Sutton and Epsom secured their second win of the Division One South season with a dogged and determined 24-20 triumph over Brighton Blues at Rugby Lane last Saturday.

Despite playing with a numerical advantage for most of the second half, Sutton tested the nerves of their coaching team and supporters as the winning try was not scored until the very last minute of the game.

Sutton’s hero was prop forward Raynn Bruce, who found himself on the right wing and needed no second invitation to power past the Brighton defence and plunge over the try line to provide Sutton with the lead for the first time in the match.

Steve Munford then produced a sublime touch line conversion which sailed between the posts to the accompaniment of the final whistle.

After the plethora of points last week at Gosport, defensive duties were the order of the day against a well organised Brighton side.

The host’s first line tackling was excellent with Joe Ridgley and George London prominent, while captain James Caddy appeared all over the pitch despite a bloodied nose in the first half.

However as has been the case in recent seasons, Sutton struggled to “put the opposition to the sword” when Brighton had lost their flanker Alex Hoare to a red card and had another player in the sin bin.

Mistakes and simple errors crept into their play as they became more frustrated at not adding to their score.

This contrived to mean that Brighton still had the opportunity to steal an unlikely victory and in fact with only 10 minutes remaining Brighton held a slender three point lead.

The visitors had the better of a disjointed first half which was peppered with penalty awards against both sides. Brighton’s main attacking tool, the driving maul, yielded a converted try while Steve Munford’s kicking radar was off track as three early penalty attempts went begging.

The Sutton backs, brothers Pete and Andy Matthews along with the unrelated James Matthews started to punch holes in the Brighton defence and it was no surprise that James Matthews opened the Sutton scoring following another line break by Pete Matthews, fortunately Munford found his range with the conversion.

As half time approached the Brighton pack once again took advantage of clean possession from a line out in the Sutton 22 metre and trundled forward for another try although the conversion was missed to give the visitors a five point lead at the interval.

An early second half penalty on the halfway line conceded by Sutton once again allowed Brighton to kick for position and in a carbon copy of the first half their driving maul pushed back the Sutton defence to open a comfortable 10-point advantage, which was immediately cut to seven by another Munford penalty.

With Brighton reduced to 13 players and over 20 minutes to play, Sutton began an extended period camped in the Brighton half.

Munford orchestrated the back line which stretched the Brighton defence but it was the pack that made the breakthrough. At a scrum close to the Brighton line the visitor’s depleted pack was shunted backwards and the referee awarded a penalty try to bring the scores level.

As hard as they tried Sutton could not breach Brighton’s obdurate defence and Sutton conceded needless penalties, which allowed Brighton to regain the lead.

With time running out Sutton pounded the Brighton goal line and after numerous phases of possession the ball passed through the entire back line, and Bruce standing out on the right wing summoned the strength to score the crucial try.

This was a much deserved first home win of the season and proves that Sutton’s improved levels of fitness are is starting to yield results.

The visitors will point to the sending off as a turning point as they held a 10 point lead at the time and were seeking a bonus point try.

Next Saturday, Sutton face another tough challenge as they travel to the unbeaten league leaders Sidcup, kick-off at 3pm.

Team: Steve Warnham, Kyren Ghumra, James Matthews, Pete Matthews, Andy Matthews, Frankie Murray, Steve Munford, George London, Mickey Pointing, Raynn Bruce, Jason Ford, Mike Blakeburn, Joe Ridgley, Chris Pointing & James Caddy (captain).

Replacements: Guy Stucke-Clarke, Tariq Al Khaldi, Matt Harwood.