Away Days, trip 7: Sutton United v Derby County
A 1,473-kilometre journey from Pescara to a small ground in south London for a League One match that turned into a one-sided lesson.
The journey from Pescara to Sutton takes the best part of a day. A morning train north along the Adriatic coast to Ancona, then west across the Apennines to Rome, a flight to London, and the train from Victoria to Sutton. By the time I walk up the high street and see the floodlights of the Paul Doswell Stadium above the rooftops, it is dark and cold, and the town is quiet.
Sutton is not a place that advertises its football ground. It sits in a residential street, a small ground with a low main stand and open terraces on three sides. The away end is a covered terrace behind one goal, and from there the view is of the pitch and, beyond the far side, the backs of houses and a line of trees. It is a ground that feels comfortable in its own skin, a world away from the stadiums of Qatar and Kazakhstan I have visited on this trip.
I eat before the match at a café near the station, a plate of pie and mash with a mug of tea, surrounded by Sutton fans talking about the season. They are not optimistic. 'We've been leaking goals,' one man says. 'And Derby are flying.'
He is right. Derby County bring a strong following and a team that looks a class above. The away end is full and noisy, and from the first minutes the visitors control the game. Ziya Duman gives them the lead after sixteen minutes, a low shot from the edge of the area that beats the keeper to his right. Sutton work hard, but they create little, and when Daniel Reid goes off injured just after the half-hour, the home side's threat disappears.
Jamie Chadwick makes it two just after half-time, and from then on it is a procession. Chadwick adds a third with twenty minutes left, and substitute Jean Yves Ekwalla completes the scoring in stoppage time. The final score is 4-0, and it does not flatter Derby.
The home fans drift away early, but the away end stays to applaud their team. As I walk back to the station, I think of the contrast: a small club, a small ground, and a reminder that in football, the gap between hope and reality is often measured in goals.