After twenty-seven minutes in which Altrincham were looking comfortable at 0-0 against a Sutton team whose defence looked suspect, the visitors fell apart in the following 17 minutes, conceding four times through a litany of woeful errors.

The first goal arrived in the 27th minute when Jake Cooper's forward pass as he emerged from his own penalty area, under no pressure, went to a Sutton man some thirty yards out. The ball found Coley whose low shot took a deflection past Ross.

Five minutes later a Boateng run led to Harris netting the second goal.

Cooper was again at fault for the third goal as he was caught in possession when he attempted to run out of defence and Davies netted (38 mins). And, after a mis-pass by Banks, Cooper's wretched afternoon continued as he brought down Harris and Odelusi sent Ross the wrong way from the spot to leave Alty four-goals down at the interval.

It was reminiscent of Altrincham conceding four times in 24 minutes in the first half at Solihull on 29th January 2022.

The second half was largely a non-event as Sutton were happy with their big lead and Altrincham lacked the ability to get back into the match. Eight disruptions for substitutions did not help to produce a decent spectacle.

Sutton made it five-nil in the 85th minute from a powerful header by substitute Nadesan.

SCORERS:

• 27 mins: Josh COLEY (Sutton United 1 ALTRINCHAM 0)
• 32 mins: Jayden HARRIS (Sutton United 2 ALTRINCHAM 0)
• 38 mins: Will DAVIES (Sutton United 3 ALTRINCHAM 0)
• 44 mins: Siju ODELUSI (Sutton United 4 ALTRINCHAM 0)
• 85 mins: Ashley NADESAN (Sutton United 5 ALTRINCHAM 0)

Eddy Jones was suspended after his red card against Woking, and the long-term injured duo of Isaac Marriott and Ollie Crankshaw remained sidelined. So the only change saw Golden replace Jones. Sutton also made one change as Coley replaced De Silva.

On the bench Kosylo came in after injury.

LINE-UPS:

SUTTON UNITED (All amber with chocolate brown trim): 25. Steve Arnold, 22. Ryan Jackson, 4. Tyler French (c), 15. Hayden Muller, 12. Eduino Vaz, 8. Lewis Simper, 6. Siju Odelusi, 23. Jayden Harris, 17. Nana Boateng, 9. Will Davies, 7. Josh Coley. Subs: 1. Jack Sims, 5. Harry Ransom, 10. Matt Rush, 18. Charlie Waller, 19. Jeremy Sivi, 20. Jack Wadham. 24. Ashley Nadesan.

ALTRINCHAM (Red & white striped shirts, black shorts, white socks): 1.. Ethan ROSS, 2. Lewis BANKS, 4. Lewis BAINES (c), 5. Jake COOPER, 23. Tylor GOLDEN, 6. Elliot OSBORNE, 22. Tom CRAWFORD, 10. Alex NEWBY, 21. Max HAYGARTH, 11. Justin AMALUZOR, 24. Joe NUTTALL. Subs: 9. Regan LINNEY, 19. George WILSON, 7. Matty KOsylo 15. Kahrel REDDIN, 16. James JONES, 17. Luke WEAVER, 27. Louie FALLON (gk).

For the second successive Saturday Altrincham faced a side from Surrey. Sutton had been relegated last season after three seasons in the EFL. Their artificial pitch had been ripped up to permit their promotion to the EFL and the club had retained their grass surface despite relegation.

On a bright afternoon and on an excellent playing surface the game got underway and it was Altrincham who had the first shot on goal. It came after an early Vaz long throw was cleared and, in a series of slick passes, Newby got into the box but shot straight at keeper Arnold (1 mins).

However, it was the hosts who gained the first corner, off Osborne (4 mins). Taken short it led to a shot from Simper which missed the target (5 mins).

The fairly lively opening to the game continued as Haygarth lost the ball and Cooper had to head clear at the cost of a corner (8 mins).

