Tuesday 7th October 2008 - U's 1-0 Lewes: Last Minute.Jon

'Football is like a drug.' Like a shirtless Geordie on a winter's day, it's a hoary and faintly disturbing old cliché, but no less true for all its overuse.

At 9.45pm on Tuesday night, the Trade Recruitment Stadium was full of nervous, irritable, frustrated and unhappy souls, who had undergone untold hours of cold turkey from seeing a goal in a match involving their black-and-amber shirted heroes. They twitched, they shuffled, they complained long and loud as they craved, nay, needed their next fix of goalscoring action.

Then, suddenly, came relief: Jon Challinor popped in a scrambled injury-time winner, and it was like ingesting a tablet of purest Ecstasy (er, I would imagine...). All around the ground they jumped, they shouted, they gurned, they hugged and screamed, arms raised to the high heavens, punching the air and clapping like excited baboons; an explosion of unfettered collective joy, not to mention relief after such prolonged denial and frustration. The goal came so late that the natural high lasted until the final whistle and beyond, as they applauded the idols they had been preparing to jeer mere seconds ago and wandered off into the balmy night, dazed and confused by the instant highs and lows of the, ahem, beautiful game. What a blast.

Football is of course as habit-forming and addictive as any drug, just as enjoyable during the good times and anti-social and dangerous when taken to excess. And once you're truly hooked, you are an addict for life, for better or for worse. The early-to-mid-2000s were one long bad trip for U's fans, while in contrast the supporters of Lewes remained on an almost constant high with four promotions in six seasons to take them from Division Three of the Isthmian League to the dizzy heights of the Conference. The financial reality of ascending to national league status has already induced a fairly dramatic comedown this year, with drastic changes in their playing squad and management, but after a traumatic start to the season with some fearsome batterings, Lewes seem now to be finding their feet after a fine victory over once-mighty Oxford and a draw that was only seconds from another victory at not-quite-so-mighty Histon.

Our Gary rang the changes after Saturday's bore-draw, reverting to 4-4-2 in recalling wide men Robbie Willmott and Felino Jardim, plus welcoming back Mark Beesley from injury; Danny Crow and Chris Holroyd dropped to the bench while Mark Convery did not even make the squad, Ben Farrell returning to the sixteen.

Lewes' initial game plan for this season was to rely on a team of local youngsters, but after early results demonstrated that this was unrealistic, they have added some grizzled old pros like Danny Cullip, Kerry Mayo and Scott Taylor, plus younger loanees Aswad Thomas (Charlton) and Sam Gargan (Brighton). It was unclear whether Aswad travelled to Cambridge on a double decker (obscure reference for the over-30s there).

Second bottom with one win all season, the visitors were looking for their first away victory of the season, although they had managed to draw more than they had lost on their travels so far (four to three). However, they were forced into a last-minute goalkeeping change when number one No.1 Rikki Banks experienced back spasms in the warm-up and was replaced in the starting line-up by American, Dean Ruddy (no relation).

After the unimaginative stodge of York, United started the evening's proceeds like a blast of fresh, clean air, going at their visitors via both wingers from the off and playing exactly the sort of exciting attacking football which Our Gary seems to want his team to play. In fact there was more excitement in the first five minutes than in the entire tedious ninety at the weekend.

Jardim was first to test the stand-in keeper within 45 seconds when he cut inside and shot low, but his effort did not carry sufficient power to overly trouble him. On 3 it was Willmott's turn to fire goalward, but Thomas blocked and Jon Challinor blazed the rebound over the top from distance.

Best effort so far came from Beesley on 5, already showing those classy little touches of guile that the team miss so much when he isn't there, but there was no subtlety in his tremendous dipping blaster from twenty yards which Ruddy did well to fingertip over. United kept up the pressure, Jardim's corner falling to Wayne Hatswell, and his scudder was tipped behind for another flag-kick from which Hatswell eventually poked wide.

