Kiddy:1 U's:3

Every season has it's defining moments. For me, last year it was both the games with Stevenage; the first one showed that we were more than a match for the leagues best (at the time) sides and the second proved we had bouncebackability following an indifferent run of form.

I've got a sneaking feeling that last nights game could be one of this campaigns defining matches. In the past we've crumbled when having to defend the lead, especially once the opposition have pulled a goal back. However, against the Harriers we put in a confident and dominant second half performance which resulted in a win much more comfortable than the 3-1 scoreline suggests.

Our first win at Aggborough for more than 50 years never looked in doubt after Scotty had put us in front from the penalty spot. Bolland and McMahon had already gone close before Kiddy keeper Adam Bartlett hit a clearance straight at the Rendell, who controlled the ball and was about the pull the trigger when he was bundled over from behind by Keith Lowe. It may have been just outside the box, but Scotty wasn't going to complain, and as usual smashed in an immaculate penalty to the keepers left.

Be it by luck or judgement, the Tinkerman hit upon a formation (4-3-1-2) and line up that worked to perfection, with Carden and new boy Jai Reason snapping into tackles all over the park, and Beesley playing the link role to perfection. By contrast, Kiddy were sluggish, and consistantly misplaced passes as they looked to find dangerous front men Justin Richards and Matthew Barnes-Homer. Mark Yates side have looked very average on both occasions I've seen them play this season, and it probably says a lot about the quality of the league that they still have a realistic chance of reaching the play offs.

Holroyd made it 2-0 in the 31st minute. A super pass from Reason put Rendell in the clear, and although Bartlett pawed away his initial shot, Holroyd (pictured) latched onto the rebound and put it away with a well improvised overhead finish.

Kidderminster's equaliser was so out of the blue it could've come directly from the bottom of the ocean. A quick throw found Richards in the box, and he and Andy Ferrell worked the ball back to the unmarked Barnes-Homer, who finished confidently past Danny Potter. 1-2.

It seemed all set up for a nail-biting 45 minutes for U's fans, but Brabin's battlers enjoyed as much dominance in the second period as they did in the first. Rendell drew a great save from Bartlett as the home side failed to clear a string of corners. Their vulnerability from crosses was their downfall on the crucial third goal. Gleeson whipped in a beauty from the right, which was forced in at the far post by a combination of Holroyd and a defender. Holly's goal, obviously. 3-1.

The speedy striker could and should have had a hatrick before the end, volley a left footer straight at the keeper then heading over an open after a superb run and cross from captain Carden. Potter remained untroubled, and Kiddy's night was summed up when they won a free kick right on the edge of the area, and instead of going for goal tried to overcomplicate things and passed straight back to a yellow shirt.

So yeah, all happy days really; an excellent showing that Paul Parker called "one of the best away team performances I've seen since watching Conference football". I've always said that man knows what he's talking about.

Man of the Match: Paul Carden - The dominant presence on the pitch was instrumental at both ends of the pitch.

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AOB: Rights wrongness

Another postponement = another afternoon in front of Soccer Saturday, wincing as all the teams around us picked up three points. Never mind though - none of the results were really unexpected, and Northwich did us a favour yesterday afternoon by beating Kiddy. Harriers form hasn't been the best of late, so perhaps Tuesday will be a good time to break our double Aggborough/Setanta hoodoo.

Speaking of Setanta, there has been a lot of speculation about their future in the last seven days after they were outbid by Sky for one of the two Premier League live game packages they currently own. From 2010/11 season, Rupert Murdoch and co will now control five of the six packages, meaning Setanta will broadcast just 23 live games a season.

Now I know Setanta are (understandably) not very popular at our level because of the way they dick supporters about at short notice, and because they inflict us with Paul Parker on a regular basis. But I do think it would be a shame if they went to the wall, if only because it would leave Sky without any serious competition.

