
19:30 - 19:36
been a shock. Was that your sense of the first half, Rory? Because I mean, I literally am skimming through the whole first half.
Rory
19:37 - 20:05
Yeah, I think you're right. I think we have a couple of shots, maybe Lewis and Vaz, but apart from that, I don't think we really threatened. And yeah, I think at half-time I would have taken a draw. I would have taken a point. I thought they were probably the better team. I think the highlight of the first half was when Baz jumped up in the air and punched the ball for no apparent reason. That was very bizarre. I don't know what that was all about. Not a very noteworthy first half, I don't think.
Mike Dowling
20:07 - 20:09
Yeah, anything to add on the first
Claire
20:09 - 20:53
half? No, I think you're right, we didn't look like we threatened at all. And when they broke, they did look threatening. We were kind of misplacing even kind of short passes, which just didn't sit with where we've been recently. When I was dissecting it last night with my brother, he said to me that, because he was down that end, he said that he was treated to what he describes as the worst throw-in ever since football began, which the ref did naff all about, where basically this guy threw it on, I don't know which particular player it was, and his foot was like full of up near his knee as it as it went onto the pitch.
Claire
20:53 - 20:57
So yeah, since records began, worst throw in ever, apparently. I think
Mike Dowling
20:58 - 21:06
yesterday a little bit. Your brother clearly wasn't at the fans game last year where I took a throw on him. He
Claire
21:06 - 21:08
probably wasn't paying attention to you.
Mike Dowling
21:08 - 21:40
At that point, yeah. He can't, not even he can fuck this up. Oh god. Yeah, I think again, someone mentioned that his foot was, it was almost horizontal with his body. But second half, I mean, I'm going to say I didn't see it because I was inside explaining to some young lady who hadn't been to football before that it's not a fire alarm, it's the bell for the players to come out. I mean, I was just chit-chatting to this kid and her dad about different things, something, it's nice to see people coming down and blah, blah, blah.
Mike Dowling
21:40 - 21:53
I walked out and people going, you missed the goal then? I went, there's no goal, we've just kicked off. They went, yeah, yeah, we scored. Great, so one of you is going to need to talk me through Will's 15th of the season. Go on Claire, go for it. I
Claire
21:53 - 21:58
was handing over Rory there because you know me, I was talking to someone and I didn't see it either.
Mike Dowling
21:58 - 22:00
Fair enough. Rory,
Rory
22:01 - 22:42
no pressure. We were actually walking around the front to go and stand, and so we were directly behind the goal when he scored, which was amazing. It looked like a really nice move and I watched it back again this morning. A nice little play by Robinson. to Dillian, who then crossed it in. It looked a bit like a tap-in. Good finish. So yeah, on the highlights, you can see me jump up in the air directly behind the goal, which is quite nice. But yeah, it was good. Yeah, it was a nice little move. I thought it was the only time, actually, we really kind of pinged it out properly to the wings and gave Dillian or Vaz a bit of space to run.
Rory
22:43 - 22:47
Otherwise, it all felt very kind of squeezed down the middle. But it was a lovely little move and a lovely finish by Will.
Mike Dowling
22:48 - 23:09
Yeah, I mean, it's 15 in the season. Last time you were on Claire, I think it was just after Steve had said when he got his 10th and in the interview he goes, yeah, but I want him to get 20. And I was like, that's a bit harsh. Come on. Okay. Once again, Morrison might know a little bit
Claire
23:09 - 23:17
more than me. I mean, I hate to say it, but he does know more about football than you do. Yeah.
Mike Dowling
23:17 - 23:18
Yeah.
Claire
23:18 - 23:20
A lot. Let's
Mike Dowling
23:20 - 23:30
be honest. I asked, so I was doing an interview with Josh and I asked, Oh, what do you think has been the catalyst for the good form recently? And he said, Will decided to turn up.
Claire
23:35 - 23:41
That just shows that kind of level of banter and camaraderie that they've got and that's what you're looking for, right,
Mike Dowling
23:41 - 23:41
is
Claire
23:41 - 23:43
that they have that, which is great.
