Preview: Sutton (H)

August 6th 2021Noah Dougherty

Football is back!

We kick off our season tomorrow as newly-promoted Sutton United visit the Fully Charged New Lawn (3pm).

Here is all you need to know ahead of the game:

What we said:

"We’ve had four and a half weeks of build-up, so it feels like it’s been a long time coming," said Rob Edwards.

"The players know what we want to go for this year, and they have their own ambitions as individuals, and as a collective. We want to improve on last year and I don’t think any expectation will hinder us, it needs to be embraced and we need to feel confident."

"I feel very privileged to be in the position that I’m in. I know Richie and the staff feel exactly the same and we’ve been working really hard to make sure that the fans are proud to watch their team this year. I’m really humbled and honoured because this is a fantastic football club, and I’m really excited to be a part of it on Saturday."

What they said:

"We want to enjoy it, but you only enjoy it when you win," said Sutton boss, Matt Gray.

"You only enjoy it when times are good and the team's doing well. So that's what we got to focus on I don't want us to look too far ahead.

"We're coming up full of confidence, we've been on a great run last season. We just want to keep that consistency and continuity on the pitch."

Team News:

Rovers look in good health going into this one, with the whole squad training out on the grass ahead of the weekend.

Key Player: David Ajiboye

Tricky winger Ajiboye began his career in the Brighton and Hove Albion before joining Worthing FC in 2018.

A year later he made the switch to Sutton as Matt Gray's first signing, playing a role in last season's title-winning campaign, scoring five times.

Last time we met:

Rovers emerged 2-1 winners last time the two sides met, goals from Mark Ellis and Christian Doidge handing them all three points at Gander Green Lane.

Rovers went close through Doidge in the first half as he crashed a header against the post from Dale Bennet's cross before chaos in the box saw Doidge and Dan Wishart have two shots apiece charged down.

From the resulting corner, Ellis headed home via a deflection.

A matter of minutes later, with 35 on the clock, Doidge took advantage of a defensive mix-up to nip round the keeper and finish into an empty net.

Rovers were reduced to 10 men in stoppage time as Ellis' last-ditch challenge was deemed an unlawful one and Sutton grabbed a late goal as Kieron Cadogan finished off a well-worked move five minutes later.

Head-to-head:

Forest Green and Sutton have locked horns on eight occasions, The Us holding a slender lead with four victories.

From the last four league meetings, Rovers have three wins - the other ending all square.

Coverage:

Streaming/Audio information will be communicated later on - the EFL sent the details earlier this week, so we are now just testing the system today. Please bare with.

Phone lines are open, but are rammed - as expected.

Full commentary of Saturday’s match will also be available on BBC Radio Gloucestershire on 1413AM.

Stay up to date also on Twitter and Instagram by following @FGRFC_Official, which will have all of the team news before kick-off and updates throughout the game.

There will also be key updates and team news on Facebook. Round-up the clash by checking out the club website where there will be a full report looking back on the encounter.