Paul Doswell praised his winger’s performance as Sutton United drew 1-1 with Eastbourne Borough in the Vanarama Conference South.
Sutton started the game off in promising fashion and were rewarded with the opening goal. Glen Southam played in a sumptuous ball which Shaquille Hippolyte-Patrick headed home.
Eastbourne equalised in the 33rd minute thanks to good work from former Sutton player Gavin Hamilton. He attacked the full-back and his cross was unfortunately deflected into his own net by defender Shaun Cooper.
It’s three successive draws for Sutton which leaves them a few points behind the play-off positions, but Doswell tried to look for the positive aspects and was pleased with Hippolyte-Patrick, as he scored his first senior goal for the club.
He said: “That is one of the best wing performances I have seen for a long time and this has given me great hope for the rest of the season.
“What he has obviously got is pace, but we wanted to see something a little different from him. He mentioned that he had some skills so I told him to go out there and express himself.”
It wasn’t all positive though as Southam had to be substituted due to a heavy challenge from Matt Aldred. It left Doswell cursing their bad luck ahead of next week’s game against Hemel Hempstead Town.
He said: “I have lost my best midfield player and I already have quite a few players unavailable to me for selection.”
In the Ryman Premier Hampton & Richmond Borough beat relegation strugglers Bury Town 2-0 with two second-half goals from Tashan Adeyinka and Jerome Federico.
Kingstonian suffered a surprising defeat to Harrow Borough losing 1-0, while Metropolitan Police were 2-1 up against Witham Town before the match got abandoned.
In the Ryman League Division One South, Tooting and Mitcham’s play-off aspirations took a blow as they lost to East Grinstead 1-0 with Guy Harding scoring the solitary goal.
Walton Casuals’ miserable run of form continued as they lost 2-1 to Folkestone Invicta, while Carshalton Athletic lost to high-flying Merstham 2-0.
Corinthian Casuals were comprehensively beaten by South Park 4-1, in contrast Walton & Hersham handed out a thrashing to Hythe Town winning 4-1.
In the Combined Counties League, Colliers Wood United suffered a defeat at the hands of Guildford City losing 2-1 and Raynes Park Vale suffered the same fate as they lost 4-2 to Wesfield.
