U's:4 Vics:1
What's that I see careering past my window? It must be one of the wheels that have fallen off Burton's title challenge in the last couple of weeks.
Sadly, I suspect that the remaining wheels will be enough to help them wobble over the finishing line, and indeed it would take a massive engine failure for them not to beat Weymouth's collection of school boys and cast offs (and Stephen Reed) on Tuesday night. But the way we're playing at the moment we'll certainly be right in their slipstream as the chequered flag approaches.
That's enough with the car analogies for one day. United barely needed to leave third gear (sorry) to beat a surely-doomed Northwich side and close the gap further on the leaders. It wasn't exactly a classic performance, but four goals are four goals, and it shows how far we've come that we're now confidently beating teams like Northwich and Woking (as we should), rather than scraping past them as we were earlier in the season.
From the off it was fairly obvious that the visitors weren't very good, not least because they were fielding one of the non-leaguest looking players I've seen for a while in the rotund shape of target man Kyle Perry. What's even more shocking is that he's on the books of a professional club, Port Vale. The mind boggles.
Ryan Clarke in the Northwich goal made good early saves deny Bolland and Willmott, while Vics Lee Elam tested Danny Potter from distance with a shot which may have been heading wide anyway before our keeper turned it round the post. I didn't realise that Elam was still playing, and the formerly tricky winger looks a shadow of his former self. He's still a consumate diver though, as he proved on several occasions throughout the match.
Any thought that the visitors might cause us too many problems evapourated after we took the lead. Carden snapped into a challenge in midfield, dispossessing Crowell and sliding a pass through for Holroyd, whose lightning pace saw him reach the ball just ahead of Clarke and slam it into the net. 1-0.
Five minutes later it was 2-0. After a Pitt corner was headed against the crossbar by Bolland, Hatswell drove in a shot that Clarke couldn't hold, and Rendell, ever the predator, tucked away the rebound.
At this stage United were rampant, but Vics shocked everybody - including themselves probably - by scoring the next goal. Perry showed good agility for a big man by throwing himself to the ground just outside the box and winning a dubious free kick. From the set piece, Luke Joyce curled the ball over the wall, and saw it elude everybody and sneak in at the far post.
That certainly wasn't in the script, but normal service resumed when Rendell netted his second shortly afterwards. Again the quicksilver Holroyd was involved, picking up a pass from Robbie Willmott and sending over a low cross which left the unmarked Rendell with the simple task of slotting the ball in at the far post. That's an astonishing 14 goals for Scotty since he came back from the darkside, and he and Holroyd have now scored 15 times in the ten games they've started together. Stat-tastic eh.
Perhaps understandably, the U's took their foot off the gas a bit in the second half. No point over-extending yourself when there are tougher games on the horizon I suppose. Northwich also decided to get a bit more physical, with referee Steve Martin (presumably taking a break from the filming of Cheaper by the Dozen 987534543) failing to punish several blatent indiscretions. I'm all for referees going easy on the whistle, but when a defender is constantly putting an opposition striker in arm and head locks, it's probably time to step in.
I'm struggling to think of interesting things which happened after the break. The atmosphere was very flat, with both sets of players and fans seemingly accepting that the result was already a forgone conclusion. Parky livened things up a bit when he joined the action, extending Clarke with a near post shot that the keeper had to parry behind, and lobbing just over the bar after a sprightly run down the middle. In between, the wide man thumped home his first goal for the club, after fellow sub Jon Challinor's long throw had been flicked on by Holroyd. As the Brabinator mentions at every opportunity, having him back should be a big bonus in the run in.
Man of the Match: Chris Holroyd - Faster than a speeding bullet, and almost as deadly.Read more...
