Sutton's one moment of beauty

12:11pm Tuesday 8th January 2008

Sutton moved up to fifth in London One by grinding out a 14-0 win at Bishop's Stortford on Saturday.

They owed their fifth consecutive victory, and first ever success over the Hertfordshire side, to the power and control of their pack, who wore down the home side's defence with superbly-controlled mauls.Despite having to absorb large amounts of Bishop's Stortford pressure, Sutton always looked in control.The hosts dominated at the start with Sutton's players having difficulty coming to terms with the slippery surface.Sutton defended with great power and discipline to keep them out and, once they worked out how to stay on their feet, the visitors' pack began to take control.A lot of power moved Sutton deep into the Stortford half where fly-half Tom Williams kicked a huge 40m penalty.That was the only score of the first half, but Sutton took the game by the scruff of the neck after the restart.Stortford showed they were no slouches in defence and Sutton had to settle for two more well-struck Williams penalties to give them a 9-0 lead 10 minutes into the second half.The hosts then had a period of possession in which they hammered away at Sutton's line, but obdurate defence kept them out.Sutton gradually worked their way back upfield and, with 10 minutes to go, the one piece of beauty in the match occurred.Scrum-half Steve Munford picked up at the base of the scrum just the Sutton side of halfway and spotted a rare gap in the defence, slicing through 30m.He passed inside to wing Ray Enslin, in close support, who made ground before passing to centre Bryan Milne.He took out two defenders before passing to his centre partner Steve Warnham, who took the direct route to score wide on the left.The conversion was missed, but Bishop's Stortford now needed two converted tries and Sutton gave them no chance to score.Sutton now have a week off before hosting Civil Service on Saturday, January 19 (3pm).