Gander Green Lane remains part of FA Cup folklore despite Sutton United’s ups and downs

Sutton United (0) 0 v Birmingham City (1) 1

Willumsson 34

By Kaz Mochlinski at Gander Green Lane

FA Cup

First Round

Talking Points

Never play Cup Cliche Bingo with any official at a non-league club, as there is only likely to be one winner. Especially somewhere such as Sutton United, whose contribution to FA Cup folklore is legendary.

The magic of the FA Cup left a lasting impact on the Borough Sports Ground at Gander Green Lane when Sutton United knocked-out Coventry City in 1989 in a rare instance of a non-league side beating a top flight team.

36 seasons later, another West Midlands club, Birmingham City, faced the same journey as the highest-ranked side involved in the first round of the FA Cup - and just-about avoided another giant-killing.

For Sutton’s co-owner, American television presenter Paul C. Brunson, it was a first experience of the romance of the cup, but he let himself be completely caught up in it, expressing his fascination for this type of David versus Goliath contest.

However, it was a slight pity that Birmingham’s American celebrity co-owner, Tom Brady, could not get to Gander Green Lane due to his own tv commitments, working on the Fox network coverage of Green Bay versus Detroit.

That NFL game between the Packers and the Lions may have been slightly more high-scoring than the 1-0 win which Birmingham came away with from Sutton, but the Sunday lunchtime FA Cup tie was nevertheless intriguing from start to finish.

The home fans might have preferred a less defensive display by Steve Morison’s side, but Sutton’s 5-4-1 formation enabled the minnows to remain in the match against the giants right up to the final whistle.

That was a praiseworthy achievement by the team currently in 12th position in the National League table against the League One leaders, who are 59 places above them in the football pyramid.

On their first appearance at this early stage of the FA Cup for 30 years, Birmingham unsurprisingly dominated possession in a way similar to their impressive performances in League One so far this season.

Their figure this time of 75.6% compared to the hosts’ 24.4% showed the statistical superiority of the Blues, which was also reflected tellingly by the total number of touches in the opposition penalty area of 32 versus 6.

Sutton in the end did not get an attempt on target, while Birmingham only made one shot count, and it was a goal fashioned by a beautiful left-wing cross, played in like a golfer would hit a green with a pitching wedge.

A left-footed first-time cross was finished by a left-footed first-time strike, one a perfect hit and one a bit of a scuff, in a link-up between a South Korean and an Icelander, in Paik Seung-ho and Willum Þór Willumsson.

With Willumsson directing the ball into the net between Charlie Waller’s legs, it was also a case of one number 18 beating the opposing number 18 for the decisive moment of the match.

Willumsson looks and moves uncannily like Christophe Dugarry, who won the World Cup in 1998 and Euro 2000 with France before helping Birmingham survive in the Premier League two decades ago. He finishes like his predecessor too.

The lack of any further goals was not a reflection of the effort put in by both sides, which was unstinting and a credit to the two men in charge, Sutton’s head coach Steve Morison and Birmingham’s manager Chris Davies.

Each started with full-strength teams, Sutton welcoming back two suspended players from their previous match, and Birmingham changing just one of their last league eleven. Both also made positive attacking substitutions.

Morison is well-known locally as a former forward for Millwall. Davies’s playing career was prematurely interrupted by injury, with coaching offering an alternative as an assistant to Brendan Rodgers and then Ange Postecoglou.

After spending last season as the senior assistant coach at Tottenham Hotspur, the initial impression made in management by Davies suggests that his appointment was a very astute choice by Birmingham.

“It’s a massive club” he acknowledges. “Every game we play is massive. It’s inevitably a big game for the opposition. And I say to the players that there is no reason why it shouldn’t always be just as big a game for us.

“We need to be ready for that all the time. So far, it’s been a really good start to the season. It’s just a start, but we’re beginning to build up some good momentum.”

Morison was similarly not unhappy with his team’s performance: “It’s a credit to the players that we just played Birmingham City, who outspent Manchester City in the transfer window and outspent their league by £20 million, and we were still in the game at the end.”

Like Davies, Morison took over earlier this year, and he is likewise leading a club which is recovering from relegation at the end of last season. Sutton’s available resources are very different from Birmingham’s, but they are also ambitious.

An immediate aim will be to make up for the elimination from the FA Cup with a run in the FA Trophy and a potential return to Wembley in that competition. But a bigger hope is to get back into the EFL as soon as possible.

Having spent three seasons in the Football League from 2021 until this summer, Sutton are still in position to push for the National League play-off places, as an almost-entirely new squad continues to gel.

The recovery process has been substantially slowed down by only three players staying on after the club dropped out of the EFL, but somehow Morison is getting the many recent replacements to gradually fit together.

And there is visible rebuilding off the pitch as well on every visit to Gander Green Lane. Fortunately, it retains its old character, even if the renovations have resulted in the removal of the surrounding running track and the crumbling Shoebox Terrace.

4,804 spectators were comfortably accommodated for the visit of Birmingham City, more than double Sutton’s usual attendance this season, including 1,582 away fans who were generously provided with space on two sides of the ground.

That was enabled by switching the main home supporters’ section from the Gander Green Lane end to the Collingwood Road end of the arena known now for sponsorship reasons as The VBS Community Stadium.

But the most noticeable change is the prominent branding around the stadium for Crystal Palace since the agreement for that club to use Gander Green Lane as the home ground of their women’s team.

The financial income from this arrangement has enabled Sutton United to re-lay and significantly upgrade the grass pitch, having had to abandon the old artificial surface on entering the EFL three years ago.

The plastic pitch is most fondly remembered for the Amber Army reaching the fifth round of the FA Cup eight seasons ago, when Arsène Wenger brought Arsenal to Gander Green Lane and successfully survived the experience.

Playing on the artificial turf at the time was a great leveller between the non-league side and their Premier League visitors. Other cup cliches are also available…