Mike Dowling
23:44 - 24:22
He also, when I asked him what skill or attribute would you take from one of the current squad players, he said Frenchie's pace because he doesn't use it. Come on. Wow. I hope someone films this. But very shortly afterwards, we could have doubled the lead. I'm using the same old, but we've had this before where we're taking the lead, we could double it, we could get more goals and just put the game to bed. And we decided to go, you know what, we'll just make this a little bit more difficult for ourselves and not do it.
Mike Dowling
24:23 - 24:50
And we let Hartley pull back into it that that was an air quotes everyone who's actually listening. So it's I mean, do you think that Rory's already mentioned that it was the one chance we had out on the wings, really? But it's not just out there, as I've said before, there's another team who's doing their research and knowing what they want to do to stop us. So do you think Hartlepool? I
Claire
24:52 - 24:52
think
Mike Dowling
24:52 - 24:53
they did a
Claire
24:53 - 24:53
good job on us,
Mike Dowling
24:54 - 24:54
quite
Claire
24:54 - 25:32
frankly, like we I think the second half we started well. But we didn't really get a lot. We didn't have a massively kind of sustained spell where we were in charge. And I felt like their goal was kind of coming. There was, you know, some great saves by Sims, like that kind of those big scrabble and all sorts. And that was, you know, great, like great to watch as exhilarating as painful it is at the moment. But once they scored, they kicked on and we didn't really fight back or it didn't feel like we were fighting back.
Claire
25:32 - 25:58
They did a good job at us and they were definitely better than us in the air yesterday, which didn't help. But I think they probably did their research and they decided they were going to and how they're going to go up against us and it worked, which is a shame, but like you learn from those, right? And to use that horrible phrase, we go again, it's fine. I'm getting better.
Mike Dowling
26:00 - 26:14
Yeah, I mean, I mean, there's one thing Claire said there. I was like, we always expect the other team to score because we're Sutton fans. But it's coming. We always think it's coming. Was it the Walsall game? We're falling up at half time. I don't know if we're going to hold this.
Claire
26:15 - 26:40
Yeah, sometimes you just feel like it's that's the run of play. Like, yeah, there's a difference between our inherent pessimism. that you and I very much share, Mike. It felt like yesterday we weren't fighting, which is odd because we have been that team so much for the last, what, six, eight weeks? But everyone's allowed an off day, right?
Mike Dowling
26:42 - 26:55
Rory, what do you think? I mean, is it we let them into it, or again, do you think it's like, no, they kind of planned a very good game plan and we didn't match it?
Rory
26:56 - 27:27
Yeah, I think probably a bit of both, actually. I think certainly if we'd have scored that second, if Ashley or Will had tucked one of those two chances away, it's a different game, isn't it? 2-0, I don't think Carlipool are coming back from that. I think the fact that we didn't put them away they kind of, I think, oh yeah, I was reflecting back, I think they kind of out-muscled us a bit to your point, Claire, about wheeling everything in the air. A big centre-half, a couple of big centre-forwards seemed to, yeah, kind of out-muscle us a bit throughout the whole game.
Rory
27:27 - 28:00
And I think that took its toll second half. So when we didn't take those chances, you could just sense it, couldn't you, just sense it was It was coming, unfortunately. And like you say, I think it was just a bit of an off day. It never really got started. I thought Finlay and Lewis played really well in the centre of midfield. I saw they were two of the real bright spots yesterday. But yeah, I think to be fair to Hartlepool, they obviously had a bit of a game plan, quite a physical team. And we always kind of struggle against those.
Rory
28:00 - 28:24
I'd say if you compare yesterday to York away, for example, where they like to play football, I think we outplayed them from start to finish because it gives you more space if the other team's trying to play football with Hartlepool, men behind the ball. play it long, hoof it up to the big guy, it's harder then to play nice, expansive football. So I think that's all that happens yesterday. I don't think it's a big blip or anything.
Mike Dowling
28:26 - 29:13
I was going to pick up on Clare's point, but you made another point, so I'm going to do it in this order. The physicality, there was one moment in the second half which does question referees in general, not just yesterday's referee, where Vaz was literally, as he was running along, shoved that's That would have not been much resistance there at all. Obviously it wasn't, so we're all right. But, I mean, Rory, what do you think? I mean, you kick the ball away, you stand too close to the ball, and you could potentially get a yellow card.
