Boro made a dream start, absorbing early pressure before taking the lead after just seven minutes through Stu Pinchin, whose precise header back across the goal from a Mendes corner left the goalkeeper grasping at thin air.

The home side equalised just a few minutes later, though, when a clipped ball towards the left of the area was hammered in with an unstoppable volley.

Despite a few scares, Boro managed to regain a foothold in the game and, when Matuska stole in just prior to half time to restore our lead, it was the least we deserved.

Alas, Watkins’ team talks clearly need some further work; shortly after the restart Sutts were back on level terms after the strong headwind caught a sliced cross and carried it away from everyone, over Cibardo’s head and just inside the far post.

A quite literally identical goal then saw Sutts taking the lead in the match for the first time, meaning Boro needed to chase the game. Everyone poured forward in search of what proved to be an elusive equaliser thanks to a series of stops by the Sutts goalkeeper. Then, with fifteen minutes left on the clock, Boro were caught out on the break following a quickly taken free-kick and saw themselves falling 4-2 behind.

The game wasn’t over yet, though, and with less than ten minutes still to play, Gnaneswaran ghosted in at the far post to tap in his first-ever competitive goal, at the age of 28. That includes 5-a-side.

With the score now 4-3, Boro pushed almost everybody forwards to try and force the tie to extra time but, again, were caught on the break with Skalicky, who had yet to concede his customary penalty, left one on one with Sutts’ pacey striker inside our box. The referee duly blew his whistle and pointed to the spot. 5-3.

The 6s were left to rue what might’ve been, while also looking forward to the prospect of actually playing some league games for a change

Match details

Match date

Sat 01 Feb 2020

Kickoff

13:30

Location

Walch Memorial Sports Ground

Team overview