Football can stir up all kinds of emotions, but when a goal leaves you completely lost for words, you know you’ve witnessed something special. That was exactly the case in Sutton United’s rollercoaster match against Gateshead, where Lewis Simper’s stunning strike had Sarah declaring: “That was pure sex.” And honestly? She wasn’t wrong.
This episode of Sutton United Talk Time on Podcast is packed with passion, analysis, and plenty of laughs as Mike is joined by Harry and Sarah to break down a game that had everything – stunning goals, heartbreak, and a nostalgic away day reunion that spanned decades.
Mike Dowling
07:35 - 08:11
Hello, and welcome to another episode of Sutton United Talk Time on podcast. It's the Sutton podcast in association with Lucky Star Gym. I'm your host, Mike. And with me on the panel today, we have Harry and Sarah. Please remember, we are going to discuss another for free loss of North. and Lewis Simper's wonderful clearance. We love hearing from you. Join the conversation, stay connected, share your thoughts on all our episodes, chat with other fans, and let us know what you think at Sutton Podcast on all social medias. The likes and the shares do make the ego grow, you know this, so thank you very much.
Mike Dowling
08:12 - 08:16
It's been a while for both of you. I didn't check up how long, but Harry, how have you been?
Harry
08:16 - 08:19
Yeah, I've been very well, thanks.
Mike Dowling
08:21 - 08:25
Yeah, yeah, good, good, good. You still guarding the director's boxes on match days?
Harry
08:26 - 08:26
Yes.
Mike Dowling
08:27 - 08:40
Yeah, good. Never lets me upstairs. And Sarah, how are you? I'm fine, thanks, Mike, yeah. Going here and there and everywhere as usual. And what time did you both get back?
Harry
08:41 - 08:43
I got back about 10 to 5.
Mike Dowling
08:44 - 08:45
OK.
Sarah
08:45 - 09:00
I got back at about... One o'clock this afternoon, I stayed at Rory's house, that's where he comes on the podcast sometimes. He and his wife are wonderful hosts, as you'd expect from such nice people.
Mike Dowling
09:00 - 09:42
Absolutely, absolutely. I saw, the reason I asked is I saw John Meaney put up a post that he'd got home at 6.30 and his little boy was getting up. He must be knackered. I did send you this afternoon a very quick question on the Knowing Me, Knowing You segment to ask you if you could organize a friendly against any team, past or present, who would it be and why? You can be as vague as you like. It doesn't have to be a Sutton United team. It can be any team throughout history. You're frowning, but I'll give you like 10 seconds while the music plays to think of an answer to which team would you play a friendly against, any team, past or present?
Mike Dowling
09:58 - 09:59
Now, I wasn't
Sarah
09:59 - 10:07
sure about, when you say past or present, do you mean they're transported forward in time to now, or do you mean like those players who are now old? No,
Mike Dowling
10:08 - 10:11
they're transported in time. Transported
Sarah
10:11 - 10:11
in
Mike Dowling
10:11 - 10:31
time. If you chose, for example, a Man United 1999 winning the treble, it would be them at that age and so on. of Brazil 1970, it wouldn't be the Brazilian 1970s survivors running around in their 60s and 70s, but who would you love to see at a friendly at Gander Green Lane?
Sarah
10:32 - 10:34
Oh, you didn't specify it to be at Gander Green Lane. You
Mike Dowling
10:35 - 10:35
know
Sarah
10:38 - 11:13
what, generally it's the lower league team that gets to play at home for friendlies, of course, isn't it? And so that kind of put me, I thought about the Newcastle United team of like 95, you know, 94, 95, 96. And then I had Alan Shearer playing for them. And I was like, that team, I used to watch them match the day, and then we fell in love with football. Even like, then and Sutton at the same period, because that's when I started going to Sutton as well. And we fell in love with football. And then I thought, Yeah, we've played in the friendly, we're going to get to go to St.
Sarah
11:13 - 11:42
James' Park, that would be amazing. And then I thought about, where would I like to go then? And there's this team in Norway that plays in this incredible stadium on like an island, it's like a rock in the middle of the sea. And I was like, wouldn't that be incredible to go to? And then I thought, no, don't be an idiot. You know what you really want, Sarah, you know what you want. What you really want is to play a friendly with a current team against that certain team when you first start to go. I don't know why I'm talking to myself in the third person.
Sarah
11:42 - 12:15
When I first started going, it was back in the day, and we used to hang around in the bar after the game. The players would come in, and you'd have all the banter. And the banter would carry on out on the pitch the next game. And those guys were so funny. And there were drunks as well. I mean, no, not really. That's quite an allegation. But he was at a pint after the game. Gaffer wasn't looking. Gaffer with his cigar. And I was like, I wonder what they'd make of our current side and vice versa.
Sarah
12:15 - 12:18
That would be quite an eye opener, wouldn't it? So I'd quite like to see that. Yeah,
Mike Dowling
12:19 - 12:20
it definitely would be an eye opener.