Mike Dowling
29:13 - 29:18
And that one, they're like, oh, well, don't worry about it. It's part of the game. What are your thoughts on that?
Rory
29:19 - 29:27
Yeah, you're totally right. I just thought that was There was just no need for that, was there? If that's not a yellow card, what is a yellow card? There
Mike Dowling
29:28 - 29:43
was a guy at Bath a few years ago, into the brick ones or something. So, I mean, it is so, so dangerous. Claire, what do you... I mean, this isn't controversial, is it? I don't know why I brought it up.
Claire
29:43 - 30:46
No, I mean I think we've had some pretty poor officials this season at points. Last weekend away at Kidderminster I think the only thing consistent about him was his inconsistency. They apply the rules where they see fit, not in a, you know, trying to really make it fair or do things in the proper way sometimes, and it is just so frustrating because it has such an impact on the run of play, but also like the potential safety of some people, like something like that could actually have proper, you know, serious ramifications and if you can't be bothered to pay attention or if you can't be bothered to keep up with the you know with play to watch those things and see them happen like I get that they can't see everything but bluntly there are four of you and you've got little Britney Spears headsets on it's not that hard like talk to each other like Yeah.
Mike Dowling
30:47 - 31:15
I mean, on a situation like you said, again, I would have been disappointed if one of our forwards done that as well. So I don't mind the shit housing. I absolutely love that. But these little things like, no, come on, that's not right. Yeah. I know he couldn't have seen it, but what do you think would have happened? You've got a player running at speed, and then a player behind him, and suddenly the player running at speed is crashing straight into the barriers, and you're like, it's unlikely he's going to run into those barriers, is he?
Mike Dowling
31:16 - 31:18
So it's like, okay, well you might not have saw it, but you can kind of
Speaker 1
31:19 - 31:19
work
Mike Dowling
31:19 - 31:54
out what happened, it's not hard. But, with something else that you said, Claire, Jack Sims, we had him last week, or the week before, I can't remember, is he the best keeper in the league? His saves were extraordinary again yesterday. There was a discussion with me and a couple of people as we're coming up to come off the pitch, talking about how did Simpa get out of the match and it should have been Jack Sims. And I was like, you can't give your goalkeeper a man of the match if you've just lost at home. It's just not allowed.
Mike Dowling
31:55 - 32:00
You just can't do that. But what do you think of his performance specifically yesterday and the season so far?
Claire
32:02 - 32:43
I think he's just been growing and growing. And he's really gone from strength to strength. Like, I mean, some of the saves he's made in recent weeks have been just incredible. And he's kept us in games when perhaps, you know, other hands maybe last season might have fumbled, not pointing any fingers, but like, you know, it's, yeah, he's been like really, really good to watch and watching his development, I think it's been really exciting. I think, which just reminds me of stuff I said to you at the beginning of the season, kind of like these, they're a young bunch of players, like none of them are bluntly going to get any worse.
Claire
32:43 - 32:49
They're only going to get better and better and better. And he's, you know, he's a prime example of someone who's really coming into their own.
Mike Dowling
32:50 - 33:04
Yeah, I mean, I for one Rory, if we get into that situation where it's a one on one or they forged a good chance, I now don't have that as a goal. I have that. Go on Jack, but what do you think?
Rory
33:05 - 33:32
Yeah, it was quality yesterday. I think that double save second half was amazing. How did he get back to the other side to get to save the second one was, yeah, it was incredible. So I totally agree, Mike. And I think his distribution is really good as well. Like his eye for seeing stuff, how far he can throw it as well. I know Dino was quite good at that on occasion. But I think, yeah, I think Jack's got the whole package. So he's only going to get better and better. Like you say, I thought he was great yesterday.
Rory
33:33 - 33:34
Yeah, really good.