But the game was to drop to a level of mediocrity as both sides failed to eradicate basic errors and when Jackson felled the advancing Amaluzor, the Sutton man was booked (15 mins). Newby's freekick ened up in Arnold's arms.

Alty were getting a sight of the Sutton goal, with the home defence looking less than impregnable. Thus Haygarth got in a shot which Jackson blocked before Nuttall also aimed at goal but his disappointing shot ran to Arnold (17 mins).

Indeed Altrincham threatened again soon after this as Amaluzor saw an effort deflect off Vaz to Arnold (19 mins).

As play continued, Sutton won a corner which Ross blocked before French's follow-up cleared the bar (25 mins).

So amidst this uninsiring fare, it came a something of a surprise when the home team took the lead but it needed a gift from Jake Cooper for the breakthrough to arrive.

The centre-back, under no pressure, attempted to play a ball forward from the front of his own box but succeeed in steering the ball straight to an opponent.

The resulting shot from Coley, the former Maidenhead player, took a slight deflection as it beat Ross low, to his right, to make it 1-0 (27 mins).

After a further five minutes the score became 2-0 when Boateng advanced in the left of the box and Harris scored with a low shot (32 mins). The score flattered Sutton at this stage but it was to prove merely the opening of the floodgates as two more home goals arrived before the interval.

It took a great block from a Harris effort by Cooper to stop an almost immediate third goal but moments later the Alty defender was caught in possession as he attempted to stride out of defence only to lose the ball. Davies took the ball and advanced to beat the oncoming Ross and, this time, it really was 3-0 (38 mins).

Alty were now at sixes and sevens and it needed a save by Ross to stop a Coley effort (41 mins). That only delayed, rather than prevented, a fourth goal which duly followed when Banks played an errant pass and the hapless Cooper erred again, bringing down Harris as he got past him into the box.

Odelusi stepped up to send Ross the wrong way from the spot. And so Alty trailed 4-0 at the break having looked the slightly better side before the opening goal.

This debacle was reminiscent of Altrincham conceding four times in 24 minutes in the first half at Solihull on 29th January 2022.

Unsurprisingly Cooper was replaced at the interval by James Jones.

Once again it was Altrincham who created the first threat on goal. This time an excellent Newby effort flew just wide (47 mins).

But any hopes of a comeback soon dissipated as the minutes passed without any further threat to Arnold's goal.

Indeed the second half was to be largely a non-event as the hosts were content with their lead and Alty lacked the impetus to get back even a consolation goal.

The ridiculous decision to allow up to ten substitution breaks in play in the National League this season ensured that there was no flow to the second half as both managers opted to make all but two of their substitution breaks single changes of personnel.

This meant that there were eight second-half stoppages and that the longest spell without such a break in play, after Linney had replaced Nuttall in the 57th minute, was of just six minutes duration.

Next, a Simper shot, saved by Ross on the hour, and a further save from Coley, two minutes later, confirmed that it was the hosts who looked more likely to get a fifth than Alty were to net a consolation.

The remaining eight permitted substituions arose as follows, creating six further breaks in play:

• 63 mins: Wilson for Osborne
• 64 mins: Reddin for Haygarth
• 65 mins: Wadham for Odelusi
• 70 mins: Sivi for Coley and Nadesan for Boateng
• 74 mins: Weaver for Amaluzor
• 78 mins: Ransom for French and Rush for French

As the mediocre fare continued it was almost a shock when another goal arrived. It came in the 85th minute as substitute Nadesan powerfully headed home a fine cross from the left, making Alty's humiliation a five-goal one (85 mins).

Six minutes of added time included a home corner which Ransom headed wide before the referee mercifully blew the final whistle.

Following this debacle, Altrincham travel to Maidenhead in midweek, to face a United side which has lost both of its opening fixtures. Whist for Cooper it was certainly a game to forget, few of his team-mates emerged from this game with any credit either.