Friday was surely the longest day ever. Admittedly I spent the morning in Cambourne, a place so bleak and soulless that minutes seem like hours at the best of times. But even if I had been somewhere a little more pleasant, I suspect the clock would have still been ticking much more slowly than usual.
But eventually it was time to make the journey north to Burton for the first leg of our showdown with Nigel Clough’s Burton Albion. Or, as the tannoy announcer at the Pirelli Stadium choose to call it, “a celebration of football.” He obviously hasn’t seen many games in the BSP this season.
Despite JQ’s pre-match statement that “the way my teams play is to have a go”, his line up belied a more defensive approach, with two natural full backs, Reed and Gleeson, taking up the wide midfield positions. The players entered to the pitch to one of the thickest blizzards of yellow pages I’ve ever seen, which I’m sure the Burton ground staff had great fun clearing up post match.
NCBA like to use the full width of the pitch, with their full backs constantly overlapping dangerous wingers Gilroy and Corbett, and I assume this is why Gleese and Reed were deployed in midfield. This worked to a point, but with neither providing much forward momentum, our main offensive tactic was to launch the ball over Burton’s ponderous looking backline to exploit the pace of Magno-inho and Beesley. This almost paid dividends early on when the former flicked the ball through to the latter, who ran clear on goal on the right but saw his near post shot smothered by Kevin Poole.
Vieira got clear in a similar position shortly afterwards, but dallied a bit, cutting inside and seeing his shot blocked by John Brayford, he of the abysmal haircut. The Brazilian put in the best performance I’ve seen from him in a U’s shirt so far, and could’ve had a penalty when he was chopped down near the byline by the backtracking Daryl Clare.
Clare was, as usual, looking dangerous, while needing little encouragement to, ahem, reacquaint himself with the ground. He registered his sides only shot on target of the half, with a wicked curling free kick that Potter tipped over the bar. Reedy headed one away from just in front of the line, while Danny Brown was slightly fortunate not to score an own goal when a cross bobbled off his shins into DP’s arms. United probably shaded the first half, but 0-0 was about right going into the break.
Courtney Pitt entered the fray at half time in place of Reed, who picked up a knock, and he was soon involved in the action conceding a free kick for handball. Having seen a replay, the ball clearly came off his chest, so perhaps justice was done when Brayford headed the ball in at the far post but saw his effort ruled out for pushing.
But Burton were in the ascendancy now, and although Potter wasn’t stretched they were getting closer and closer to the goal, while United break aways were becoming more sparse. The pressure told in the 65th minute, when a cross field pass found Corbett challenging Pitt on the edge of the box. Courtney tried to control it, but the ball got away from him, and his opposite number skipped past and tumbled over the Pittster’s outstretched leg, penalty. Clare managed to stay on his feet during his run up, and dispatched the spot kick coolly as Potter, as keepers often do, dived in the opposite direction before he’d even kicked it. 1-0.
It got worse three minutes later when Clare brought a free kick from Morrison on our right. Replays show Morro clearly won the ball, and the injustice was compounded when Darren Stride rose highest to connect with the free kick and head past Potter. 2-0.
Jimmy introduced Evil and Farrell for Beesley and Gleeson, but Burton almost put the game (and probably the tie) to bed when Brayford almost forced the ball over the line in a goalmouth. But Potter, with help from the imperious Hatswell, cleared the danger, and moments later United were handed (geddit, handed) a fortunate lifeline.
Wolly got a cross in which Stride nearly sliced into his own goal, but from the resulting corner, Morro headed the ball onto Vieira, who turned and saw his shot blocked at point blank range by the arm of Paul Hurst. Handball? Definitely. Deliberate? I doubt it, but the main thing is that the lino thought so, and signalled for a spot kick. With Boylan on the bench, Evil took responsibility, and although I didn’t have much confidence in the big man, he kept his composure and shot high into the net. Game on, 2-1.
Now Burton were looking more anxious than Gordon Brown on election night, and as the United fans cranked up the noise, the players cranked up the pressure. The ball pinged around the edge of the Brewers area for several minutes before the Pitt skipped in from the left and fell over under challenge from Corbett. It looked like a free kick at the time, although again replays prove it, er, wasn’t. But who cares really, because Evil took aim and curled the ball deliciously over the wall and past Poole, who could help it on its way into the goal. Joy unconfined for the 1,600 U’s, as Evil charged around gleefully in celebration, pawing the ground like a rampaging scouse Bull. 2-2.
With the momentum having swung firmly back in our favour, United looked the more likely scorers in the closing stages, although there was still time for the home side to have another disallowed, when Harrad clearly pushed Potter aside, meaning Clare’s close range finish was in vain.
For me JQ dropped the ball with his team selection on Friday, and got it away with it because of a couple of decisions that went in our favour. Although a draw was a fair result on the balance of play, we could easily be staring at a two goal deficit going into tomorrow nights match because our leaders decision to adopt an overly pragmatic approach.
Burton’s defence, which lest we forget has now shipped ten goals in three games, is not the best, and if we can put them under a bit of pressure at the Abbey I reckon they’ll crack. I’m sure Jimmy would say the end result justified the means, but I hope we’ll be ‘going for it’ a bit more on Tuesday night. Bounce bounce.
Man of the Match: Wayne Hatswell – Although Evil’s contribution was obviously more eye-catching, Hats was like an assured beacon at the heart of our defence throughout.
Shambles of the Match: Getting back to our coaches. No one seemed to know where they were parked, particularly the Police, who sent us in the opposite direction. Good work fellas.
In a move presumably instigated by the regions headline writers, who have been in a state of depression since Dan "Red-hot Chilli" Chillingworth and Leo "United's Fortunes go West" Fortune-West departed the Abbey, United have opened talks with Histon's wonderfully named Adrian "It's Cambridge for Cambridge" Cambridge.