Mike Dowling
33:35 - 33:40
Right, I'll have to think of something on the next game to bring him down a little bit. Yeah,
Rory
33:40 - 33:40
a
Mike Dowling
33:40 - 33:40
big
Rory
33:41 - 33:42
head. Yeah,
Mike Dowling
33:42 - 34:17
mind you, for a goalkeeper, that's not bad, actually, getting a big head. Yeah, actually, no, no. Right, so overall, the general consensus is we probably deserved, or we didn't deserve to win, but their goals were a deflection and an own goal. So it's like, Actually, that's the draw would have been fair. Unlucky. Yeah. But some of the so some of the points of views, definitely the jingle. And so on Facebook, Tony
Claire
34:17 - 34:18
said, if you
Mike Dowling
34:20 - 34:47
Yeah, but the trouble is that thinking has changed many times over the years, apparently. And the one job that people won't know it, and some people will. But Same as usual, throw away a lead, can't hold on to a lead, which I thought was a tiny bit harsh considering the last three games we've won by a single goal and held on to the lead. Go on, Claire.
Claire
34:47 - 35:19
I just got so like, I've, this is the thing that I think I found most frustrating is like, I've really enjoyed reading social media the last few weeks after a game. And yesterday, just reminded me of how frustrating some people are, because I saw names flash up, who haven't commented for weeks, and haven't said anything, and have like not praise the team when we've won and haven't really got behind anything that's going on but as soon as there's a loss and there's something negative to say they are right on in there and like bluntly, it's boring.
Claire
35:20 - 35:51
Like, if that's all you're here for, then why are you here? Like, I just don't understand the mentality of it. Or like, you know, just wanting to rip strips off of people just because it, you know, because we've lost, like, I just, I don't really get it. And there were a few comments. And there are people that bite back on it and rightly so like, I'm not about to become a keyboard warrior. That's not my, not my style. but like it does, it really frustrates me and everyone's entitled to their opinion but be consistent with giving your
Speaker 1
35:51 - 35:52
opinion,
Claire
35:52 - 36:01
praising the team and giving credit when credit's due because some of the people that are saying you know negative things and pretty crappy things aren't commenting the rest of the time.
Mike Dowling
36:02 - 36:42
No, it's almost like they're waiting on the defending people, the people who defend it. That band has grown. It used to only be like one or two voices, but now there's quite a few voices. And it's like, oh, OK, this is good. It was classed as toxic positivity. And it's like, well, you're negative, so surely. But it's not been positive. It's like we lost. OK, get on with it. Rory, what do you think? I mean, Actually, last time I was on, I joked about taking dog training classes so they could learn to hold on to a lead, and they did.
Mike Dowling
36:43 - 36:48
Do you think that's fair to say, same as normal, especially with the recent run of form?
Rory
36:49 - 37:09
No, I definitely don't. I think it's a young developing team. I think everyone would agree we're going in the right direction. I think you'd find it hard to disagree with that. We're still bringing in new players that are blending into the team. You've got that element. I think, yeah, it was just a bit of an off day, just a bit of a blip, never a really good start.
Mike Dowling
37:10 - 37:49
And we've done it ourselves in years gone by with being big physical nasty bullies, just going for it in the last few minutes and snatching something from it. So it shouldn't be a surprise to people. Quite a few questions about Mimi doing the post-match. Oh, what's this mean? Blah, blah, blah, blah. Personally, I thought it was great. I surprised it lasted only as short as it did. But those and Matt used to do this fairly frequently as well when I mean, yeah, when it's a loss, it's frustrating, obviously. But it's no big conspiracy. I'd actually quite like to hear from different people from different times as well.
Mike Dowling
37:49 - 38:07
And everyone kind of bangs on saying, oh, it's the same old questions and answers from Steve. And now you've got something different. Well, where's Steve? Well, you just say it's the same old every week. So, I mean, any thoughts on that, either of you, or just one of those things? Start with you Rory, do you have any thoughts or not?
Rory
38:07 - 38:09
I thought it was a nice change actually to,
Mike Dowling
38:09 - 38:09
yeah,
Rory
38:10 - 38:17
to kind of hear, yeah, hear from him. And he talked a lot of sense and yeah, I thought, yeah, it was a nice change.
