U's:1 Blues:0

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.