Steve Morison: Sutton boss embraces underdog status as in-form team face Stockport

Sutton are chasing their fifth win in a row when they face Stockport County, who thrashed them 8-0 in Matt Gray's last game as manager in December

It is Saturday, 16 December and having just suffered an 8-0 demolition at the hand of table toppers Stockport County, Sutton United are sat rock bottom of League Two, six points from safety.

With just three wins from their opening 21 games, relegation from the Football League looked ominous and manager Matt Gray was sacked days later.

But since ex-Cardiff boss Steve Morison arrived as his replacement in January he has revived the club's season, with 21 points taken from 17 games.

This weekend the resurgent U's face the Hatters again although on the back of four straight league wins that have lifted them out of relegation zone for the first time since August.

Morison, 40, believes his side can inflict the league leaders' first defeat in nine matches when they visit Gander Green Lane.

"It's funny to be sitting here saying [it's the] two form teams in the league, it's two teams in good form but different positions in the table," he told BBC Sport.

"I'm sure their conversations will be different to the ones they'll have had before about us.

"It's a great opportunity for us to upset the bookies and to make it five wins on the bounce."

Stockport sit four points clear of Mansfield Town and Wrexham at the top of the table and eight points from their final six games would be enough to secure automatic promotion to League One.

Sutton's run of victories against relegation rivals Forest Green Rovers, Accrington Stanley, Salford City and Swindon Town have lifted them to 22nd in the table, one point outside the drop zone, Colchester United below them have three games in hand on the U's.

The south London club averaged just 0.6 points per game in the 21 matches they played up to defeat at Stockport in December, that has increased to 1.2 points per game in the 21 fixtures since.

'We hope we don't run out of time'

Sutton have won their last four games under Steve Morison to move out of the League Two relegation zone for the first time since August

What has Morison done differently since he came in?

"When I came in I felt like we needed a better culture and more professional environment," he said.

"The guys feel more confident now naturally from where they've been winning matches, it's a different atmosphere and it takes time to build, we just hope we don't run out of time."

After Stockport on Saturday, Sutton face Harrogate Town away, Crawley Town at home and then automatic promotion chasers MK Dons at Stadium MK in the final game of the season.

Colchester's fixture pile-up will see the Essex side play seven matches in three weeks, with tough ties against Wrexham on Saturday, Stockport and Crawley before a crunch clash against fellow strugglers Grimsby Town to come.

Bottom-of-the-table Forest Green, who have played one game less than Sutton, face MK Dons at the weekend, then Mansfield, Wrexham, Morecambe and Notts County.

Being able to focus on one match a week could give Sutton a small advantage, Morison believes.

The club has recent memories of some of its finest ever days to draw on for inspiration - winning the National League title and first ever promotion to the Football League in 2020-21, defeating Wigan Athletic on penalties in the EFL Trophy semi-final and taking Rotherham to extra-time in a 4-2 defeat in the subsequent final at Wembley in 2021-22.

"No doubt everyone will be writing us off at the weekend but we have that underdog mentality, we are hunters and we've just got to keep hunting as hard as we can, keep fighting and keep performing," Morison said.

"It's been a really enjoyable experience whatever happens and they've [Sutton's owners] have given us the opportunity to try and do something special and I think staying the league would be one hell of an achievement.

"We've got four more cup finals. We had eight, we've ticked four off and we've got another four left."