Mike Dowling
38:18 - 38:36
Excellent. He told me he was analysing his interview. I was like, oh, come off it, man. I said, oh, well done, good interview. He goes, yeah, I'm just analysing it now. I was like, behave yourself, John. It happens before. I
Claire
38:38 - 38:45
think it's probably people reading more into it than they necessarily need to. In the same way
Speaker 4
38:45 - 38:45
as you
Claire
38:45 - 39:19
said, Doz would send people out to do it for him all the time, and Matt would send Jason. I think it's probably, if it had been after a win, I think people would have thought a little less of it. I think people probably think, oh, we lost and he didn't come out and talk. And, you know, maybe take that as, yeah, okay, so you're hearing from someone else and that's great. Like Rory said, like he, it's nice to hear somebody else's point of view and get that. And then, you know, maybe take this, there's frustration there, isn't there?
Claire
39:19 - 39:28
he cares, they both care, like all of the coaching staff care about winning and doing well. So, you know, it's, there's, there's passion and stuff in
Speaker 1
39:28 - 39:28
there. And I
Claire
39:28 - 39:31
think like, it's nice to have different people expressing
Speaker 1
39:31 - 39:31
their, their
Claire
39:31 - 39:39
views and whatnot, but yeah, it's, there's no, there's no great conspiracy. It's just a post-match.
Mike Dowling
39:39 - 40:03
Yeah, it is a boring, boring answer. There's no great conspiracy, but it's also shows quite a lot of understanding of yourself. Cause if Steve was like fuming, Not saying he is, I don't know, but if he was fuming and he comes out and does it, it's quite easily you'd say something that he goes, oh, I really wish I hadn't said that. So actually stepping back and no, no, it shows a lot of emotional intelligence to go, yeah, you know what, something else.
Claire
40:03 - 40:21
And I think like we can all think about, think of a few post-matches that Doz did that he probably shouldn't have done. And there were things that were said, you know, like, and he wouldn't, and he probably didn't dwell on that in the same way that like, If that had been the case with Steve, Steve probably would have not asked him this at that.
Mike Dowling
40:22 - 40:22
And people would have
Claire
40:22 - 40:24
jumped on it. So, yeah.
Mike Dowling
40:24 - 40:29
There were also an awful lot of interviews that had technical problems, I believe. Oh, I
Claire
40:29 - 40:31
loved when we had technical problems.
Mike Dowling
40:31 - 40:34
Oh, sorry, there's technical problems with today's
Claire
40:34 - 40:41
interview. I forgot all about that. We used to have technical problems quite a lot. I think that was because there was either no interview or there was probably quite a lot of swearing.
Mike Dowling
40:43 - 41:19
We took out all the swear words and there was nothing left. Obviously, we've said it earlier in the thing, love Meanie, so it's great. I'm trying to convince Anthony to do some as well, so that'll be great to hear from him as well. But we also had Andrew, who said what we said about the need a second goal, and we came up with a whisker of getting it a couple of times. Credit to Hartlepool who stepped up again in the last 20 and probably deserve to edge it. Comments by the staff after the game said that we need to maintain focus and oh, I don't think we've mentioned this at all.
Mike Dowling
41:20 - 41:42
A young team learning quickly with much to look forward to in the future. Stick with it people. So it's exactly what everyone's saying. Yeah. Then there was Louis, who has asked a different question, and it is, would you take an FA Trophy win at Wembley now, at the expense of getting into the playoffs?
Claire
41:43 - 42:04
Ooh, that is a big question. Oh, I genuinely don't know. I think I'd be in really two minds about it because, oh, I mean, it's not, for me, it's not the day out at Wembley. I know it is for the team. It's that, it's the game before where you win and you know you're going, like Wigan
Mike Dowling
42:04 - 42:07
was incredible. Three times round round.
