Opposition view: Gray surprised by 'shell-shocked' Sutton's poor start against Cobblers

Northampton Town 2 Sutton United 2
Matt GrayMatt Gray
Matt Gray

Sutton United manager Matt Gray got the reaction he wanted from his players after some stern words were shared at half-time in response to their ‘uncharacteristic’ first-half performance during Tuesday’s 2-2 draw against Northampton.

It was a classic game of two halves as Cobblers dominated the first and then let things slip in the second. Omar Bugiel and Donovan Wilson were the men on target to rescue a point for Sutton following first-half goals from Marc Leonard and Mitch Pinnock.

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"I pride my teams on being super organised and we do a lot of homework and preparation and that's usually implemented by the players," said Gray.

"That's why most other managers says we are difficult to play against because we make it tough for teams and don't let them do what they want to do due to our organisation and preparation.

"But that did not show in the first-half and the goals were uncharacteristic goals to give away. They aren't goals we normally concede and it was just basic errors of not dealing with restarts well enough. It wasn’t good enough.

"We looked shell-shocked and went into our shell, but I'm in my fourth season here now and the other thing is my teams have always shown character and heart and desire and we saw that.

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"It's very rare that I have to remind my players of that but I did remind them at half-time and I had to be honest and then you could see the energy and the fight in the second-half. The response was excellent and some draws feel like a win and this one did.”