Sarah
12:26 - 12:33
Yeah, he came in a couple of years after I started going, I think. Definitely,
Mike Dowling
12:33 - 12:51
yeah. Not sure what made me think of him when you talked about drinking. Anyway, we'll move on. Harry, what about yourself? What team would you love to see at, well, it doesn't have to be Canterbury Lane, but as Sarah said, it's most likely. What team would you like to see Sutton play the present crop?
Harry
12:52 - 12:59
Erm, like Manchester United, like, I think it's like their first... Oh, sorry
Mike Dowling
12:59 - 13:00
Gary, you're breaking up a little bit there.
Harry
13:01 - 13:02
Man United.
Mike Dowling
13:03 - 13:05
Oh right, the current team, or?
Harry
13:06 - 13:16
Maybe not their current team, maybe like, when they go back to have, like, sort of, erm... Paul's goal. And the likes of, obviously...
Mike Dowling
13:18 - 13:19
So the Treble team?
Harry
13:19 - 13:19
Pardon?
Mike Dowling
13:20 - 13:21
The Treble team?
Mike Dowling
13:27 - 13:31
You're about... You wouldn't remember the treble team, how old are you? I was thinking
Harry
13:31 - 13:32
that!
Mike Dowling
13:35 - 14:11
That was literally when you were a couple of years after you were born. But no, you're right, it's a big legendary team, but yeah, it did crowd him. Not like the under 21s. But let's hear your answers. Give me a tag at Sutton Podcast on social medias. Let me know what team you would love to see past or present play against Sutton United. Club news is not a huge amount, but the young fans meet and greet was changed to Friday 1.30 to 3 o'clock. I'm surprised I mentioned it, because even if you multiply the top age of that age group by three, I still wouldn't qualify, because it's 17.
Mike Dowling
14:11 - 14:31
Well, I'd just about qualify. So between 13 and 17, if you are available, because it is half term, Friday 1.30 to 3 o'clock is a meet and greet with players. Harry, what did you feel about the line-up and what were your hopes and expectations for last night?
Harry
14:31 - 14:43
Sorry
Mike Dowling
14:43 - 14:49
Harry, you're breaking up so I don't know if you want to come closer or if you want to drop out and come back on?
Harry
14:49 - 14:50
Can you hear me now?
Mike Dowling
14:50 - 14:52
Yeah.
Harry
14:52 - 14:57
I'll try and hold my phone closer to me. That means I might not be very much in your face, but I'll do my best. We can see your
Mike Dowling
14:57 - 15:00
pretty face, it's fine. Everyone's looking at me anyway, don't worry.
Harry
15:02 - 15:05
So can you sort of just put the question to me again, please? Yeah, yeah. So
Mike Dowling
15:05 - 15:09
you were just talking about what you thought about the line-up and expectations of the match.
Harry
15:10 - 15:49
I was very much obviously expecting the sort of side that how he was going to sort of line up like he was to play with obviously like the one sort of striker and be sort of compact in sort of like the midfield and try and like a make sort of shift sort of as probably we can get to a back four because we wanted to try and be a sort of hard to sort of break down then when we obviously have the moments to sort of transition sort of play try and hit teams like we have sort of done like in the sort of I think in the sort of like the second half of games sort of soak up pressure in the sort of first half and then obviously sort of then obviously to try and obviously give put take the take the game to the other team in the second half.
Mike Dowling
15:51 - 16:02
Yeah absolutely were you I mean I'd gotten for a nice tight one nil win so that went well um what were your expectations of the night Perry? Were you
Mike Dowling
16:02 - 16:02
hoping for a
Mike Dowling
16:02 - 16:03
win? Were you expecting
Harry
16:06 - 16:38
I wasn't going into the game expecting a win. As much as I would love a win, going away from home is always tough. So I was just going, if we can go there with what we've obviously already got going into the game, it's always going to be good to come away from home with a valuable point, especially against a good team, like Kate said, especially following on from the last game, hold them away, to back it up with another away point is always very good on the road.
Mike Dowling
16:39 - 16:39
Yes,
Mike Dowling
16:40 - 16:45
absolutely. And Sarah, what are your thoughts on the expectations in the line-up?
Sarah
16:47 - 17:16
I'm not really as technical as Harry, I don't think. I did sort of notice that a couple of players were missing that I wouldn't expect. I've gone with some players who run well, which kind of explained that. But I did think we'd probably need to be quite defensive against Dej, because they are a good side. And like Harry said, it's always hard to get anything when you're away from them, especially if you've got so far to travel, to be honest. They must take it out of players, takes it out of everyone, doesn't it? So I was expecting it to be a difficult game.
Sarah
17:17 - 17:41
I didn't expect a win. I hoped for a win. I hoped for a point. I thought we could get something out of it, but only if we really went for it. Like I said, I wasn't expecting three points out of it, but I went in with hope in my heart, as usual.
Mike Dowling
17:42 - 18:46
the fifth I got to watch it with a bunch of other Sutton United fans, because they decided to show it in Amber's slash Roland's bar, which was actually quite good. There was about 40, 50 people there, maybe. And it did make me think that all this chat about three o'clock kickoff's been a blackout. It's like, why don't you just let clubs show it so you have to buy a ticket through your own club? rather than being on TV at home. Yeah, it was great to be able to watch it with everyone. until we kind of went 2-0 down fairly quickish, and it seemed that we were being a little bit outplayed for the first 30 minutes or so.