Claire
42:09 - 42:42
I mean, that was great. I don't know. I'm always more happy to go up as champions with a nice big trophy than to get into the playoffs. And I just think that actually, if we took stock at the end of this season and just finessed a few little things, then next year we could be right at the top pushing for that. So yeah, maybe I would take a trip to Wembley now. Yeah,
Rory
42:43 - 43:23
I'm more definite. I would definitely take FA Trophy right now, particularly because I said to my wife that going to Wembley for Papa John's Trophy final was a one-off, which should never happen again. Let's try and sell that. But yeah, I think so. I think otherwise you get in the lottery of the playoffs. No guarantee, but a playoff record isn't the greatest. Like you say Clare, you finish the season on a bit of a downer if you lose in the play-offs. Whereas maybe if we finish just outside the play-offs, good momentum going into, and then win a trophy as well, that's really good momentum to build on in the summer.
Rory
43:23 - 43:33
Get some new players in if we need it, and then start next year and win the league. and you get to go to Wembley as well. So yeah, I'll definitely take, I'll take FA Trophy final.
Mike Dowling
43:34 - 43:38
Yeah. I mean, he actually said an FA Trophy win, so that
Rory
43:38 - 43:41
for me was, I'm absolutely having that.
Mike Dowling
43:42 - 43:47
Yeah, I did wonder when Claire said, oh, I'd prefer to go up as champions because we've only ever gone up as champions, haven't we? We always lose in the
Claire
43:47 - 43:58
playoffs. No, no, no. But I think there have been times, and obviously we've been in the playoffs, and you think about like, oh, this could happen. And you get kind of excited and you allow yourself to think like, oh, this could end really,
Speaker 5
43:58 - 43:59
really well.
Claire
43:59 - 44:01
And as Rory says, our track record
Speaker 5
44:01 - 44:01
in
Claire
44:01 - 44:22
place is not good. And it does put a real dampener on it. And like, if you finish like, you know, third or fourth and it's not what's happened, then you do end up feeling really quite like downhearted and a bit bitter about it when actually you've had this incredible season that you should be celebrating. So yeah, I think I'd
Mike Dowling
44:25 - 44:43
I'd absolutely have it without a shadow of a doubt because if we do get into the playoffs, as positive as I am, we would only be sixth or seventh, which would mean we'd be away in the first semifinal. And then if we get through, oh no, the quarterfinal, then this would be away in the semifinal as well.
Claire
44:44 - 45:24
I guess this ain't really controversial. And I know you don't travel that much, right? But like, I don't know if that's necessarily a bad thing. Because sometimes controversially, the atmosphere at away games is a lot more, it's a lot louder. It's a lot, we're all bunched together in a much smaller space. And actually, if you're looking for that kind of 12th man element of a fixture, us playing away, probably does us a favor, especially in those situations, because like, you know, everybody's g'd up and excited about it, and they bring that energy to it. Don't think that's necessarily a bad thing.
Mike Dowling
45:25 - 46:03
No, all right. Fair enough. I'd still take a trophy win over finishing seventh grade. Right, so in news, we've discussed some of this already. The world has ended. I mean, sorry, we lost the match. Other things, what did you think about the Free Up Free Down campaign? So Rory, we'll start with you on this one. So it's brought up again. I mean, there's going to be some clubs in the Football League who are going to have to vote for it because they made such vocal noises in recent history about it should be Free Up Free Down.
Mike Dowling
46:03 - 46:26
They can't now go, oh no, we don't think that anymore. But what do you think about three up, three down? I had one comment that someone said, it's ridiculous. If they do it, they have to change the playoff format because it's ridiculous that you could finish in seventh and get into the playoffs. And I had a very quick look at the League Two playoffs and the top three go up and you finish in seventh, you could get into playoffs. But what do you think of three up, three down, Rory?
Rory
46:27 - 47:00
Yeah, I totally agree with that. I think I think the gap between the National League and League 2 isn't what it was and you've got so many big teams now in the National League that it doesn't seem quite fair for only two people to kind of go up. I think to your point, Mike, I still think some of those teams that would have voted for it in the National League will be and will be hypocrites and suddenly they've changed their minds. Surprise, surprise, unfortunately. But yeah, I think you've got to go three up, three down.
Rory
47:00 - 47:01
It's such a competitive league.
