Brewers:1 U's:2
This season is beginning to shape up rather well. United’s umpteenth 2-1 win of the campaign so far put pay to another of our promotion rivals, Burton Albion, on a freezing Friday night in Derbyshire.
As befits one of the newest grounds in the Conference, facilities at Burton’s Pirelli Stadium are pretty good. Despite not being particularly pleasing on the eye (too many breezeblocks for my liking) it would certainly not look out of place a league or two higher up the pyramid.
It wasn’t until United took to the pitch just before kick off that I realised we had a new player in the line up. It was a throwback to the pre-website days of my youth when, if a player was signed after the CEN’s deadline, you wouldn’t know anything about it until the match started.
Luckily we have those new-fangled squad numbers now, meaning it was easy enough to deduce that the new man was Paul Carden, ex-scum captain and one time Burton loanee. He replaced Daryl Knights in midfield, while Dan Gleeson returned at the expense of Courtney Pitt, with Stephen Reed switching from right to left. A final change saw Mark Albrighton make a welcome return in defence, with Gavin Hoyte dropping to the bench.
Without Pitt and Knights, United looked short of creativity going forward during an evenly matched first half. Burton (or, to give them their full name, Nigel Clough’s Burton Albion) took the lead in the 17th minute from pretty much their first attack. Aaron Webster threaded a pass between Albrighton and Gleeson for Keith Gilroy, who got to the byline and cut the ball back for Shaun Harrad to sidefoot past Potter from 12 yards.
Up to this point United had enjoyed most of the possession, but the goal seemed to spur Burton on, and Potter had to be on his mettle again to finger tip a Greaves header over. The problems were all coming down the right, where Convery was providing little cover for Gleeson, meaning Webster had pretty much a free reign to roam forward and double up with Gilroy on the beleaguered wing back. All the U’s could muster in response were long range efforts from Boylan and Convery, neither of which unduly concerned veteran Albion stopper Kevin Poole.
Apparently JQ ‘took the roof off the dressing room’ at half time, a staggering feat even for a man of his stature. It had the desired effect, with the equaliser coming five minutes after the restart. Greaves fouled Rendell about 30 yards from goal. The resulting free kick was rolled across to Reed, whose shot flicked off the head of Webster and past the wrong-footed Poole into the net.
The comeback kings had done it again, but Burton were never going to lay down and die, and shortly after the goal Potter made a terrific double save, parrying a Daryl Clare shot then somehow clawing away Harrad’s rebound effort. John McGrath also went close before the games turning point came in the 64th minute.
Clare and Mark Peters had been enjoying a running battle all match, and when the two players went up to challenge for a high ball, the prolific striker felled the big Welshman with a stray elbow. Referee Scott deemed this deliberate, and flourished a red card. From the opposite end of the pitch it was hard to tell whether this was pre-meditated or not, but the referee was in a great position to make his decision. Needless to say Burton were not amused.
And the home sides misery was compounded moments later when Scotty Rendell bagged what turned out to be the winning goal. Just before the sending off, JQ had made a double change, introducing Lemu and Pitt for Boylan and Convery. The Pittster made an immediate impact, skipping away from Andy Corbett and putting in a wonderful low cross which Rendell tapped in from about two yards.
Young Nigel threw Darren Stride on as an emergency striker, but despite winning a number of corners and free kicks, the ten men failed to test Potter again, and on the break United could and should have added to their tally. Wolleaston, who had a quiet game by his recent high standards, flashed a low shot wide, before setting up LFW for a glorious chance from six yards which he hit straight at the keeper. Right at the death big Leo created another opportunity for himself with a clever turn, but Poole was equal to his shot, parrying it away to safety.
Again, I don’t think United were at their best, but this team is so resilient that they seem to be able to get the right result regardless of performance level. We’ve now beaten every other team in the top five, and with a few scorelines going our way at the weekend, gaps are beginning to open up. For example there are now a comfortable nine points between us and the village idiots in 7th. Happy Days.
Man of the Match: Danny Potter – Lived up to his billing as one of the top keepers in the league with a series of excellent saves.