If United had managed to open the scoring during this opening flurry, Lewes might well have found themselves on the end of a serious mauling, but buoyed by the experienced heads of Mayo, Anthony Barness and player-coach Cullip, they hung on in there and gradually began to gain a foot-hold in the game.

The deadlock really should have been broken, though, on 13 when Jardim made a tremendous run across the back four to stay onside from a through ball and burst clear down the right channel. Getting to the byline, he looked up and saw Beesley breaking unmarked into the middle, crossed, and from five yards out, the U's striker somehow managed to mishit what should have been a simple tap-in and it trundled apologetically into the relieved Ruddy's waiting gloves. It seemed a trip to Halfords for some rust treatment might be in order.

Ruddy was already taking his time in lining up his goal-kicks and he received a word of warning about timewasting from ref Farries, who was doing his best to ruin the game as a spectacle with unnecessary whistling for the most innocuous of challenges and the odd pointless lecture to a disinterested player, reminiscent of the timid Mr Barraclough from 'Porridge.'

The tackles were beginning to fly and Lewes' diminutive winger Stefan Cox floated a free-kick wide on 19. Lee McEvilly was presented with his first set piece opportunity four minutes later, but the angle was against him and his attempted floater was punched clear by Ruddy at his far post. Dan Gleeson looked in particularly fine form, and next minute his impressive run forward culminated in a tremendous left-footed Exocet of a shot which flashed narrowly over the top.

The fussy man in black handed out his first yellow card to Hatswell on 25 for a preposterously soft 'foul' on Taylor when much worse challenges went unpunished. Breaks in play became more frequent, due to the ref and to several players requiring treatment from their respective physios, and one began to suspect that the visitors were beginning to take advantage of Mr Farries in their desire to break the rhythm of the game.

Cox was next into the book on 30, deservedly for a dreadful late hack at Jardim as he crossed from the right, then the ref wrought the amber hordes' displeasure - and Beesley's - when he stopped play for a foul on Carden when Bees had the ball at his feet in the Lewes box. Gargan was booked for his, or rather Carden's, pains. Hatswell took the resultant free-kick, but his low shot hit the sparse visiting wall.

The teams slugged away at each other for the rest of the half but neither made much impression in the final third where it counts, United tending to over-elaborate or misplace their pass at the vital moment, while the U's defence coped fairly comfortably with the Rooks' attack. Mayo was forced to withdraw with a knee injury shortly before the interval, replaced by Ollie Rowland, and a half which had begun so promisingly for the hosts ended in frustration, Willmott having faded somewhat and McEvilly struggling to make much of an impression, while neither Carden nor Challinor had got forward enough in support of their forwards. Gleeson had given them good support, but Anthony Tonkin on the other flank was having one of 'those' evenings when it came to kicking the ball with any sort of finesse or indeed accuracy.

United forced the initial pace in part two, Hatswell getting a shot in from a corner that sneaked through to McEvilly, but he was flagged offside as he turned and shot wide. With drums at both ends of the ground, banged by rival United factions, it was rather like trying to listen to two records at once to denizens of the Habbin and Main Stand, the haphazard cacophony occasionally giving way to a recognisable snippet of a song before plunging back into chaos. A bit like a Slipknot album.

Against the odds, Lewes might well have taken the lead on 54. Joe Keehan sneaked a through ball into the path of Taylor, and Danny Potter did very well to hold his ground and make a fine reaction block. The U's responded with a break of their own, Jardim racing on to McEvilly's flick and firing a daisy-cutter which Ruddy pushed around the near post. Willmott took the resultant corner and Gleeson rose highest to head disappointingly over the bar.

Keeping up the momentum, McEvilly gave chase to a long ball on the hour, starting behind his marker Chris Breach but somehow managing to bustle between him and Ruddy to side-foot a cheeky shot which rolled agonisingly wide of the unguarded far post. Three minutes later Rowland tripped Willmott and Big Mac lined up a free-kick special from a central position 25 yards out, but he was unable to repeat his heroics of Burton and Weymouth and curled it well over.

