It's party time here at U's Blog towers. I've taken the day off work, defrosted a few sausage rolls, and will be inviting all my friends, neighbours, and acquaintances round later on for bucks fizz and cold chicken nuggets.
The reason for these lavish celebrations is that on Saturday we beat the mighty Luton Town in a match which their defender Claude Gnapka described as our "cup final". So we've won in a final!! Against Luton!! Does it get any better than this? The only disappointment was that so few people were there to see it, I think many United fans must have confused this great occasion with an FA Trophy first round game or something.
In fairness to Claude, I'm not entirely sure he's on the same planet as the rest of us, as in the same article he claims that Luton are "a team of winners", when the evidence of the season so far suggests a more accurate description would be "a team of better-than-average Non-League players who win sometimes." Still, whatever makes him happy I suppose.
I wasn't at the game myself, but by all accounts we played very well, and even if it was only the Trophy it should give the squad a bit of encouragement ahead of this tough run of fixtures we have coming up. I've mentioned before that I think we play better against better teams because there's less emphasis on us to dictate the play, and hopefully that will stand us in good stead when we come up against Oxford, Stevenage, et al.
In the same way that listening to political debate on talkSPORT reassures me that I'm not that stupid, watching the Histon "fairytale" unravel in such hilarious fashion makes me feel a lot better about United's current situation.
Because however boring this season may have been so far, it could be a lot worse, we could be Histon. Regular readers will know I don't hold Steve Y'Know's managerial skills in particularly high regard, and that he went down a lot in my estimation when he got involved in that very public slanging match in the 07/08 season about car park spaces, and programme notes, and other such trivial matters.
But ostensibly I think he's a decent guy, and as someone who has been so central to the Villagers rise from obscurity he doesn't deserve to be treated so shabbily in public, no matter what is going on behind the scenes. If nothing else their board have scored massive PR own goal here, and I don't really see how they can remedy the situation without a permanent parting of the ways.
Whoever is in charge, the future isn't looking particularly bright for the Villagers, and I for one won't shed any tears if they disappear back from whence they came. Their handful of proper supporters may not deserve it, but I have no sympathy for the majority of head-in-the-sand, rent-a-fans who have jumped on their increasingly shaky looking band wagon in recent years, and taken great pleasure from our various catastrophes. Looks like they could soon be reaping what they have sewed.
I didn't go to Eastbourne on Saturday, but by the sounds of things it was the usual story of the team having to dig themselves out of a hole after conceding sloppy goals.
With all due respect etc etc you've got to look at it as another two points dropped against a side who have just four wins on the board this season, although as we haven't won an away game since August, they probably feel the same. Highlights again nicked from Matbro51's youtube channel, and very good highlights they are too:
Fair play to Lingy for bringing Ives in for Reason, though whether he will be brave enough to stick with a relatively untried player for the upcoming games against far superior opposition remains to be seen. Personally I think Ives deserves an extended run in the side, but would also understand if Lingy decided to opt for the more, ahem, bulky, figure of Reason.
We're now half way through the season, and to be honest so far it's been about as exciting as the average episode of Home and Away, with a top five finish looking less and less likely as the games tick by and points are squandered against mediocre opposition. Last year a total of 81 was needed to reach the play-off's, meaning we will need to improve considerably in the second half of the campaign if we are to be in with a shout of promotion. Not an impossible task, but not an easy one either, especially considering we have yet to meet three of the current leading quintet - Oxford, Stevenage, and Mansfield.
The most pleasing things about the season so far has been the progress of the youngsters - with Ives in particular already looking like a bonafide first team regular - and the extra resiliance that the side has been displaying of late. This is one area where Lingy is certainly superior to his predecessor; I often felt Brabin struggled to influence games once they were underway, whereas Ling's team talks and substitutions seem to have the desired affect more often than not. Hopefully this will be a particularly useful skill when he gots more of his own players in, be it in January or over the summer.
Still, we can leave the serious business of the league behind for a couple of weeks now and concentrate on the big prize, the FA Trophy. After all, we're only four games from Wembley...
On Tuesday night someone on the messageboard started a thread about the best games United have been involved in over the last decade.
Suffice to say that our 1-0 win over Chester will not be joining the list, but it would fit easily into the top ten worst football matches United have played, be it in the last ten years or in the history of the world. In fact, it would probably be up there in the top ten worst ways to spend two hours of your life, just above going for a drive with Tiger Woods or taking a leisurely boat trip into Iranian territorial waters.
I'd like to say I'm exagerating for comedic effect, but anyone who was there will confirm that I'm not. Suitable adjectives do not exist to describe how dreadful it was - 22 supposedly professional footballers lumping the ball back and fourth to one another with little quality or imagination on display.