As befits one of the newest grounds in the Conference, facilities at Burton’s Pirelli Stadium are pretty good. Despite not being particularly pleasing on the eye (too many breezeblocks for my liking) it would certainly not look out of place a league or two higher up the pyramid.
It wasn’t until United took to the pitch just before kick off that I realised we had a new player in the line up. It was a throwback to the pre-website days of my youth when, if a player was signed after the CEN’s deadline, you wouldn’t know anything about it until the match started.
Luckily we have those new-fangled squad numbers now, meaning it was easy enough to deduce that the new man was Paul Carden, ex-scum captain and one time Burton loanee. He replaced Daryl Knights in midfield, while Dan Gleeson returned at the expense of Courtney Pitt, with Stephen Reed switching from right to left. A final change saw Mark Albrighton make a welcome return in defence, with Gavin Hoyte dropping to the bench.
Without Pitt and Knights, United looked short of creativity going forward during an evenly matched first half. Burton (or, to give them their full name, Nigel Clough’s Burton Albion) took the lead in the 17th minute from pretty much their first attack. Aaron Webster threaded a pass between Albrighton and Gleeson for Keith Gilroy, who got to the byline and cut the ball back for Shaun Harrad to sidefoot past Potter from 12 yards.
Up to this point United had enjoyed most of the possession, but the goal seemed to spur Burton on, and Potter had to be on his mettle again to finger tip a Greaves header over. The problems were all coming down the right, where Convery was providing little cover for Gleeson, meaning Webster had pretty much a free reign to roam forward and double up with Gilroy on the beleaguered wing back. All the U’s could muster in response were long range efforts from Boylan and Convery, neither of which unduly concerned veteran Albion stopper Kevin Poole.
Apparently JQ ‘took the roof off the dressing room’ at half time, a staggering feat even for a man of his stature. It had the desired effect, with the equaliser coming five minutes after the restart. Greaves fouled Rendell about 30 yards from goal. The resulting free kick was rolled across to Reed, whose shot flicked off the head of Webster and past the wrong-footed Poole into the net.
The comeback kings had done it again, but Burton were never going to lay down and die, and shortly after the goal Potter made a terrific double save, parrying a Daryl Clare shot then somehow clawing away Harrad’s rebound effort. John McGrath also went close before the games turning point came in the 64th minute.
Clare and Mark Peters had been enjoying a running battle all match, and when the two players went up to challenge for a high ball, the prolific striker felled the big Welshman with a stray elbow. Referee Scott deemed this deliberate, and flourished a red card. From the opposite end of the pitch it was hard to tell whether this was pre-meditated or not, but the referee was in a great position to make his decision. Needless to say Burton were not amused.
And the home sides misery was compounded moments later when Scotty Rendell bagged what turned out to be the winning goal. Just before the sending off, JQ had made a double change, introducing Lemu and Pitt for Boylan and Convery. The Pittster made an immediate impact, skipping away from Andy Corbett and putting in a wonderful low cross which Rendell tapped in from about two yards.
Young Nigel threw Darren Stride on as an emergency striker, but despite winning a number of corners and free kicks, the ten men failed to test Potter again, and on the break United could and should have added to their tally. Wolleaston, who had a quiet game by his recent high standards, flashed a low shot wide, before setting up LFW for a glorious chance from six yards which he hit straight at the keeper. Right at the death big Leo created another opportunity for himself with a clever turn, but Poole was equal to his shot, parrying it away to safety.
Again, I don’t think United were at their best, but this team is so resilient that they seem to be able to get the right result regardless of performance level. We’ve now beaten every other team in the top five, and with a few scorelines going our way at the weekend, gaps are beginning to open up. For example there are now a comfortable nine points between us and the village idiots in 7th. Happy Days.
Man of the Match: Danny Potter – Lived up to his billing as one of the top keepers in the league with a series of excellent saves.
Disappointment of the Match: Burton doesn’t smell of marmite. Despite reports to the contrary, there wasn’t even the faintest aroma of tasty yeast extract-based spread in the air on Friday.
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