Mike Dowling
18:46 - 18:56
We were struggling. You're nodding along, Sarah. What do you kind of think at that point? We're halfway, half an hour-ish in, and we're 2-0 down.
Sarah
18:57 - 19:31
Yeah, for at least the first 20 minutes, half hour, we looked totally out of our depth. They were taking us apart. There were moments when they just cut through us like a knife through butter. And I was like, oh my God, this is going to be a complete thrashing. And I was, you know, dreading it, dreading the worst. But, you know, we did turn it around, but I was just so worried that we wouldn't, honestly, because I think some sides, after conceding those two goals, would, with the best will in the world, they'd try and go on, but psychologically, they've taken such a blow going two down that early.
Sarah
19:31 - 19:35
And with, you know, credit where credit's due, that didn't happen.
Mike Dowling
19:36 - 19:47
No, absolutely not. Harry, what were you thinking at the sort of the first half hour, the 2-0 down, were you kind of, oh dear, this could be a big one?
Harry
19:47 - 20:11
Yeah, I thought that, obviously, being away from home and going 2-0 down as early as we sort of, I think, did, I thought, okay, it's going to be a long way sort of back from here sort of thing, and with the way the sort of, how the game was sort of planning out at the sort of time and stuff, unlike Sarah sort of alluded to, they were just sort of just playing us out the sort of park and we just couldn't really sort of get to grips with them, sort of like anywhere sort of near them because of the way they were just playing through us.
Mike Dowling
20:14 - 20:45
Yeah, I mean, I know loads have said on it, but they've got a very, very big empty stadium. Do you think, had they had, if they had a smaller ground and everyone was a bit more compact, We would have struggled because the fans would have been right up for that. But as it is, it's kind of quite, I think Steve said, soulless. What do you think of the sort of stadium and the atmosphere? I know you guys are making a lot of noise, we can hear you. But what do you think, Harry, of their stadium and the layout?
Harry
20:47 - 21:14
I just didn't really sort of feel like it was a football ground as sort of, I think, as such, just like the nature of how the layout of the sort of ground was. how far we felt away from the pitch itself with the running track in between in comparison to other grounds we've obviously been to. And obviously the shape of the ground didn't really give me that sort of football ground that we'd obviously be going to see.
Mike Dowling
21:19 - 21:33
Yeah, I think it is an athletics stadium, isn't it, Sarah? And they kind of just rent it. I mean, nice, lovely, lots of facilities, but is it for them to play football? I mean, what do you think of the atmosphere now you've been there before?
Sarah
21:34 - 22:08
Yeah, it's a great stadium for athletics, for non-league football. I hate saying that because there's a nice club, there are all such lovely people. The stewards there are really nice, people on the gate are really nice, everyone's lovely. The lady in the tea bar was lovely and the fans are lovely as well. But I'm sorry, it's a wonderful place, wonderful. You can't get an MSV, the home fans can't see the away fans, the away fans can't see the home fans because you're side by side. And because you're side by side, it looks like the entire stadium's empty.
Sarah
22:08 - 22:17
And because it looks empty, it kind of feels empty, even if you're in a crowd of a few hundred people. You can't kind of get up an atmosphere in there, it just gets lost.
Mike Dowling
22:18 - 22:53
Yeah, of course. I mean, the camera faces that big empty stand, so you guys are kind of underneath the camera. It's like, I always wonder when teams are doing this, why don't you put the camera on showing the stand that's partly full? Because it makes people kind of go, oh, it's not COVID anymore. But we got back into it just before halftime. Sarah, we'll stick with you for this one. What was your view of Will's goal and the beautiful pass from Jack just before it?
Sarah
22:53 - 23:37
That was a cracking move. Absolutely brilliant. It lifted the spirits, I have to say. You know, I've been doing a bit of number crunching recently, because I'm a bit of a nerd. And we do seem to score most of our goals kind of in the 10 minutes either side of halftime, which is interesting. And we did it again. And yeah, just, it was sort of that moment when that amazing ball came through, and we were like, that is some nice football. And I think we all just kind of caught up in the moment, really. It was just like, it was, you know, we're still losing, but Yeah, what was that?
Sarah
23:37 - 23:40
That was brilliant. Can we have some more, please?
Mike Dowling
23:41 - 23:51
Yeah, it gave you that little lifeline of, oh, hang on, hang on, we are in this. I mean, Harry, I mean, how did you feel about that? And what did you think of the
Harry
23:51 - 24:25
goal? Obviously, being in there sort of, I think, half and half, with us putting the sort of pressure on them, sort of us to sort of dispossess them from where we were, to sort of And then obviously the passage of play where the ball flew through the lines from Wadham into Will Davies. And obviously he'd done on his part tremendously well in that area. There was always in the back of my mind that he was going to score from it with obviously his hot scoring form. And luckily he did.
