Matt Gray feels Sutton in play-off mix despite dropped points at Walsall

Posted Sunday, April 02, 2023 by PA

Sutton boss Matt Gray insisted his side still have a great chance of making the League Two play-offs despite goalkeeper Jack Rose’s late howler costing them victory in a 1-1 draw at Walsall.

Rose fumbled Tom Knowles’ straightforward free-kick in the fifth minute of time added on and Isaac Hutchinson swept home to cancel out Alistair Smith’s first-half opener.

The keeper spent three years at Walsall before joining Sutton last summer but Gray insisted he did not blame him for the goal that left Sutton 10th, six points off seventh spot.

“He’s made a mistake but he’s been absolutely outstanding for me all season and people make honest mistakes so I can deal with that,” Gray said.

“I’m more annoyed with having a throw-in down in the corner and not dealing with it properly and giving the free-kick away that led to the goal – I’m more frustrated with that to be honest.

“But for 90 minutes we were absolutely outstanding and I was delighted so that is why it feels extremely hard to come away with just a point.

“There’s seven games to go and we are six points behind the play-offs so that means we are firmly in the mix – we have a big Easter weekend coming up, playing Stockport and Bradford, two teams in and around us.

“I’m really proud of my players and the team’s performance and it still continues a really good run that we’ve been on, three defeats in 21 games, but today certainly feels like one.”

Sutton were rarely threatened after Smith hooked them in front from a deep corner but Walsall have developed a draw habit – this was their 11th in 16 games and their 17th in the league this season.

That run has virtually ended their own play-off aspirations, sitting 14th and 13 points off the pace.

“I thought it was two poor teams going forward,” said Saddlers boss Michael Flynn.

“They’ve done the bits in the middle of the pitch better than us – but they didn’t create anything and we had the best three chances in the second half.

“We are in a tough moment and we need to snap out of it. The players look a bit low and it looks like they are scared of making mistakes.

“There’s too many off their game at the same time and that’s why you don’t win football matches. The one thing they did do was keep going and we created a few chances second half.

“I’ve never known this amount of draws – I’ve never been involved in 17 draws in a season and we’ve still got seven games to go.

“It’s crazy but when you’re not good in both boxes, it’s very hard to win games and today we weren’t good in both boxes.”