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Cambridge City fell to their first league defeat of the season as Sutton Coldfield returned home with maximum points courtesy of a 1-0 victory.
It was a depleted City side that took to the field as the early season injury woes continued. There was still no place for defender Taylor Parr. Whilst John Freeman and Ben Nolan were also missing following injuries sustained in the 1-1 draw at Corby in midweek. They joined the likes of Ben Bradley, Ed Rolph, Ryan Ingrey and Joe Welch on the sidelines.
The visitors started the game on the front foot and it was the striking partners of James Spruce and Rhys Hilton who linked up to create the first opportunity of the match but Spruce lost his footing when in on goal.
For City, Ryan Sharman had a shot blocked after visiting goalkeeper Jonathan Brown dropped the ball.
However, it was still Sutton Coldfield who looked more promising and were gifted with a great chance to take the lead. Ben Siggers made a mess of a defensive clearance for City and between them Hilton and Spruce failed to convert the chance.
Six minutes before the break, Spruce made up for missing that chance as he put the visitors ahead. The City defence appeared to switch off as the visitors broke into the box and when the ball was squared back to Spruce he made no mistake to slot home.
The second half started in much the same fashion when a cross picked out Hilton, but his effort was saved by Louis Chadwick in the City goal. Shortly after, and another cross came into the City penalty area. This time it picked out Cameron Collins who somehow managed to fire over from no more than six yards out.
The chances kept coming for Sutton Coldfield, and when Hilton beat the offside trap, and was one on one with Chadwick, it looked like he was going to put the game to bed but his effort was deflected onto the post by the City stopper.
Chadwick denied the visitors once again in their next meaningful attack. This time it was Abdul Abdegbola who was through and his effort hit the post, and the City keeper did well to get down and keep the rebound out.
The visitors continued to take the game to City, and Flavio Tavares had the last chance of the match when he was put through but lost control of the ball when in on goal.
City huffed and puffed all afternoon, but in truth lacked the cutting edge to undo the visitors defence. The Lilywhites will be looking to get a victory in their second of the weekend matches when they make the trip to Dereham on Monday afternoon.