Poole embarked on what we hope will be another long cup run in the Vase starting this season in the 1st round Proper and were drawn against another side from the Western league. They are always tough teams from that league as we well know but this squad beggared belief. In the face of extreme provocation the Dolphins won through comfortably against a display of unsportsmanlike behaviour unworthy of our game.
The referee Mr Dean Treleaven had his hands full to contain this one and could only punish what he saw. But under the circumstances did pretty well, particularly as he has a reputation for erring on the side of leniency early on in a game. His two assistants to be honest, were not a great help to him, their names not being familiar to your writer, I can only assume they are still ‘learning their trade‘ as many with new faces appearing on the line this season seem to be. I just hope they are not put off by the their experience on this afternoon as we need as many of the ‘men in black‘ as we can lay our hands on if our game is to survive, especially as one of them was truly pole-axed by Lamin and Sutton’s Rob Smart as they contested a ball going out of play and clattered into the poor unfortunate chap who had stuck valiantly to his task despite their rapid approach, on 27 minutes.
By then the shenanigans had begun with the visitors already two goals behind and the break in play while the assistant received attention allowed some pushing and shoving of handbags to break out. The episode may have earned Peter Smith and Sutton’s skipper Luke Andrews a caution apiece but they were far from being the last.
Steve Smith had opened the scoring on 14 minutes intercepting Russell Cook’s cross in from deep on the right, turning and firing across the keeper into the corner. Poole had just started to get the measure of their opponents and turn on the pressure. Two minutes earlier Lamin had headed down Hubbard’s freekick which Blammon, in the Sutton goal, saved. Blammon then cut out Taffy’s cross with Steve Smith lurking, and made a quick throw out, but Pete Smith intercepted and fired in another cross that no one was quick enough to get on the end of.
Cook added the second on 23 minutes. Preston’s run down the left sent a perfect cross screaming into the six-yard box, Steve Smith rose to meet it and Blammon covered him but it evaded them both and found Cook at the far post, waiting to slam it home. Poole 2-0 up.
Poole kept up the pressure with Steve Smith firing wide twice in the space of a couple of minutes around the half-hour, but Sutton were far from out of the game. On 39 minutes they mounted an attack and Liam Farmer got the better of Lamin, wrong footing him twice on the Poole left to break clear towards the bye line. His cross found the diminutive Rob Dumphy who looped back a high ball that dropped in under the bar way over Ackerman’s reach to get a goal back for the visitors.
There was plenty going on ‘off the ball’ and behind the referee’s back, but when Sam Bailey clobbered Micky Hubbard away from the action on 41 minutes, Mr Treleaven caught sight of it and didn’t hesitate in giving Bailey a straight red. The subsequent furore from the visiting squad also saw their manager sent from the dugout and the half ended in bad temper at 2-1.
The break didn’t serve to cool the temperature either and the second half was a testy affair throughout. Poole kept up the pressure and played some good football and went in search of more goals to kill the tie off. Gill fired over on 47 minutes but Carl Stone had a similar effort at the other end in reply, to prove the game was still alive. Steve Smith had a scissor kick saved on 52 minutes and two free kicks from Hubbard in quick succession soon after, brought another fine save from Blammon as the ball dived for the near post, followed by Lamin’s header grazing the crossbar.
Pete Smith, as ever, was causing the visitors right flank major heartache and caught some heavy attention for his trouble. Farrell earned a caution for one particularly heavy challenge on 57 minutes but there could have been a handful more as Peewee was repeatedly tumbled over. Andrews hauled over Steve Smith in the box on 62 minutes but Blammon saved the penalty; diving the right way. However the sought after the third goal was soon wracked up. Pete Smith went on an amazing twinkling run, turning 5 or 6 Sutton defenders in knots before laying off to the goalhunter who broke the offside trap perfectly and was clear on goal slotting under Blammon from 8 yards to make it 3-1.
Sutton brought on their three subs over the next ten minutes but the format remained the same. Dumphy got his well deserved caution on 78 minutes, but Hawkins, Sutton’s number 9 managed to evade the referee’s notebook covering his antics off the ball with the covert prowess of a SOE operative. On 82 minutes, Sutton were down to 8 effective players for a couple of minutes with two of their number receiving attention on the sidelines after ‘tackle’s’ had gone wrong and they had injured themselves and they nearly paid the price as Smith and Preston went close. Stuart Brown made a welcome return from injury replacing Cook and Simon Browne came on for Taffy towards the end as Poole kept pressing. On 90 minutes , Blammon hauled over Steve Smith inside the box in a last ditch effort to halt the slippery goalhunter and received the visitors second red of the afternoon. Rob Smart donned the purple keeper’s jersey to face the subsequent penalty and see out the remaining few minutes. Steve Smith fired home for his second hat-trick of the campaign and Ross Lloyd stepped on to ensure Pete Smith didn’t get floored again before the final whistle, which wasn’t long in coming.. Final score 4-1.
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