Saints:1 U's:4

After two months without football, with only late night Copa America sessions for company, a trip to St. Neots Rowley Park ground seemed like a good idea. Unfortunately it only took about 10 minutes for the novelty factor to wear off and for me to remember why I hate pre-season friendlies and their slow paced, meaningless football.

There weren't even any comedy trialists to laugh at as Jimmy Quinn fielded a strongish side in the first half, and from the off it was clear United were a bit sharper than their part time, United Counties league hosts. Unfortunately poor finishing, coupled with an extremely bumpy pitch not exactly conducive to free-flowing football, meant the half ended scoreless.

As ever Mark Peters’ class stood out in defence, marshalling his young cohorts Adam Davies and Gavin Hoyte. Davies looked comfortable on his return from such a long injury, while Hoyte was less assured, getting in a muddle on several occasions. Dan Gleeson and Courtney Pitt were lively on the flanks, while in the centre of midfield new signing Mark Convery impressed with some pin point passing. Up front it is easy to see why Lee Boylan has scored so many goals in his career – the diminutive striker is very direct, going for goal at every opportunity.

JQ made a raft of changes in the second half, and United were in front soon after the restart. Boylan muscled his way past a defender on the half way line, and put in a looping cross which sub Dan Chillingworth headed in at the far post. But St Neots were level almost immediately. Michael Morrison failed to deal with a straightforward long ball and a home striker nipped in to beat Danny Potter from close range.
St Neots had brought on the worlds smallest goalkeeper at half time, and it was evident that United would have success putting high crosses in the box. It was one such cross from Robbie Wilmott that allowed Michael Hyem to head the U’s back in front, and shortly afterwards he got his second, this time from an Andy Hughes centre. Josh Coulson scored the fourth, a header from a Stephen Reed free kick, to wrap up a comfortable victory.

As ever with friendlies it’s hard to tell what to make of this match, but there were certainly positives that can be taken out. The new signings, particularly Boylan and Convery, look to be settling in, while some of the CRC players look set to make a real impact on the first team this season.

Man of the Match: Michael Hyem – an all action second half display capped with two opportunist goals

Weirdo of the Match: The charming St Neots fan who spent the whole 90 minutes groaning his support for the home side. At one stage he sat on top of a bin totally obscurring the view for half of the spectators in the 'main' stand.