Sutton began the Bank Holiday game against near neighbours Halesowen with a new signing in French forward Sergine Diop and he was to prove to be the hero in a fine win.

The first real chance came to Sutton when a free kick just outside the box was hit hard and low by Danny O'Callaghan but it was well collected by Matthew Sergeant in the Halesowen goal. Some further good play by the Sutton midfield led to a shot from O' Callaghan which bounced to safety off the crossbar.

Although Sutton were having the better of the play it was Halesowen who could have taken the lead when a good ball by Jean-Michel Gueyes was blazed over the bar by George McGee from 12 yards.

With the home side now having the majority of the play Phil Trainer had a great shot tipped over the bar and from the resultant corner the ball was cleared off the line from Joel Kettles headerto bring some relief to a hard worked Halesowen defence.

In the 37 minute Sutton opened the scoring with a lovely worked move when Diop sent a great ball down the right to O'Callaghan who centred perfectly for Diop who had continued his run to fire the ball home.

The second half began with the visitors making two substitutions but they were to have little effect on the final outcome. It was Diop again who sent Ramone Stephens away down the left but no one could finish off the move. Diop and Bell were causing problems with their height, strength and pace but also both forwards were linking the play well.

It was Diop again who in the 60th minute slid in to beat the defence and the keeper and fire home another great cross from O'Callaghan on the right.

It was now all Sutton and Halesowen were offering very little threat it was not surprising then when they further increased their lead in the 75th minute from a very well worked free kick. A ball down the middle was helped back to his keeper by Halesowen captain Joe Hull and under pressure from Bell Sergeant in the Halesowen goal picked up the ball in the box level with the penalty spot. When the free kick was eventually taken after the referee had sorted out the various lineups the expected tap to O'Callaghan did not come but instead it was played back to Aaron Forde on the edge of the box and he fired a fierce shot into the far corner of the net to score against his former team. With the game won the home side were now happy to see out the remainder of the game with Halesowen never looking like a threat on the Royals goal.

This was a welcomed first win in the Premier division and hopefully on this evidence the first of many.

Final Score: ROYALS 3-0 Halesowen Town

M.O.M Aaron Forde

Managers Thoughts: Im delighted that we have finally won our first game but it has been coming as our recent performances have been good for large parts. I thought we dominated the game today from start to finish and were full value for the win and winning margin. We have made 3 signings in the last 7 days and all 3 have improved us so I'm very happy with that. Big Mo Diop will get all the plaudits todays and rightly so but I thought Forde and Trainer in midfield were superb and totally controlled the game for us today.