Mike Dowling
24:27 - 25:04
Well, yeah, I think Steve did say, Will does what he does when he gets the ball in the box like that. He's like, OK, he's going to score. That's it now. It's a long time since we've had that. Oh, he's going to score. I think Bez had a shot which I mean you could argue it was from a corner because it kind of started from a corner but I have said before at what point was it being a set piece? It came out, came in, came out and then it's like he has a wonderful shot and he must have been ever so slightly gutted that it was saved until Mr Kirk just beautiful, beautiful finish.
Mike Dowling
25:05 - 25:08
What were you thinking at the equaliser Harry and what did you think of the goal?
Harry
25:09 - 25:31
I thought it was a great sort of reaction to sort of be alive to the sort of danger, sort of like, because I think when you're always going to have a short shot like that, you've just always got to be sort of very much, the goalkeeper could sort of maybe just parry it at any sort of given time with the sort of ledger. And obviously, he was obviously quickest to sort of react, sort of thing, and then to sort of just to sort of put the ball in the back of the net to make it sort of 2-2.
Harry
25:31 - 25:57
Then I thought, it's the game, sort of, it's back on, it's game on, it's sort of how this sort of game sort of started with, sort of thing, like, back to how we were going into the game, we were back in the game and then I was thinking, what approach are we going to take from this now we're 2-2? Are we going to sort of just try and be compact and sort of try and what we've done from the start of the game and just sort of sit on that or are we going to try and go for the win when we obviously took the three-gold lead?
Harry
25:57 - 26:03
I think the next goal in the game, there's a strong chance we can come away and nick this game.
Mike Dowling
26:06 - 26:21
I can't remember who said it, it might have been Steve Sallis when he was saying that the difference between National League players and Premier League players isn't necessarily about skill, it's about speed of thought. And I definitely would have been standing there going,
Mike Dowling
26:21 - 26:21
oh
Mike Dowling
26:21 - 26:29
what a great shot, oh man I should have done something with that. But Sarah, how did you feel at the equaliser and what were your thoughts on the goal?
Sarah
26:29 - 27:00
pretty much exactly what Harry said, really. He said, I feel like 2-0 and 0-0 are very different. Very different. Now, that was the moment when, at the first point in the game, I thought, I found myself thinking, we could nick this. We were at the upper hand at that point. Even though the score was equal, we just scored two goals. So we were kind of on top. And I thought, I was sort of thinking, you know, go on, go on, let's do this, let's do this. And I just, that moment I felt that we could go ahead and do it.
Sarah
27:00 - 27:07
I mean, you know what we could have done? We could have done. It could have gone either way, couldn't it? That was the point at which I thought it could have gone either way. And it
Mike Dowling
27:08 - 27:08
did.
Sarah
27:10 - 27:12
Well, of course it went one way, yes. I
Mike Dowling
27:12 - 27:26
mean, obviously I joke around about the clearance, but Simpa's goal, Sarah, go on. I mean, it did come with some kind of warning of adult content or something.
Sarah
27:27 - 27:48
Because it was that sexy. It was that sexy. That was one of the best Sutton girls I've seen in years, I think. I haven't actually watched it back yet, but I might have to do that in bed later. That wasn't supposed to sound smutty. No, I'm going to own that. I'm going to own that. I'll be smutty about it. Because it was pure sex, that guy. I'm lost for
Mike Dowling
27:49 - 27:57
words. Harry, what did you think about the guy? Please don't tell me you're watching it in bed later as well.
Harry
28:00 - 28:30
Just the way he sort of... executed it and it just sort of just left his sort of booth and I thought it was just very much Luke Simper-esque sort of like because he's got that sort of something like having sort of shots from the sort of long range out but I just didn't think like in the sort of space at the moment the way the sort of like 2-2 like I think everyone was sort of in sort of shock when sort of just like when it was sort of in the back of the net and then there was a bit like in such like a sense of shell shock like whoa it's gone in sort of like
Mike Dowling
28:31 - 29:23
Yeah, that is definitely the kind of shot that he would have received a huge bollocking had it not gone in. I wonder why he was giving possession back to them. if if But Jack Wadham's influence on the game, again, quite quiet, but he did have technically two assists, because he nodded it down to Simba, so it counts as an assist. If Madison could claim Will's one at the awk as an assist, I'm sure Jack can. He did place the ball nicely for Will, and he did kill the keeper.
Mike Dowling
29:27 - 29:27
That did
Mike Dowling
29:27 - 29:28
change
Sarah
29:28 - 29:28
the game
Mike Dowling
29:28 - 29:28
rather a lot,
Sarah
29:29 - 29:29
I
Mike Dowling
29:29 - 29:56
think. kind of went unnoticed. But yeah, so we grew two up and I mean they got back into it with another sensational goal and then the whole, they were pushing forward and the, as you were saying earlier, we had the ascendancy, suddenly it switched back to them and they were pushing forward and we were kind of hanging on and unfortunately they got How were you feeling at 3-3 and then at 4-3?
Harry
30:08 - 30:47
At 3-3, I thought I was biting my teeth. This game is getting a bit jittery now. It's 3-3. The ascendancy has gone back onto them. I think you just alluded to that. They've just got the next goal. It puts them in the spur of belief going into it that they can go and win the game. We're on the back burner. We've just got to try and sit it out and ride it, ride it, ride it. We just sort of like digging deep, and then I think we just fell short, and then like, sort of, then they kind of...