Mike Dowling
47:05 - 47:16
I mean, it's silly that four go up from League Two to League One. I know the idea is they want to mix up the teams as much, but you should be, that should be three up, three down as well. Claire, what do you
Claire
47:16 - 47:44
think? No, I completely agree. Like, I think it's, I think it's a no brainer, but I just genuinely don't see, I don't see it passing in any way, shape or form. Because I think those clubs that have been vocal about it in the past will be massively hypocritical. And, you know, if we were sitting, pretty in the EFL too. Would we be hypocritical about it? Who knows? It's not right that we're not the same as
Speaker 1
47:45 - 47:45
the
Claire
47:45 - 47:56
steps above us, but I can't see them agreeing to it in the same way that people can't agree to artificial surfaces because they're idiots.
Speaker 5
47:56 - 47:58
It's
Claire
47:59 - 48:07
baffling, isn't it really? I'd love to see it happen, but I just I don't think it will.
Mike Dowling
48:09 - 48:36
My stance when we were in the league was, you know what, it should be all the clubs that it should be based on the club's history of what they voted for when they were in the league. So if you voted for it when you were in the league, then that's your vote. But if you vote against it, then no. Because I know we would have voted for it if we were in the league anyway, because our lot are very sensible, nice people. Even though we're all going, no, no, don't do that. It's
Speaker 1
48:36 - 48:36
one
Mike Dowling
48:36 - 49:07
down. Right, we're going to finish off on yesterday. I told you we weren't going to go too long on it. We have the good, the bad and the funny, so very quickly start thinking. Claire, what was good yesterday? Doesn't have to be on the pitch, can be off the pitch, can be the whole day, can be whatever you like.
Claire
49:09 - 49:13
Oh, I'm going to say Will's goal. That was good.
Mike Dowling
49:14 - 49:16
Excellent. You didn't see it, but OK.
Claire
49:17 - 49:21
I got to celebrate it and it was Alex's fault that I didn't get to see it because he was talking.
Mike Dowling
49:21 - 49:22
Oh,
Claire
49:23 - 49:24
I know that guy.
Mike Dowling
49:25 - 49:28
Yeah, that guy, the gift guy. Rory, what was good for you yesterday?
Rory
49:30 - 49:37
I'd say best bit, me and my son got a photo with Steve Morrison, who was lovely. It was really, really nice, genuinely nice. So that was the best
Mike Dowling
49:38 - 49:41
one. Excellent. What was bad for you yesterday,
Rory
49:42 - 49:59
Rory? We travelled down with two Hartlepool fans. We lived near. And the whole of the five and a half journey, five and a half hour journey home was them talking about what a great team they are, how they outplayed us, et cetera, et cetera. So, yeah. It was a long journey, though.
Mike Dowling
50:00 - 50:00
Was it your car?
Rory
50:02 - 50:07
It was various trains. Oh, OK. You couldn't... Yeah, even more fun.
Mike Dowling
50:07 - 50:11
Yeah. I definitely would have missed my train and taken the next one.
Rory
50:11 - 50:14
Yeah, it was tempting. Very tempting just to throw them off at Grantham.
Mike Dowling
50:15 - 50:21
Oh, we've got a change here. Did you not hear the announcement? Yeah, exactly. Claire, what was bad for you?
Claire
50:24 - 50:26
I didn't have any lunch. That was quite bad.
Mike Dowling
50:27 - 50:28
Were you hangry?
Claire
50:29 - 50:37
I did feel quite hangry towards the end of the day, I'm not gonna lie. By dinner time, yeah, was hangry. There you go, that's quite random.
Mike Dowling
50:38 - 50:40
I did not like that rain. I know it wasn't- I didn't like the
Claire
50:40 - 50:40
rain
Speaker 4
50:40 - 50:41
either, it
Claire
50:41 - 50:41
doesn't- nothing
Mike Dowling
50:41 - 50:48
for my mind. Just rain or don't, just make your mind up. Claire, what was funny?
Claire
50:51 - 51:16
Adrian's campaign for Bring Back Claire, I explained to him in great detail how much I did not enjoy doing it, how I don't understand how he puts on quite such a performance and has done for the last decade or so, and how I have no desire to do it whatsoever ever again. And then he makes me stand on a chair and be involved again. The man's a menace to society.
