With the finishing line now in sight, County’s quest for automatic promotion takes us to Gander Green Lane this weekend as we go up against a revitalised Sutton United side.
With closest challengers Mansfield not in action on Monday and with Wrexham subsequently beaten 1-0 at Doncaster Rovers on Tuesday night, Odin Bailey’s late winner against AFC Wimbledon last time out has moved County four points clear at the top of League Two with six games remaining.
Following dropped points for MK Dons, Barrow and Crewe Alexandra elsewhere on Monday, we now require a maximum of nine points to secure a top three finish, and with it automatic promotion to League One for the first time since 2010. Five wins from our final six would also guarantee the League Two title.
Elsewhere on Saturday, Mansfield host play-off chasing Crawley Town at the One Call Stadium, Wrexham travel to Danny Cowley’s Colchester United, MK Dons go to basement side Forest Green Rovers and Barrow are at home to Swindon Town.
Dave Challinor’s side will face a stern test on Saturday against a Sutton side on their best run of the campaign, coming in off the back of four straight league wins that have pulled them out of the relegation zone for the first time in 2024. They sit one point clear of the bottom two with four games remaining, although both Colchester and Forest Green have games in hand.
Streaming:
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Since we last met:
The reverse fixture between these two sides in December was one that County fans will never forget, with a Paddy Madden hat-trick helping us a remarkable 8-0 win – our biggest winning margin in a game for 89 years.
It was a ruthless and emphatic performance from County on the day, to lift us six points clear at the top of the table. Sutton boss Matt Gray described it as the worst performance in his five years in charge of the club, with the loss leaving them rooted to the bottom with just 14 points from 21 league outings – six adrift of safety.
Ultimately, it proved to be the final performance of Gray’s five years in charge too, with the 42-year-old relieved of his duties just a few days later. It brought to an end what was an incredibly successful spell in charge for club legend Gray, who led the Us into the Football League for the first time in their history in 2021. In their first season in the EFL, the London outfit finished just one point off the play-off places, and reached the final of the Papa John’s Trophy.
Assistant manager Jason Goodliffe took charge of the club over the festive period, picking up four points from four games in charge before the club moved to appoint Hornchurch boss Steve Morrison as Gray’s permanent successor.
Former Millwall striker Morrison left Hornchurch after just six months at the Isthmian League side, having guided them to the top of the table in that time, to take up his first EFL role since a short spell in charge at Cardiff City in the Championship.
He has certainly made the Us harder to beat since his appointment, losing only six of his 17 games in charge so far – all of those losses coming by just a single goal.
Too many draws had been the issue for a side that seemed marooned at the bottom of League Two, with Morrison having to wait until his tenth game in charge before tasting victory – winning an extraordinary contest 4-3 away at Notts County.
A 1-0 loss at Crewe in mid-March left them six points adrift of safety, having won one, drawn six and lost six of 13 games under their new manager. Things looked bleak.
Since then, however, there has been a remarkable turnaround at the club, with four straight wins giving them a fighting chance of pulling off a great escape.
First, relegation rivals Forest Green were beaten 1-0 away from home, and they have since followed that up with comfortable wins at home to Accrington and Swindon and a 2-1 win at Salford City. Their latest victory on Easter Monday lifted them out of the bottom two for the first time since August.
They have played more games than their rivals – one more than Forest Green, two more than Grimsby and three more than Colchester, but will take comfort from having the points on the board as the relegation scrap heats up. All of the bottom four have enjoyed good spells of form in recent months, but Sutton’s has come at the perfect time to give them belief they can secure their EFL status for a fourth season.
After taking on the league leaders, they face three more key games at Harrogate Town, at home to Crawley and away to MK Dons.
Match Stats:
- December’s 8-0 win against Sutton United was our third straight win against the Us, having gone winless in the first four meetings between the two clubs. We have only lost once in seven outings against the London side, who won 2-0 at Edgeley Park in 2021 – with Tanto Olaofe on the scoresheet for them that day.
- Since losing 4-0 at Tranmere Rovers in February, County have kept a clean sheet in six of their eight games. Ben Hinchliffe’s 16 shut-outs this season is the most of any goalkeeper in League Two.
- Ibby Touray has been directly involved in a County goal in four of our last five games, scoring once and setting up four.
- Tanto Olaofe played 80 times for Sutton United across three different loan spells, scoring 26 times. He was part of the Sutton side that won promotion to the EFL for the first time in their history in 2021.
