U's:0 Rovers:4

I know inflation is an unavoidable problem in these credit-crunched times, but prices are spiralling dangerously out of control.

For example, when did chocolate become so expensive? You can't get any normal sized bar in Royston's WH Smith store (here at U's Blog we're not afraid to name and shame) for less than 65p, it's ridiculous.

The same issues are apparently afflicting football matches. I paid £15 to watch United play Blackburn on Tuesday night. £15! For a friendly! It seemed like a good idea at the time, but after about 20 minutes of "action" I was seriously questioning my sanity.

It would have been ok if Rovers had a few star names in their line up, but the only faces I recognised from their first half team were skipper Craig Nelson and everyone's favourite spitting llama, El Hadji Diouf. The latter went up in my estimation by taking the wind up attempts of the Habbin in good humour, even displaying his freakishly large tongue on one occasion.

From what I remember United played alright for about 20 minutes. Parky made a couple of sprightly bursts down the right, and Phillips looked his usual busy self upfront, but twice got into good positions before shooting weakly at the keeper. Generally our attacking play wasn't especially threatening, with neither of the central midfielders, Reason and Farrell, straying beyond the half way line very much. The absence of Carden, confined to the dug out, was keenly felt.

Rovers on the other hand looked dangerous every time they got near our box. Their opening goal was a bit fortunate, with Keith Andrews' free kick taking a deflection off the top of the wall and wrong footing Danny Potter. The second came via a defensive cock up, with Reason, Coulson and Hatswell contriving to present the ball to Diouf, who ran clear and slotted the ball into the net.

It was all change at half time for the visitors, who brought on an entirely new line up. United made several changes as well, and these only accentuated the gulf in class between the two sides. Jason Roberts got on the scoresheet twice with close range finishes following a couple of slick passing moves, while United didn't really have an effort on goal of note, aside from a Reason corner which nearly dipped straight in under the crossbar. Some light entertainment was provided by Blackburn's Jason Brown, usually a keeper but pressed into service on the right wing after another player went off injured. He was cheered by the travelling fans every time he touched the ball, and rewarded them with a bit of Ronaldo-esque showboating.

So yeah, for a lot of the match we looked ponderous and ineffective, and while much of this is probably down to the fact that we were up against far superior opposition, you have to worry about the depth of our squad. All we've got on the bench at the moment are kids, and as talented as they may be, our team is going to end up looking very lightweight if we have to chuck too many of them in at once. Best cross our fingers for a relatively injury-free season.

Man of the Match: Jai Reason - Tried his best to keep a grip on midfield.







Muppet of the Match: The tannoy man, for turning a simple announcement about raffle tickets into a 20 minute monologue.