In fairness both teams were depleted, Chester because of their well documented financial problems, and United due to a spate of injuries and suspensions which robbed them of the services of Gleeson, Tonkin, and Hatswell. Their CRC-bred replacements, McAuley, Coulson, and Coakley, all performed pretty well, though the full backs gave little support to the wide players when we were on the attack, meaning that Chester's five man midfield nullified the threat of Pitt and Willmott fairly comfortably.
Returning midfield duo Carden and Reason were fairly annoymous, and we looked much better when Ives joined the fray in place of the injured McAuley. I usually stick up for Reason but on this occasion I can offer no excuses for the terrible nature of his performance. I struggle to see how Lingy could justify starting him in the next game.
Meanwhile Crow and Holroyd toiled away up front with no great success, although this partly due to the paucity of the "service" being provided by their team mates. Chester had the best chances of the first half, with Owens rolling a tame shot into the arms of Potter and Chadwick doing likewise from an even better position.
United could have had a free kick in the box in first couple of minutes of part two, when Danby picked up what appeared to be a back pass under pressure from Holroyd. But after a lengthy discussion with his assistant, the ref strangely gave Chester a free kick, presumably for Super Chris's challenge on the visiting number one.
Nothing much else happened until Phillips and Marriott came on to liven things up. Despite looking a bit like a less grumpy version of Andy Murray, Maz appears to be a real prospect, and once again displayed the kind of instinctive eye for goal that has brought him so much success in the Ridgeons League. He almost netted the winner when he picked the ball up just outside the area, and sent a delicious chip over the keeper but also just over the bar.
He was eventually involved in the winner, being brought down on the left for a free kick, which Willmott took and delivered onto the head of Crowy, who beat Danby to the ball and flicked it into the net. The decision to come out for the ball looked to be a poor one from the keeper, and it was certainly a costly mistake for his team and their band of 43 travelling fans.
So yeah, we'll take the points and move swiftly on I think, there's no way we can be that bad again. Lingy's selection for Saturday will be an interesting one - if I was Ives I'd be thoroughly downhearted if I were benched again in favour of Reason, although continuing injury problems at right back may mean both are pressed into service, with Cardy on defensive duty. And with Hatswell available again too, will the boss disrupt the central defensive partnership which kept our first clean sheet in five games? Going on his previous choices, my guess is he probably will.
Bah, who wants to go to Stoke anyway? It's freezing cold, their fans are miserable gits, and Dave Kitson doesn't even play for them anymore. Unlucky York.
Having said that, United were the unlucky ones in a second round FA Cup game which they dominated, save for a mad three minute spell just before half time which ultimately put the visitors in round three. Highlights here, courtesy of MatBro51:
The early signs were promising, with our new young midfield pairing of Ives and McAuley showing up well in the middle of the park and the Pittster carrying on his impressive form of Tuesday night. The only disappointment was that, for all our possession and passing, we didn't force their keeper Michael Ingham into action very often. Holroyd put a header wide and a shot over after latching onto centres from Pitt, while clever play from Ives saw wriggle away from a couple of challenges in the box, but his flighted centre was just too high for Holroyd and Crow.
Part of our problem was that York looked solid as a rock at the back, and while their midfield wasn't up to much, the front pairing of Michael Rankine and Richard Brodie were giving us a lot of problems. After about ten minutes I made the mistake of reasserting my view that, based on his time at Rushden, Rankine is a "spectacularly inept" footballer. He of course rammed that back down my throat by opening the scoring in a fashion that was just plain spectacular. Chesting down a long ball from Ingham, he turned Gleeson and rattled a shot into the top corner from 25 yards. On the day I felt Potter possibly could have done better, but having seen it on tele he would've done well to save what was a really powerful effort. 0-1.
Moments later it was two. A United corner was cleared, and Brodie broke away down the left. Leaving a couple of players in his wake, he loped into the area, pursued by Willmott, who clumsily bundled him over near the edge of the box. You have to suspect that if Carden had been on the field the York top scorer would have been stopped in his tracks further up the pitch, but he dusted himself off to stroke the penalty low to the right of Potter who, as usual, helpfully dived out of the way. 0-2.
Everyone knows we're at our most dangerous when 2-0 down, and in the second period we laid siege to the visitors goal, winning numerous corners and free kicks but again failing to warm Ingham's gloves. Ives hammered a shot just wide from the edge of the area, McAuley failed to connect with a corner with the goal gaping, and then put a shot just wide at the far post.
On the rare occasions that the ball left the York half, Brodie and Rankine had taken to falling over at the merest hint of contact, a tactic which got them plenty of sympathy from baldy ref Mr Ruston. The injustice of it all eventually got too much for Hats, who crudely felled Brodie on half way and ran off grinning as he received an inevitable yellow card. Brodie was soon back on his feet, and almost put the match beyond doubt when, despite looking suspiciously offside, he raced onto a hanging through ball and poked a shot just the wrong side of the post.
