20-word match reports - U's 2 - 0 Tamworth

I'm running a bit behind this week, sincerest apologies. But here are a couple of 20-word match reports from last Wednesday's slaying of Tamworth;

Through the rain a Crow appeared - the Lambs scattered. Ref rubbish, Lingy waved, Partridge can't cross, got soaked. Didn't mind.
- @RounderBrighton

My first flaskless match of the year was not a memorable one. Josh Coulson was excellent again - MOM for me
- Face

*To submit your 20-word match report on the Grays match, email cufcblog@googlemail.com, visit the U's Blog twitter page, or leave a comment under this post.

Read more...

U's 2 - 0 Tamworth & pwoper nawtiness at Histon?

Who would've thought that by the end of this season we'd be the most stable football club in the county.

P*sh are searching for the fourth manager of their doomed stay in the Championship (yet Barry Fry somehow remains), City are contemplating life in Newmarket, and the Villagers are illegally chopping down trees and being investigated by the old bill over "financial irregularities."

Financial irregularities which, if you believe the line being peddled in today's CN, would, if proven, definately be the sole responsibility of the Baldwins. Definately.

Now far be it from me to defend our new chairman in waiting consultant, but it seems he and his wife have become a convenient peg on which to hang all Histon FC-related woes. If some wrong-doing has gone on at the Glassworld in the last few years then it seems unlikely that he (Baldwin) was the only one that knew about it.

Perhaps the new regime are keen to distance themselves from this because they know there's more bad news on the way. Or perhaps there's nothing in this story at all and it's just an attempt to smear the "old" order. We shall see in due course.

Anyway, on the pitch United have surely now banished any lingering relegation fears after last night's routine 2-0 win over Tamworth.

I can't really think of much to say on what was a fairly non-descript affair. No one played particularly well, or particularly badly, though as a unit we were poor in the first half, not helped by an even poorer ref. But Tamworth weren't very good either, and I always felt we'd go on to win, which we duly did. We seem to have forgotten how to lose at the moment, which is a pleasant change from earlier in the season.

Now we're safe, maybe the manager will consider giving a few more of the youngsters a run out in the first team. It would be good to see the likes of Jordan Patrick, Adam Marriott, and maybe even Luke Berry starting games between now and the end of the season.

*To submit your 20-word match report on the Tamworth match tomorrow, email cufcblog@googlemail.com, visit the U's Blog twitter page, or leave a comment under this post.

Read more...

Tamworth postponement leaves United on shake-y ground

Having awoken to bright sunshine in the town of Roy on Saturday morning, I was more than a little surprised to hear that our game with Tamworth had been postponed.

One suspects that a ref with more of a can-do attitude would have allowed it to go ahead. Certainly we have seen matches played in worse conditions in the past. But unfortunately we had the bloke (Rob Whitton) who scandalously sent off Stevenage's Daryl Murphy in the first leg of our play-off last year, and his choice to not let the match go ahead perhaps shows that his decision-making has improved little in the last nine months.

So there was nothing to do but wait with baited breath for the will they/won't they/will they/won't they/whothef***caresreally hand-shake between Wayne Bridge and England's Brave Love Rat John Terry ahead of the Chelsea - Man City game. As you probably know, they didn't, and I can't be the only one who thought it looked more than a little choreographed. I bet Wayno had been practicing his moves in the mirror all week.

The decision to postpone could be a damaging blow to United's fragile confidence, with three tough games coming up in the next ten days at home to Oxford then away to Barrow and Kettering. A nice, confidence-boosting, win over a Tamworth side whose form is nearly as bad as our own would've set the team up nicely for tomorrow night's clash with the league leaders. Plus there is the small matter of us now being in the relegation zone, which could also have a psychological impact on our poor little players. I can't see us getting anything against Oxford, but stranger things have happened I suppose.

Read more...

D-Day for Chester

Take-over bids by dodgy-looking Danish consortiums not withstanding, we should know in the next few hours whether or not Chester are departing the Conference, taking with them six precious points earned by Lingy's amber army earlier in the season.

I'll be pretty annoyed if the Blues do get the booted out, mainly because it means the 90+ minutes spent at that awful, awful, match we won 1-0 in December will have been a complete waste of time. But putting that aside, Chester is a mess that won't get any better, and must be put out of its misery. That there is even any doubt as to whether the life-support machine is going to be switched off just goes to prove what a complete shambles the The Conference is.

Because as you probably know, the fate of the Blues has been left in the hands of the member clubs, who will meet at Rushden today to consider what to do. I like to imagine all the chairmen sitting in a row, Britain's Got Talent style, and delivering their verdict via a big illuminated red cross displayed above their head, but maybe that's just me. Certainly some chairmen I could name have about as much charm as Piers Morgan, and are almost as smug.

Mansfield have already confirmed they will be voting selfishly to keep Chester - and their points - and I would hope United will do the same, or at least abstain. After all, what else can we possibly do? It's not right, but it would be stupid for a Turkey to vote for Christmas. If Chester do survive, lets hope the Conference board grow a pair and change their own rules, because expecting members to vote objectively on the future of a competitor is patently ridiculous.

Meanwhile United will go in search of that elusive win against Tamworth tomorrow without the services of Robbie Willmott, who has apparently been ruled for the rest of the season with a knee problem. No great loss if you ask me, but it does leave United short in wide areas. According to the CN Lingy is considering whether to deploy Rory McAuley or Sam Ives on the right of midfield, but if it was me I think I'd be tempted to bring in Daryl Coakley and push Aiden Palmer up into midfield. Palmer is a tricky customer, and probably the best crosser we have, and would also give us a bit of pace which the team will lacks sans-Willmott.

Whatever the line up, a win is long overdue, and we're not likely to get a better chance than against a Tamworth side whose form is nearly as bad as our own. 'Mon United.

Read more...