Sutton Coldfield Town 1-2 The Mikes

A stranger wandering in would know they’d stumbled on a local Derby, with bragging rights at stake, and (maybe?) one or two personal scores to settle. Perhaps with this in mind, the Royals featured five recently departed Mikes in their ranks, with one more on the bench, while over 350 looked on. Johnny Johnston had returned to Redditch, while Daniel Gyasi played his last(?) game this season, following the previous Saturday’s contretemps.

An untidy start, on a pitch made skiddy by heavy morning rain, saw Charlie Dowd showing us his dribbling skills, and George Washbourne helping our referee with plenty of advice - appreciation for which being eventually marked by a yellow card. Effort was in greater abundance than effectiveness, nearly half an hour gone before each team had a shot at goal - Boldmere’s off target, Sutton’s straight at the keeper. On the half hour, we came to the nearest we’d seen to a goal, the speeding Owen Parry being only inches short of an Adrian Adirewu-Gyamera cross.

If the first half could be described as nondescript, the second began like a firecracker! We were only three minutes in when a long Taylor Carter-Byrne throw was nodded on, across the goal…and there was our old friend Alex McSkeane, to nod in at the far post. The Mikes responded quickly, Parry getting his foot to a centre, only to see Jonathan Brown pushing his effort against the post.
Perhaps the game’s turning point came on the hour, when Callum Gittings, occupying the right-wing slot, was brought off for Callum North. Boldmere now had two slippery strikers on the park, and this was to pay ultimate dividends. Soon, North was heading a Parry centre just wide, and a series of Boldmere corners punctuated the next quarter of an hour, until the equaliser came. This time, North again fed Parry, who wiggled through to put the Mikes on level terms. Jack Byrne received a yellow for bringing down Reece Gibson as he bore down on the Boldmere penalty area; but by now, the Mikes had the bit between their teeth. Sutton were conceding fouls, and twice had ten men back in their box to defend them. With nine minutes of regular time left, Brown had to come fifteen yards off his line to deny Parry as he broke through a tiring Royals back line; but the winner, when it came, started with Harry Sweeney, right at the rear. A complex one touch movement down the left, involving Adirewu-Gyamera and Gyasi, ended with Parry sliding the ball into the net, on 85 minutes. Strangely, Boldmere made no attempt to play out time, and gained revenge for the earlier league defeat at their opponents’ hands over the Christmas period.

Sutton Coldfield Town: Jonathan Brown; Aris Christophorou; Oscar Tonge (Remmie Birch, 83); Pedro Lima (Fraser Doyle, 75); James Beresford; Taylor Carter-Byrne; Kyle Byrne (Ryan Edmunds, 74); Jack Burgess; Reece Gibson; Charlie Dowd; Alex McSkeane.
Subs. not used: Tom Hurley.
Boldmere St Michaels: Kieran Boucher; Adrian Adirewu-Gyamera; Harry Sweeney; Joe Hull; Harry Craven; Jack Byrne; Callum Gittings (Callum North, 61); George Washbourne; Owen Parry; Ben Usher-Shipway (Callum Ballinger, 90+3); Daniel Gyasi.
Subs. not used: Kai Knight; Tommy Jackson; Andre Brown.