Moreover, I think the "auction" process that sees the rights distributed is totally half-arsed. Sky are not allowed to own the entire batch of Premier League rights because, according to the European Commission, it is anti-competitive, and not good for the consumer. Yet they are allowed to get their hands on five of the six groups of games. How is that good for the consumer? If you are a dedicated follower of the Premier League you have to shell out twice to see all the matches, and because they control so many of the games there is no incentive for Sky to drop their prices.

For me it should be all or nothing: they either need to let Sky have all the Premier League football, or introduce a rule whereby one company can only own a maximum of 50 per cent of the rights. I believe that would see true competition, and a possible reduction of the cost of watching premium sporting events. If we persist with the current situation, it seems only a matter of time before Setanta goes the same way as ITV digital.

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Just when you thought it was safe to go back onto the football pitch

Bloody snow. Much like Eczema, you think it's gone then suddenly it turns up again. I tuned in to Ebbsfleet - Burton last night in the hope of catching a glimpse of an orange ball (see my earlier post), and was amused to see that the ref had started the game with a white ball, which was barely visible on the increasingly snow-covered playing surface. Genius.

Although it (the snow) appears to be thawing fast, Ian Darler was on Histon FM this morning speaking in a fairly downbeat terms about the likelihood that tomorrows game with Mansfield will go ahead, and indeed a pitch inspection has been scheduled for 4.15pm this afternoon, so it's sounding ominous. Hopefully we will play another match at some point, I'm beginning to forget what some of our players look like.

If the game does happen, United will be looking for another three points to keep up the pressure on Roy Macfarlands Burton Albion, who will be within a mere 18 points of the Mighty U's should we win tomorrow. "Even though it looks like a foregone conclusion with Burton, we're not giving up," a defiant Brabinator told this mornings Evening News, evoking memories of similarly deluded blabber from JQ at this time last season.

"It would be silly to think there's an over-realistic chance of doing it, but that's what we've got to aim for," he added, before getting in an early contender for the Stating the bleedin' Obvious Award 2009 (sponsored by Alan Shearer); "We just need to win as many games as we can and see where that takes us at the end of the season." A radical new direction for a football team to take, I'm sure you'll agree.

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Booooooooooo

How rude. At 7.45pm last night I switched over from the latest episode of Verminators (great show if you haven't seen it) anticipating the start of another feast of Conference football, and was instead greeted by the sight of Steve Bower standing in front of an empty grandstand.

I initially thought Setanta had decided to broadcast a Histon game instead of featuring United's inevitable 1-0 defeat at Kidderminster, but it soon became apparent that our match had been rained off, despite the fact that it was absolutely, definately, 100 per cent, going ahead at 5pm yesterday. I suspect Kiddy were a bit economical with the truth regarding the chances of the game being played in the hope that, under pressure from the TV bods, the ref would give the pitch the thumbs up. And indeed who would blame him if he had caved in, after all I doubt anybody would relish the prospect of being pressurised by Paul Parker. One has to feel sorry for the travelling fans, who could surely have been saved a journey by an earlier pitch inspection.

"The weather has been horrendous, but from our point of view it's a wasted day having prepared for the game and had a long journey," the Brabinator told todays CEN. Poor cherubs, but at least our schedule has remained relatively unaffected by the inclement weather, and with no cup games to trouble us we should be in good shape for the rest of the season. The mounting fixture lists facing the likes of Torquay, Crawley, Kidderminster and Wrexham (I won't mention Histon, whose players are no doubt immune to tiredness) will hopefully take their toll on their league form.

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Kiddy

So it looks like tonights match at Kidderminster is going ahead. It's amazing how £13,000 of Setanta grubby money can focus the minds of groundsmen across the country to ready their pitches in times of meterological turbulance.