Mike Dowling
51:16 - 51:19
Absolutely. Absolutely. Rory, what was funny for you?
Rory
51:21 - 51:36
I think I mentioned it already, it was Faz's punch, where I don't think it made the highlights, but where he just rose like a salmon halfway through the first half and just punched the ball for no apparent reason. I'm
Mike Dowling
51:36 - 51:37
going
Rory
51:37 - 51:37
to see
Mike Dowling
51:37 - 51:39
James and see if he can get a clip of that
Rory
51:39 - 51:40
out. What
Mike Dowling
51:40 - 52:17
were you doing? What went through your head? That whole scene in, what was it, Mean Machine, the football one, where the monk starts having his random thoughts. So, very quickly, because it's not going to get easier, we've got Oldham away. How do you see that going, Rory? Hopefully, first of all, they don't call it off as we pull into the driveway. But Rory, how do you see the match against Oldham going? They are flying at the moment.
Rory
52:17 - 52:31
They are, but then you could say the same about York when we went there. And I think that kind of away crowd factor as well. I think we might bounce back. I think we might get at least a point, but I'd fancy us to sneak it, maybe 2-1. I like that.
Mike Dowling
52:33 - 52:36
Excellent. Perfect. Claire, go on. I
Claire
52:36 - 52:39
feel exactly the same. And I'm going to call it the York effect. I do
Mike Dowling
52:39 - 52:40
genuinely
Claire
52:40 - 52:44
think that. Can we can we bring back the word bounce back ability?
Mike Dowling
52:44 - 52:47
I think we need to have a gushy something.
Claire
52:48 - 53:08
OK, well, something like that. But, you know, I just think that, yeah, it's very easy to say, oh, they're flying. But I think that when you are in that space that sometimes you underestimate people. And I think that I think people underestimate us. So I would echo a nice, nice to win. Excellent.
Mike Dowling
53:09 - 53:14
Lovely. Oh, normally it's me going, all right, we're going to win everyone else's game. Everyone's going, nah,
Speaker 1
53:14 - 53:15
we're not. All
Mike Dowling
53:15 - 53:22
right. Oh, God, what am I going to say? Because I was going to say 2-1. Never mind, I'm going to go 3-1. Fuck it. Yeah, whatever. Yeah, go for it.
Claire
53:22 - 53:23
That's it.
Mike Dowling
53:24 - 53:38
Don't bother going to the game. We've done this. And they do have a game against Autrygm in the midweek as well. So hopefully that will be knackered for them. OK, well, that's the prediction league. If any of you do it, I can't remember. Rory, I think you do it sometimes.
Rory
53:39 - 53:41
I did do a bit of rubbish, so I've kind of given up
Mike Dowling
53:42 - 53:42
a
Rory
53:42 - 53:42
little bit.
Mike Dowling
53:42 - 54:14
You can change your prediction, don't worry. But yes, thank you guys. We're going to wrap up this episode of Sutton Podcast. As always, we appreciate the ear tension and feedback. Get involved in the Knowing Me, Knowing You segment. What's the funniest or most unusual thing you've witnessed in a game? Does it beat Edwina who's punching the ball for no reason. Follow, like and share on social medias at Sutton Podcast and subscribe if you like. Give me the thumbs up. I love the thumbs up. And we are back after the old match with Mark and a question mark.
Mike Dowling
54:15 - 54:32
So if you fancy it, let me know because I've only got one person at the moment, but if you do fancy it, drop us a line and we'll get you one. As always, thank you to our sponsors, Lucky Star Gin. Big thank you to the panel today, Rory and Claire. and thanks to you for listening. We hope you've enjoyed this episode. Take care and we will catch up soon. Bye bye.
Stay Connected with Sutton United & Sutton Podcast
Join our community on social media for the latest updates, exclusive content, and engaging conversations. Don't miss out on the Sutton Podcast for in-depth match analysis, player interviews, and more!
Bookmark our one stop page for all updates
Follow Us:
Listen to the Sutton Podcast: Catch our latest episodes on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and all other platforms.
Contact: If you have any questions, feedback or comments please reach out on any of the socials with @suttonpodcast
Share this post