By now Lingy had introduced Adam Marriott, who joined Crow and Holroyd in attack, and United kept up the pressure, halving the deficit in the 83rd minute. The goal came from the unlikely source of Tonks, who latched onto a half-cleared corner and drilled in a low half volley which found the net via the inside of the post.
It set up a tense final seven minutes, but despite a few oohs and ahhs from the crowd, we couldn't force an equalisers, and after Ingham had clutched a final corner from Willmott, Mr Ruston signalled the end of the match and York's progress into round three.
So despite playing a good deal better than they did against Rushden last Tuesday, United's cup dreams are over for another year. Never mind though, at least we've still got the Trophy...
Man of the Match: Courtney Pitt - Dangerous both on the flank and in the more central position he adopted in the second half. Had a hand in most of United's best moves.
The Pogues are on the radio, Iceland are flogging frozen meat products of dubious origins, and the X-Factor is chugging predictably towards a hysterical climax; it must be nearly Christmas.
So I think I'm justified in dusting off the trusty festive cliches, despite the fact it's still November. Rushden must have thought Christmas had come early when United giftwrapped them a couple of goals in a truly awful first half. But they showed good presents (sorry) of mind to pull it together in an encouraging second period.
Despite the massively variant nature of our recent performances, I'm growing in confidence that the Linguist is indeed a wise man. I liked his comments at the end of last night's game, particularly when he spoke about wanting his charges to show a bit of bravery in their play. I find it incredibly frustrating when players treat the ball like a hot potato and look to offload it at the first opportunity. If he can build a team of good characters who aren't scared of a bit of responsibility, I reckon we'll do alright.
Until that time, our participation in the race for the play-offs must be in serious doubt. It would help if we stopped giving teams above us in the table a two-goal start, and to be honest it could have been more in a first half totally dominated by the visitors. Lee Tomlin, who was the best player on the pitch by a distance, gave them the lead with a 30 yard free kick which beat the badly positioned Potter at his near post.
At this point United, the excellent Courtney Pitt aside, weren't at the races as an attacking force, but they could have equalised when the Pittster released Parky with a super through ball, but the winger blasted his shot over the bar when a square pass to the unmarked Holroyd would have left Super Chris with a tap in. I feel slightly embarrassed rubbishing Parky again, but he was absolutely woeful during his time on the pitch, contributing nothing in the final third and giving Gleese no cover when Tomlin and his full back Kurt Robinson roamed forward menacingly.
It was 2-0 just before half time thanks to Jefferson Louis, who as usual against United did little of note except score a goal. Some swift passes across the edge of the box released Mark Byrne, and he crossed for Louis to sidefoot home with the defence appealing in vain for offside.
We didn't even really look like scoring at the start of the second half, as referee Barrett began interupt the flow of the match with seemingly random blasts of his whistle. It took a moment of inspiration from the hitherto anonymous Carden to bring us back into the game. Sliding in to win a challenge in midfield, he brought the ball away from two players and lamped a 35 yard effort over the stranded Nathan Abbey. Wind assisted perhaps, but spectacular none the less, 1-2.
And four minutes later it was all square, after Crowy was brought down on the right corner of the box by Stuart. Pitt delivered the free kick, and unlike our usual set pieces it was a good one, fired into the six yard box with pace and curl, allowing Brian Saah to escape his marker and head in from close range. Comeback-tastic, 2-2.
United were in the ascendency now, but couldn't capitalise, and by the end the visitors had recovered their poise and looked the more likely scorers. But there wasn't really any other goalmouth action of note, and the match ended all square.
If they can hang on to Tomlin, Rushden look a good bet for the play-offs, so a point against them isn't a bad result, but we need to start turning draws into wins. If we are going to make the top five, I don't think we can afford to be more than six points off the pace at the turn of the year, and with a difficult looking festive programme, the results of our next two league games, against struggling Chester and Eastbourne, could shape the rest of our season.
Man of the Match: Courtney Pitt - The only player to emerge with any credit from that awful first half, he was a constant menace to the Rushden defence.
Meh, can't get rid of the buggers can we. Still, judging by our last two encounters it should be a good match, hopefully played out in front of a decent crowd.
And given the amount of riot police that were needed for our last encounter at the Abbey, rumour has it that Ian Darler is planning to bring in some temporary stands to house the visiting Hatters:
It's party time here at U's Blog towers. I've taken the day off work, defrosted a few sausage rolls, and will be inviting all my friends, neighbours, and acquaintances round later on for bucks fizz and cold chicken nuggets.