I'm hoping it snows during the game so that they have to get out the good old orange ball. You get many chances to see them nowadays; in fact I can't remember the last time I saw one employed during a game involving United. The only occasion that springs to mind is a match against Port Vale in the non-glory days of the mid-nineties. It was really really cold, Gary Rowett scored a late winner in last game before joining Everton, and Randell Butt, in his own inimitable style, wrote something like "the sparse crowd meant the crash barriers at the Newmarket Road End showed through like a bare ribcage". Come to think of it, it's amazing that I can remember such totally useless information from more than ten years ago yet can't remember things like buy milk when we need it, ho hum.

Anyway, it looks like the Brabinator has an almost full squad to choose from ahead of our game with Harriers, including Jai Reason, who has signed on a months loan from Ipswich to become midfielder #56124768 in our squad. In the past our leader has often gone for a rogue selection when given too many choices, so lets hope he makes the correct decision tonight.

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Reasons to be cheerful?

Not much going on in the big wide world of United this week. Apart from that it's snowing. Again. One suspects that another Histon home game will be falling by the wayside on Saturday - at this rate the Villagers won't be completing their season until July. Oh well, never mind.

Jez George becoming a director seems like a positive, if slightly pointless, step to me. Presumably it is to strengthen links with CRC, but it seems that in practical terms his job won't be changing very much. And how can someone who is an employee of the club also be a director? What I do know is that Jez and his coaches are doing a fantastic job with CRC, whose position in the Ridgeons League seems to be improving every season. Hopefully a few of this years crop will progress to the first team.

Meanwhile, United have taken Ipswich's Jai Reason on trial, a move which has surely delighted lazy headline writers (including me) everywhere. Again, this seems to be a slightly pointless given that we still have a surplus of centre midfielders, but perhaps if he does join it will precipitate the departure of Quinton and/or Convers. "He looks like he has good awareness and composure on the ball," muttered a non-committal sounding Paul Carden in the CEN. "They're prepared to do us a favour in terms of a deal, so it could benefit everybody all round". Not exactly a resounding endorsement of the lads talents, so we'll have to see whether he gives the management reason (hohoho) to get excited in the next couple of weeks.

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It's snow joke

Did you notice anything unusual when you woke up yesterday morning?

According to the radio, there was a cataclysmic national disaster overnight. The country was brought to a standstill, and the chances are society as we know it will never recover.

Either that or we’ve had a couple of inches of snow, and listening to some people (hello chavs of my office) talk, you wouldn’t think there was any difference between the two.

Luckily the killer snow held off long enough to complete Sundays game at Rushden. Due to an inconveniently-timed visit from some friends, I was unable to attend, but was by my radio to hear Mark Johnson utter the immortal words "Pitt gets in the cross, a header from Bollaaaaaaaaaaaand". The away support sounded pretty awesome on the radio, so well done to all who were there for being the teams 12th man and other such cliches.

It's interesting to note that the last two games we've won have come when we've a) lined up in 5-2-3, and b) not had Rendell in the team. I suspect the latter is a coincidence, but the former probably isn't and I hope that the Brabinator will stick with the formation for the next few games. We need some consistency if we're going to maintain our place in the play offs, and playing with wingbacks seems to suit us quite well at present.

The departures of Hoyte and Jardim were were two disappointing, if not entirely unexpected, developments on an otherwise quiet transfer deadline day. It surprises me that Hoyte, a player of some potential on the basis of his performances last season, has never been in the Brabinator's plans, but if he's not going to play there's little point having him here using up a wage. In my eyes there's little to choose between him and Coulson, and I suspect he will forge a decent career for himself elsewhere.

Ditto Jardim, who showed in patches this season the quality he possesses. Admitedly he hasn't done it on a consistent basis recently, but on the other hand he hasn't been afforded the sort of extended run in the side that other players, like Crow and Willmott, have been given when their form has dipped. Perhaps he is the kind of player who would benefit from playing at a higher level, where there is more of a focus on good football and less on your ability to kick other players in the shins. In any case, best of luck to both players in the future.

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