Mike Dowling
30:48 - 30:51
Yeah, they picked it up just as we were kind of... We
Harry
30:51 - 30:53
ran out of steam a bit, didn't we?
Mike Dowling
30:53 - 31:03
Yeah, far into it. So Sarah, how were you at that point? I mean, go on, I'll tell you afterwards what I was thinking, but what were you thinking at sort of 3-3, 4-3?
Sarah
31:04 - 31:30
I feel I was just sort of joking around with my mates about like, not another injury time winner for them, please. And I was saying, but then when this is this game, the way things are in this game, I still felt it could go either way. Maybe it's us that will get the late winner. But you know what, I was quite, I was almost relieved that they got it. ten minutes earlier than we usually concede them because those break your heart.
Mike Dowling
31:33 - 31:42
Alex nearly got kicked out of the group because I think he said this has got a late winner for them all over it and I was really tempted to say Alex has been removed from the group.
Sarah
31:46 - 31:49
No, I think he did say, I think he did say stockage time, which he wasn't.
Mike Dowling
31:50 - 32:02
He did, yeah. I mean, I think Andrew sort of said we shouldn't be throwing it away at 3-2. And I was like, well, their fans would be saying they shouldn't throw it away at 2-0. So, I
Mike Dowling
32:02 - 32:02
mean,
Mike Dowling
32:05 - 32:36
you can't show the resilience to come back from these things without having these setbacks. And I think, as we said at the top, it's very easy just to go, oh my god, we're never going to get anything out of this. It's just damage limitation at this moment. But they went for it. They showed the belief that Steve mentioned. He said he was proud of them. He showed that they believed in it. And they wanted to stick to the game plan, which they did show all the way through. Because even after we were 4-3, there were still several chances where we could have nicked a late equalizer for ourselves.
Mike Dowling
32:38 - 32:53
But also, did it seem, or with hindsight now, can you see why some players weren't maybe as on it as they usually are, Sarah, especially knowing that sickness was going through the camp and there was like two or three people who ideally wouldn't have been playing last night?
Sarah
32:53 - 33:18
Oh, totally, yeah. I mean, if they'd been feeling under the weather at all, by that point in the game, they must have been exhausted. especially after a long journey when you're feeling, well, it's bad enough, but they're having to play 90 minutes of football. And, you know, you could see, I think, right towards the end, I felt like they were kind of panicking a little bit, almost. Not exactly panicking, I don't think that's the way it was, but they weren't quite holding their nerve as well as they were earlier in the game. And they weren't quite so composed in front of goal.
Sarah
33:19 - 33:42
And I think, I think they were just, you know, they'd just run out of energy. And I mean, finding out that were unwell and playing anyway. Like Steve said, I'm really proud of those players for sticking at it and giving it their best shot because they really did play with their hearts on their sleeves, didn't they? And you know, you love to see it, even when you lose. Still love to see that spirit.
Mike Dowling
33:45 - 33:51
Yes, you could argue our 0-0 would have been better because we don't have a point, but I think it shows our intent. Well,
Sarah
33:51 - 33:53
why do we go to football, Mike?
Mike Dowling
33:54 - 34:06
Exactly, what's 0-0? Harry, what do you think of the, I mean, was it noticeable to you that players weren't quite on it or is it only afterwards you're like, ah, that makes a bit more sense now?
Harry
34:08 - 34:43
I didn't really know that there was a sickness within the camp until after the game, someone mentioned to me on the supporters' coach that there had been some sickness at half-time. From that sort of thing, I think you could see it within some of the players from what they were giving out on that pitch. Even though it didn't look like Some of them might have been not given 100%, but they were given probably what the best they could probably give in that game.
Mike Dowling
34:44 - 34:51
Yeah, they were probably given 100% for what they could, but not the 100% that they would usually do if they're fully fit.
Harry
34:51 - 34:55
Yeah, like what some of the other players would have been given. How do everyone respond to that?
Mike Dowling
34:58 - 35:35
Exactly. Those two extra players, three extra players, being at full fitness would have made a difference. But you can't just go, oh, we're not playing a fixture. People are feeling a bit unwell. But the comment, what you said, Sarah, the journeys, because it's not just the Gateshead journey on the day. They obviously did Oldham a couple of days ago. So it's Oldham, home, Gateshead, home. It's going to take it all of you. So yeah, well done to everyone. I know it was a loss, and it's a gutting loss, but yeah, I'm proud of them, like you said, Sarah.
Mike Dowling
35:35 - 36:18
There were a couple of things. I mean, interestingly, some Sutton fans were, oh, hang on, I've got a new jingle, it's points of views. Would you believe that's me singing? It's not. Would you believe that? It's AI. But technically,
Sarah
36:22 - 36:23
it's
Mike Dowling
36:23 - 36:28
you singing no not as good as my singing of uh what was it pizza cup master and uh pub of of the week
Sarah
36:29 - 36:31
that was dreadful don't do that ever again
Mike Dowling
36:37 - 37:15
Can't promise. One comment on socials throughout the match throughout the first half Dylan not been quite effective and he's not that great in the in the sort of wingbacky role which is interesting because I listened back to the commentary today because as I said they were doing some shout outs and I just wanted to hear them and they were actually full of praise for Dylan and they were saying that he's been doing a lot of running and people just aren't seeing him so he was on his toes, he's running forward and the pass wasn't coming so I think... reinforces the fact that a lot of people watch football with different eyes, different lenses, as Sally says.
