Relentless Sutton All Set For Their Day Of Destiny

The smell of title success hanging over Gander Green Lane is now so strong now it is almost overpowering.

Victory on Sunday and history will be made, everyone on that pitch at full-time instantly qualifying as all-time amber icons.

Manager Matt Gray wants his players to become legends by helping the club into the EFL for the very first time.

Not only that, he wants them to do it in full view of their own fans on Sunday so most of them can see it for themselves - not with them in front of a screen next Saturday with the team at Barnet.

The 39-year-old says it’s all about composure now.

“We’re in the driving seat but there is still a job to do,” he said ahead of the live BT Sport match against Hartlepool United.

“Someone said to me the other day this is a record-breaking season regardless. The lowest finish we can finish now is second, and that’s our highest ever finish.

“But we now have to make sure that’s not the only thing we remember this season for. We want to take this club into the EFL.”

It’s all about keeping the emotions in check to make League Two football come August a reality.

The manager added: “There is excitement naturally because of the position we’re in.

“It’s been such a great season and it’s getting closer but we have not done the job yet. That’s so important to stress.

“We’ve got to use this excitement now to drive us over the finishing line.”

Sutton have received a good luck message from a legendary former manager in the build up to the final few matches.

Paul Doswell, now in charge at Havant & Waterlooville, helped lay the foundations - even telling the decision makers that coach Gray was the man for the job.

“It would be one of the bigger football stories ever if Sutton, with such a low budget, managed to do it,” he told the Portsmouth News.

“We put a lot of the building blocks in play there and if Matt can finish off the roof, he’s done an amazing job.

“I recommended him for the job. No-one else got interviewed, me and Bairdy (Ian Baird) - it was a very, very strong recommendation when I left that the board take him.

“I knew he was right for the club, he’d already been at the club with me, but he’s done an amazing job.”

Hartlepool may have fallen someway short in the title race but these last two league games are not simply a warm up for the play-offs.

Dave Challinor is determined to secure a top three finish - meaning the team won’t have to negotiate a tricky Eliminator.

Three points in south west London could help kick the club straight into the semi-finals, where they would boast home advantage.

Their fans and players got a boost ahead of the trip to the capital.

The manager has distanced himself from gossip linking him with former club Tranmere Rovers.

The Pools boss spent eight years as a player at Prenton Park and at one point last week was the favourite for the job.

"If players and essentially management teams probably aren't getting linked with other clubs then we're not doing a great job," said Challinor to the Northern Echo.

“Speculation is part of what the media is about and there's that much of it.

"Of course it's good and it's flattering to be linked with other things but that's as far as it goes.

“We know exactly where we're at, we're coming into a real exciting part of the season with some big games we're really looking forward to.

"We've got a huge chance, and a huge opportunity and it's one that we want to do everything we can to take."

PHOTOS BY PAUL LOUGHLIN, ALAN PALMER, THOM LANG & MARK FLETCHER