Matt Gray reflects on ‘brilliant win’ as Sutton surge back into top three

Matt Gray praised his on-song Sutton side after they put Rochdale to the sword in an emphatic 3-0 win.

Enzio Boldewijn bagged a brilliant first-half brace – his first goals of the season – before Joe Kizzi put the result beyond doubt with his stunning strike.

Gray’s side returned to the automatic League Two promotion places in style as they remained unbeaten at home since October.

“It’s a brilliant win, a brilliant result and a brilliant performance,” Gray said.

“It’s another game unbeaten at home and I keep saying it but that’s what we’re striving for.

“We want to be tough to beat at home and we’re delighted with the clean sheet.

“It’s great to be scoring goals, but clean sheets are equally important for those times when games are tough to win.

“We’ve lost just once in 16 games (in all competitions) and 15 games at home without losing.

“We’re in a good place in terms of the league and the EFL Trophy. It’s been a really good week for us.

“I’m delighted for all of the players and especially Enzio because it’s been coming for him.”

Boldewijn opened the scoring with a fine free-kick in the 12th minute.

Jay Lynch produced a good save to keep out Rob Milsom before Richie Bennett and Omar Bugiel both headed off target.

But Boldewijn latched on to Bennett’s pass to put the hosts 2-0 up before the break.

Kizzi fired in his third goal in as many games but Lynch denied Boldewijn a first career hat-trick late on.

Rochdale sit seven points clear of the relegation zone and boss Robbie Stockdale said: “It was a very tough day all round.

“We were deservedly beaten. We weren’t strong enough in the moments we needed to be.

“We weren’t bright enough or intelligent enough to break them down.

“The momentum of goals change games massively and the goal before half-time did that as well.

“The third goal makes it very difficult considering we didn’t have many opportunities before that.

“It’s a horrible day. It’s hard on the supporters who have come down to watch that.

“I’m here to fight. I’m here to get better. We find ourselves in a bit of a dogfight. You don’t have a fight with kittens and we need to be stronger in key moments.

“We find ourselves in a very difficult position in the division as well.”