Mike Dowling
37:15 - 37:26
But what do you think, Sarah? I mean, I don't like to pick out players or anything, but it was just funny that some of the fans were saying he wasn't playing very effectively, and yet their comms team were full of praises for him.
Sarah
37:27 - 37:48
I didn't think he was playing badly, but I did feel like, especially at the beginning of the game, he felt like he was lacking confidence a bit. He's this thing where he kind of waits a second too long before taking a shot, for example, and then it's too late. But I know, you know, I always really feel for him, because if he just went for it, then maybe he'd score a few, you know?
Mike Dowling
37:49 - 37:54
Yeah, that always happens. So when you're searching for that first one, you want the moment to be perfect.
Sarah
37:54 - 37:59
Yeah, I think I wonder if it is confidence or if it's more kind of perfectionism. I don't
Mike Dowling
37:59 - 38:18
know. Come on, Harry, as a goal scorer. What's it like to when you're going through a bad patch? I've never been through one. Was it like going through a bad patch and not having that confidence and taking that extra touch, that extra second?
Harry
38:19 - 39:00
You've just got to keep obviously showing that sense of belief in yourself and try not to let yourself feel down. If you don't do that, I think the confidence will affect you. You just won't have so much of it. You just need to show that sense of belief and self-motivation. Try not to overthink it. Like he might sometimes sort of play with my scoring situation. Like he just needs to try and obviously not to try and overthink up there sort of thing. Let the feet do the sort of talking. He's obviously not scored for quite some time.
Harry
39:01 - 39:12
I need to give him a moment like when he can't speak, you know, but always put it on to him. So he just needs to try and sort of slow down. that
Mike Dowling
39:30 - 39:44
going all over the top on him, saying I was in perfect centre forward. And Jack Sims, they were saying he hasn't done anything wrong. I mean, it's mad to say that for a keeper who's let in four goals, but he's done really, really well. There's not a lot he could do. They were
Sarah
39:44 - 39:44
good
Mike Dowling
39:44 - 40:25
goals, to be fair. Exactly. I mean, I think all the goals in that match were good goals. Yeah. Yeah, it wasn't any that you could go, oh, yeah. I suppose every goal you could pick a little bit and go, well, could have done that better. But the other conversation I wanted to have was the gesture from the players or the coach, paying the entrance fee for the coach tickets. Now, first of all, new information has come to light and it seems there was karaoke on the coach. Yeah, so I can perhaps say it wasn't such a fair trade as people might think it was.
Mike Dowling
40:26 - 40:41
But yeah, there was quite a bit of talk back and forth. I know we had a little conversation in our group about it. In hindsight, I've kind of gone back and read some of the things to see it's not about the money, it's about the I didn't
Mike Dowling
40:41 - 40:42
take it that way.
Mike Dowling
40:42 - 41:10
I just thought it meant the way fans in general are heroes for this going to this game. Yeah, I think some people took it a different way. Or some people were just moaning about the money. I don't know. But if you're going to fork out like 150 quid plus, the 20 whatever quid isn't going to make a huge difference. Do
Sarah
41:10 - 41:22
you know what? The cost of admission to the game is probably the difference between what I pay for the train and what people pay for the coach. So fair enough.
Mike Dowling
41:24 - 41:33
um but yeah i was just kind of like wonder what the players would be thinking reading some of it um maybe they won't maybe they just don't bother um but uh
Harry
41:33 - 41:34
i hope not
Harry
41:34 - 41:35
but
Mike Dowling
41:35 - 41:39
harry how was it on the on the coach journey with
Harry
41:39 - 42:04
the karaoke i think everyone was sort of like quite in sort of i think sort of good sort of i think spirits and sort of just because it was quite a not many of the sort of people in the coach people were just sort of just looking forward to the day of it really, just looking forward to getting up there. Because we got up there in good time, pretty much a breeze journey. We got up there by about 5 o'clock, so we had a few hours to spare. We didn't really think too much of it.
Harry
42:04 - 42:12
We were just going at a nice, leisurely, smooth pace, having a laugh and stuff. One way or the other, before we know where we are, the time has gone. Perfect.
Mike Dowling
42:14 - 42:15
The way home was longer, obviously.
Harry
42:16 - 42:32
No, not really. Everyone just lacked energy and stuff. I just felt the jet deflated after the game and everyone was just taking so much out and just wanted to go to sleep and just sort of... I'm sort of one from everything.
Mike Dowling
42:34 - 43:18
OK, well, I mean, we've rattled through quite quickly, actually, but what we're going to do is do the good, the bad and the funny. And I've changed the ending of this one, but I'll come back to you in a second to ask what was good about the day. I'm not sure if that's an improvement or not, but I like it. Harry, what was good for the day on you? Again, it's anything you like, on the pitch, off the pitch, journey, anything.
