No upset at Gander Green Lane as big-spending Birmingham knock Sutton out of FA Cup

Sutton United 0

Birmingham City 1 (Willumsson 34)

FA Cup 1st Round

4,804

Attacking midfielder Willum Willumson's goal 10 minutes before half-time was enough for big-spending Birmingham City to knock Sutton United out of this season's FA Cup at the First Round stage.

Jayden Harris had a superb chance to equalise for Sutton but curled his shot wide before referee Ben Atkinson waved away Us' appeals for a penalty just before the break.

Sadly for the Us there was to be no repeat of the defeat of 35 years ago of Coventry City here, when Tony Rains and Matthew Hanlan helped Sutton beat the FA Cup winners of less then two years previous.

Birmingham, top of League One after spending £30m in the summer - more than Manchester City in that window, were worthy winners, as their superior class showed.

The Blues began to take hold of the game midway through the first half, after a first 20-minutes when the sides had cancelled each other out.

Good work down the Birmingham right led to a cross from Ethan Laird finding its way to Paik Song-Ho on the left-hand edge of the area, but his shot was high over the bar.

On 27 minutes Birmingham had a good chance to take the lead. A through ball was helped on by Willumson to former Fulham man Jay Stansfield, but Stansfield rather cut across his right-footed shot, allowing Jack Sims to save low down to his left.

But City did take the lead on 34 minutes. A regulation cross from the left from Paik was met on the half volley by Willumson, beating Sims into the bottom right-hand corner.

Sutton should have been level five minutes later. The Blues lost the ball in the centre of the park, allowing Jayden Harris the run of the Birmingham half, but he curled his shot wide of Ryan Allsop's goal as the defenders bore down.

Then came a moment of huge controversy. A high ball over the defence was collected by Sutton's Eduino Vaz, and as he looked to shoot it appeared he was upended by Ben Davies, but referee Atkinson thought otherwise, to howls of derision from the Gander Green Lane faithful.

Birmingham could have extended their lead shortly before the hour mark. Ethan Laird's cross from the right was helped on by the left foot of Luke Harris, but well saved low down by Sims.

Sutton were camped in their own half for the majority of the second period, but the Blues could not make the game safe.

Substitute Lucas Jutkiewicz's shot on the turn 10 minutes from the end was deflected narrowly wide, while at the other end Ashley Nadesan's scuffed shot on the volley went into the ground and on to the top of the net - the last hurrah for the Us.

Teams:

Sutton: Sims, French, Odelusi, Coley, Davies (Nadesan 50), Vaz (De Silva 60), Barbrook, Waller, Sivi (Rush 75), Harris, Kirk

Birmingham: Allsop, Laird (Sampstead 79), Klarer, Seung-Ho, Anderson (Yokoyama 66), Willumsson, Cochrane, Iwata, Davies, Harris (May 66), Stansfield (Jutkiewicz 79)

Referee: Ben Atkinson