Sutton’s new manager Steve Morison is hoping his players can take confidence from their performance after his first match in charge ended in a 2-2 draw against Barrow.
The match at Gander Green Lane seemed to be going to form as the promotion-chasing visitors controlled the first half and went ahead through Ben Whitfield’s opener.
However, United struck back with goals either side of half-time from Harry Beautyman that threatened just a fourth league win of the season for the team who began Saturday bottom of League Two.
Morison, whose side remain six points off safety, said: “You’ve got to believe in yourselves, you’ve got to be confident.
“I’m obviously asking them to do a couple of things differently, but the fundamentals in football are you run, you work hard and I’m just trying to ask them to be brave on the ball.
“Obviously, I thought they did it for large parts, they mixed it up, but you’ve just got to believe.
“The question is: ‘Do you believe you can do it?’
“I didn’t say those exact words at half-time, but they came out and had an extra spring in their step.
“We tried to play in a little bit of a different style, we kept the ball quite well but just didn’t quite have that final-third impetus, which in the second half we did.
“We put Barrow on the back foot and they had to make a double change to stop our flow.”
Barrow led after 35 minutes when Whitfield turned in Elliot Newby’s low ball from close range, but Beautyman made the most of some hesitant defending to equalise for Sutton before half-time.
Beautyman then completed the turnaround with a header from Joe Kizzi’s cross before Niall Canavan ensured a share of the spoils by finishing off a goalmouth scramble.
Barrow boss Pete Wild said: “We felt really frustrated because we were in complete control of the game, we should go 2-0 up, after we’d gone 1-0 up, with Jamie Proctor.
“The game’s then dead and buried and we enjoy the game, but from something out of nothing, the goal they get gives them something to hang on to.
“If there’s one frustrating point of today’s game, it’s giving them something to hang on to because large parts of that game were really good from us.
“We talked about needing to match their intensity and I felt we did that for 90 minutes.
“I think the biggest thing to take from today is the character that we’ve shown.
“When you don’t have good days, it’s important that good teams find a way to at least get a point.
“We’ve gifted Sutton two goals, but we’ve found a way to come away with a positive result.”
Mbappe position switch works wonders for Ancelotti
Carlo Ancelotti was satisfied his tactical decision to switch Kylian Mbappe's position in attack paid off in Real Madrid's 3-0 win over Leganes.
Mbappe scored his seventh goal of the season to help Madrid to a comfortable victory in LaLiga on Sunday.
However, his position in Madrid's front line has been a topic of debate since he joined the Spanish champions, with Mbappe having often played out wide while at Paris Saint-Germain.
And Ancelotti elected to switch Mbappe out to the left flank against Leganes, with Vinicius Junior spearheading Los Blancos' attack.
"Mbappe played on the left side, where he did well, and Vinicius on the inside," Ancelotti told reporters.
"We have to highlight their play to open the scoring. They did very, very well. Mbappe scored, after a fantastic assist from Vinicius. Little by little, they're both improving.
"Kylian is more used to playing there and today, for the team and for him, it was the best thing.
"Because playing on the outside brings more effort and Vinicius was back on Thursday. Meanwhile, Kylian had been training here for a week and a half, he was fresher."
Mbappe was not called up by France coach Didier Deschamps for this month's Nations League games, despite being Les Bleus' captain.
With an injury crisis at the back and a trip to Anfield to face Premier League and Champions League leaders Liverpool coming up, Ancelotti added he was hopeful of Lucas Vazquez, who has a hamstring strain, and Aurelien Tchouameni, who is recovering from a sprained left ankle, returning to action.
He was also upbeat about the contribution of Federico Valverde, who scored from a free-kick while filling in at right-back.
"The truth is that Fede, at the back, has done very well," said Ancelotti of the Uruguayan, who also wore the captain's armband.
"He's a fantastic fullback. After Dani Carvajal and Lucas Vazquez, the best right-back in the world. His problem is that he can play at this level in many positions and is the coach's problem to choose the best position for the team.
"Let's see if Lucas and Tchouameni can recover. If not, we will make decisions."
Jude Bellingham netted Madrid's other goal as Ancelotti's team closed to within four points of LaLiga leaders Barcelona, who drew 2-2 with Celta Vigo on Saturday.
Madrid also have a game in hand on Hansi Flick's side.
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."
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