Harry
43:19 - 43:51
Just the sort of, obviously, the sort of journey, obviously, with, obviously, the nice sort of, obviously, the sort of, like, the crowd of coaches, the sort of small clubs going, having a bit of entertainment, then, obviously, like, the local sort of pubs, obviously, at the top, like, very close to the ground, when we all sort of, like, a lot of them all just sort of met up there, like, sort of, like, they obviously, like, couldn't, like, lost, like, a large contingent of what, what was there all sort of coming to sort of gather to sort of mix, all sort of going into the sort of ground to sort of all sort of come together was so lovely to sort of, sort of see.
Harry
43:51 - 43:55
Like, when I was there, I sort of turned up to sort of see how many were there, I just thought it was remarkable.
Mike Dowling
43:56 - 44:12
Yeah, no, it's, it's, Use my words carefully, because insane is really what you lot are. But hey, love you all. Sarah, what was good for you out of the day? I've
Sarah
44:12 - 44:41
done quite a lot of things actually, but I'm going to go with getting a little band of mates from the late 90s back together for the first time in about 25 years, watching the game for people who've moved all over the UK and hardly make games anymore, or only make a few games a season, and finding ourselves all sitting in the same stand. Probably the first time we've ever all sat in the same stand, because it was always standing in those days. But we're old now, so I need to sit down. So that was awesome.
Sarah
44:41 - 44:53
It was the people that I used to make a nuisance of myself with when we were teenagers. We used to be able to tear away, going away games, and loudmouths. And it was very nostalgic. That was lovely.
Mike Dowling
44:54 - 44:57
Now you're the ones going, oh, sit down. Just shush.
Sarah
44:58 - 44:59
No comment.
Mike Dowling
45:00 - 45:02
What was bad about the day?
Sarah
45:06 - 45:42
My parents, when they got married, they lived in Gateshead for a while. Not for very long, way before I was born. But to this day, any time anyone mentions the name Gateshead, they will say in unison, oh, it's a dump. Now, I don't necessarily agree with them, but I decided to not bother with the Metro. I'm doing a thing this season of epic walks from train stations to grounds. Not on purpose, it's just happened. I just don't fancy walking. It's only like, or four kilometers or something like that. So I went for a walk and it started on a nice Newcastle station, you know, walking over the famous bridge and everything.
Sarah
45:42 - 45:55
So as soon as you get to the other side, it's like, now you're on like this ridiculous A road with no pavements and there's roadworks everywhere and we're almost supposed to walk and there's concrete everywhere and I just didn't enjoy that at all. It was not fun. York was nicer.
Mike Dowling
45:57 - 46:00
You're desperately going, I'm not going to say what my parents say. I'm not going to say it.
Sarah
46:01 - 46:01
Didn't say
Mike Dowling
46:01 - 46:02
it.
Harry
46:02 - 46:02
I just
Mike Dowling
46:02 - 46:03
quoted
Sarah
46:03 - 46:03
them.
Mike Dowling
46:05 - 46:06
Harry, what was bad for you?
Harry
46:07 - 46:33
Obviously, the sort of, the sort of, the sort of, like, like, the last sort of, like, the kicking the sort of teats right at the sort of step where I thought we'd just come away with the sort of, I think, like a, like a valuable point, sort of thing, that they've obviously come back to free all hope. We can come home and take this back to the sort of, obviously, society with us, you know. sort of like for them to sort of go and win 4-3 on a long sort of journey home it just felt a bit like a tough one to swallow.
Mike Dowling
46:34 - 46:37
It'd almost be better if it was 3-0 because then you're like oh I had no hope but
Harry
46:37 - 46:37
oh well
Mike Dowling
46:38 - 46:41
never mind. What was funny about the day for you Harry?
Harry
46:44 - 46:58
Um, it was probably just having the entertainment on the, on the sort of touch ready. I thought you were going to say that. Singing was good. Singing away, just enjoying it. Nice sort of just like, put my feet up like loads of stairs. Oh, wonderful.
Mike Dowling
47:00 - 47:01
But who's singing was the worst? Come on.
Harry
47:01 - 47:06
I'll probably have to be honest and say probably either mine or someone else's to be honest.
Mike Dowling
47:10 - 47:11
Okay, was Lewis with you?
Harry
47:12 - 47:14
Yeah, he didn't, he didn't, he didn't fancy doing it. He
Mike Dowling
47:14 - 47:16
didn't fancy doing it, okay. He
Harry
47:16 - 47:20
sort of put himself through it, I don't blame him to be fair. I'm sure it wasn't no one
Sarah
47:20 - 47:21
else fancied him doing it.
Mike Dowling
47:25 - 47:27
There it is. And Sarah, what was funny for you?
Sarah
47:28 - 47:51
Well, when I got to the ground, I just went and checked with one of the stewards that I was going the right way for the away entrance. And he was funny, he had a little bit of banter, and he was really sweet, really, really nice. And he went, do you want to have a bit of fun? Do you want to play a game? And I was like, um, yeah, okay. And he goes, right, when you get to the away entrance, there'll be a couple of blokes there, stewards, and there's a woman there who'll search your bag.
