Stockport boss Dave Challinor got the response he wanted from his Stockport side after their midweek FA Cup exit but admitted he felt sorry for Sutton after the 8-0 League Two thrashing.
Ryan Croasdale’s brace plus Kyle Wootton and Paddy Madden’s efforts put County four ahead by half-time.
The rout was completed afterwards by Madden and substitutes Joel Cotterill and Isaac Olaofe, plus the former’s injury-time penalty which completed a hat-trick for the Irishman as County maintained their place as League Two leaders.
County were stunned after being dumped out of the FA Cup by non-league Aldershot in midweek, and Challinor was pleased by the response from his team against the League Two bottom side.
He said: “I’m much happier in one instance.
“I take great pleasure and great pride out of the result and on the flip side, not great pride in the fact that Matt (Gray) and his staff are probably the most honest group that we’ll mix with and I feel really sorry for them today because that’s not them.
“They’re probably the most hardworking and most honest group that have got success based on that and we’ve been really really clinical today and bounced back from Wednesday.
“I know he’ll be feeling exactly the same as I was feeling on Wednesday and hopefully he can get the same reaction from his players because they’ve been on a decent run. No one, me included, would expect them to be in the position they are in the table.
“I think regardless of the result – and I know that’s easy to say after you’ve just scored eight – the performance is much, much better.”
Sutton boss Matt Gray admitted he was left embarrassed by the worst performance and result in his managerial career, with the U’s now six points from safety.
He said: “This is my fifth season as a manager and I’ve never apologised to my supporters ever and I certainly would apologise to them for today.
“It’s the worst scoreline and performance of my managerial career so it’s a really hard one to take.
“The teams were worlds apart. They’re a wounded animal from Wednesday night with their performance and result.
“I warned the players about that as well, so the start of the game was horrendous from us and to concede the goals that we conceded in the opening 20 minutes of the game was just totally not acceptable – the game’s lost and out of our reach.
“I don’t know if I can answer what went wrong right now. I’ve said the start of the game and the goals we’ve conceded but they came out firing off the back of a result on Wednesday and we looked like a team that hadn’t played for two weeks.”
Man United could be without Toone until new year, says Skinner
Marc Skinner revealed that Manchester United could be without midfielder Ella Toone until the new year after she picked up a calf injury in training.
Toone has featured in five games in the Women's Super League this season, but is yet to register a goal or an assist so far this term.
The 25-year-old has missed United's last two games and was not selected in Sarina Wiegman's England squad for their upcoming friendlies against the United States and Switzerland.
She had previously appeared in a staggering 96 straight matches before missing United's WSL showdown with Leicester City last weekend.
But ahead of the Red Devils' meeting with league leaders Chelsea on Sunday, Skinner confirmed they would be without Toone for not only that game, but for the foreseeable future.
"We have three games [after the international break and before Christmas]. There's always the hope, but I think you balance and you go, 'right, if we can get her back, we get her back'," Skinner said.
"But we're just not going to rush her in this moment because it's a calf injury, it's your running mechanism. If we injure the running mechanism, it takes longer.
"So ideally we'd like her back for those games afterwards.
"The projection is she misses this game [Chelsea], she misses the international window, probably misses the first game after that, and then we'll see from there.
"But because it is such a short block of only three games, we'll assess whether it's worth that or actually resetting to come back after Christmas."
Al-Nassr 1-2 Al-Qadsiah: Aubameyang winner ends hosts' unbeaten run
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang hit the winner as Al-Qadsiah inflicted a 2-1 defeat on Al-Nassr in the Saudi Pro League on Friday to end their 21-match unbeaten run.
Cristiano Ronaldo's seventh league goal of the season put Al-Nassr ahead, but Al-Qadsiah replied swiftly through Julian Quinones before Aubameyang struck the decisive blow.
The hosts drew first blood in the 32nd minute when Ronaldo slotted home after Al-Qadsiah goalkeeper Koen Casteels had spilled a routine catch from Talisca's cross.
However, Al-Nassr's joy was short-lived when Quinones brought down Turki Al Ammar's delivery five minutes later, with the Mexcio winger firing past Bento to level the scores.
Quinones also played a part in the winning goal after brilliantly turning the ball back across goal from Nahitan Nandez's search pass to tee up a simple finish for Aubameyang.
The result sees Al-Qadsiah move level on 22 points with third-placed Al-Nassr, with Al-Shabab also level with them.
Stefano Pioli's Al-Nassr are six points adrift of defending champions and leaders Al-Hilal, who also have a game in hand.
SportsMax is the Caribbean sports channel of choice, committed to providing sporting content of the highest quality to the Caribbean, delivered by a team of highly innovative, passionate and qualified professionals.
(876) 619-7629
digitalmedia@sportsmax.tv