Sarah
47:51 - 48:18
Now, pretend you're psychic. Her name's Angela, but she doesn't know you know that. I'm like, Okay, let's do that. And yeah, don't don't tell me how you found out. I know. Right, okay. So I go around there. Good evening, everyone. You know, hello, and exchange pleasantries. And she's like, wonderful. Look in your bag. Yeah, go for it. You got your workout on a Tuesday night with our journey or overnight stuff. She's going through my bag. And she's like, Oh, that's all fine. Yeah, off you go. And thanks. I'm like, Alright, cheers, Angela. So walking off.
Sarah
48:18 - 48:40
And she was like, How do you know my name? And I was like, I didn't realise I'd said your name. What did I say? And she just looked so creeped out that I just went, oh, the bloke around the corner told me because I just thought it was so funny. I mean,
Mike Dowling
48:41 - 48:48
you can start a conversation in a sort of dark evening, far from home. Do you want to play a game? No!
Mike Dowling
48:49 - 48:50
Thank you, weirdo!
Sarah
48:51 - 49:00
I mean, it wasn't exactly a dark corner, it was like this floodlit, huge, kind of open area in front of the ground, but yeah. I'm going to say no, but he seemed a fun guy.
Mike Dowling
49:02 - 49:25
Right, well, moving on very quickly, we have got Braintree on Saturday. What do you guys think of how that's going to go? Sarah, we'll stick with you. I know you don't do the prediction league, but chuck in a prediction, everyone loves hearing predictions. So how do you think that game is going to go? Do you think we're going to be over the tiredness by then or It'd
Sarah
49:25 - 50:10
be nice to be at home, won't it? So I was thinking about, I was thinking about that. We've got some, we've got some tricky time. I'm very, very, very glad we've been doing at home events anymore, because otherwise we'd have something like six away games next month. So Braindew's like a chance to kind of just not exactly relax because you can't do that in this league, but just maybe the day itself will be a little bit easier. Players might have had a few days to recover from whatever ails them. We tend to have a reasonably good record against Braintree but I want to get the balance right between not being complacent or going on, we should bring that and showing that I do actually have faith in our players.
Sarah
50:10 - 50:12
So I'm going to go for a 2-0
Mike Dowling
50:12 - 50:30
win. 2-0, lovely. The Braintree fan I spoke to has gone for a 2-1 to them. They've been doing better recently under their new manager, I think. So Harry, what do you reckon? How do you see the game going and what's your score prediction?
Harry
50:30 - 51:09
I can see it being quite a tight affair, to be fair. I think the teams are lower in the table, but you can't really gauge where teams are within the table. So it's like teams below us. But anyway, where you are in the league, every game is competitive and it's always going to pose a different fight. I just find the teams like Braintree, like a bogey sort of side for us. Even though they haven't played against us in the past, we've scored tons of sometimes. Send it hard sort of thing. Crack and break through them sort of games.
Harry
51:09 - 51:19
We might try and find it hard sort of thing because they're the way they've set up sort of thing. But I think we've come out of it to I
Mike Dowling
51:19 - 51:20
think it'd
Harry
51:20 - 51:23
be quite a tight game and we'd get a winner in the last 15.
Mike Dowling
51:25 - 51:46
Okay, well I'm gonna go with 3-2 something, because I think it will be a bit more open because they'll be tired legs. Because they're playing tonight as well, so I mean it's only Wildstone, so I don't know if they're at home or away. So yeah, they're not going to be as tired with the journey, but they're playing one night later.
Sarah
51:46 - 51:51
You say only Wildstone, but at that time of day that's an annoying journey to make to the other side of London.
Mike Dowling
51:51 - 52:01
It also might not be Wildstone. I don't, I know Wilson are playing tonight, I don't know Braintree are playing tonight, but they could be playing two completely separate teams, I know nothing.
Sarah
52:02 - 52:04
Yeah, they are playing Wilson, but they're at home. Yes,
Harry
52:05 - 52:05
oh,
Sarah
52:05 - 52:06
okay, yeah, but, good.
Mike Dowling
52:07 - 52:10
I got one part of that right. It's
Sarah
52:10 - 52:10
nil-nil, they're four minutes
Mike Dowling
52:11 - 52:47
in. Right, perfect, thank you very much, and now you know when we record, so. Right, I am going to wrap it up. Thank you both so much. We always appreciate everyone's attention and feedback. Get involved in the Knowing Me, Knowing You segment. If you could organise a friendly match with any team past or present, who would it be and why? Follow, like and share this episode at Sutton Podcasts and social medias. Don't forget to like and subscribe on your preferred platform. We will be back after the Braintree match and we will have Joe and George, I'm 99% sure, So, get your questions in for them.
Mike Dowling
52:47 - 53:12
I'm going to be feeling very, very old on that one, because they're both babies. As always, thank you to our sponsors, Lucky Star Gin. Big thank you to today's panel, Sarah and Harry, both individually watching Lewis's goal in bed later on. Worrying. And thank you to the listeners. I hope you enjoyed this episode. Take care, and we'll catch up soon. Bye-bye.
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