He fizzed another shot wide a few minutes later, but by now Lewes were doing all they could to disrupt the flow of the game, aided and abetted by the ref, tumbling to the floor on a regular basis (at least two of their players could legitimately have been booked for 'simulation') and stifling the U's with little pushes and fouls. Ruddy was still taking his time over goal-kicks, but the man in black did nothing apart from make the occasional, futile 'rolling hands' gesture.

McEvilly got his head to Willmott's corner on 68, forcing a save from Ruddy, but Beesley was unable to sort out his feet for the rebound and scuffed his attempted shot. Our Gary went for broke four minutes later and switched to 4-3-3, withdrawing Willmott and a visibly peeved Jardim in favour of Chris Holroyd and Ben Farrell. For the visitors, Seb Wallis-Tayler replaced Cox, who had flirted coquettishly with a second yellow on several occasions.

After several unremarked fouls, the ref chose to book Challinor for an absolute nothing of a challenge on Barness, who had made a meal of it then seemed almost embarrassed when his opponent found his way into the book. The evening was becoming ever more frustrating for the amber army, and another goalless draw was beginning to loom unwelcomingly on the horizon.

It could have been worse on 80 when Lewes created their second excellent opportunity of the match, an untidy, bobbly build-up presenting Gargan with a poke at goal from close range, but again Potter was there with a crucial block with his feet as he shot for the near post.

Final sub for the visitors on 82 saw Taylor replaced by former Pease Pottage striker Chamal Fenelon (now there's a phrase you don't see every day). Another United break saw McEvilly thunder towards goal from the centre circle, but with four colleagues ahead of him, he went for the selfish option and screwed a lame shot well wide from 25 yards, to much annoyance. Then Holroyd latched onto a through ball to go through and score, only to be flagged for offside, and to his credit Mr Farries made his one correct application of the advantage rule and pulled play back for an earlier foul on Carden.

Whether through impatience, nerves or laziness, the presence of three strikers upfield led the U's players to lump far too many lazy, hopeful balls in their general direction rather than get the ball down and PLAY it forward, with Farrell an honourable and lively exception. McEvilly chased one ball which had been collected by Ruddy and charged down the keeper's attempted clearance, but as he gave chase to the loose ball he was harshly adjudged to have handled it even though his back had been turned when he blocked.

Challinor had a shot half-cleared to Holroyd, but his underhit shot dribbled to Ruddy. United were beginning to build up a last-minute head of steam, though, and it was backs to the wall for Lewes, cheered on by their 29-strong travelling army (bless 'em). There was more frustration on 87 when the U's gained a corner and no-one rushed across to take it - both corner-taking wingers were long gone - but when Carden eventually cottoned on and took it, there was a bout of pinball in the box before it somehow fell perfectly for Beesley, unmarked at the far post eight yards out. With Ruddy in close attendance, all he had to do was curl it into the uncovered opposite side of the goal, but he was if anything over-deliberate and curled it a couple of yards wide. His agonised expression and head-in-hands said it all; had that been The Chance to win it?

Lewes sneaked away to gain a corner of their own, then back came United and in the last minute of 'normal' time Beesley caught his shot perfectly fifteen yards out but saw it inadvertently blocked by his own colleague, Holroyd when it looked destined for the back of the net.

Then, in added time, came the breakthrough that we had all but given up hope of seeing. With United again camped in the Lewes half, Farrell arrowed a superb cross into the six-yard box, Holroyd threw himself at it under pressure from a defender and somehow spooned it up into the air away from goal; McEvilly retrieved with a firm header from beyond the right-hand post, it was blocked by what appeared to be a blatant Lewes handball, but it ran to Challinor eight yards out to lash coolly home. A baffled man in black could only signal a goal; cue bedlam. 1-0!

The U's saw out the rest of the match with some canny time-consuming possession deep in the corner, which should not really have been necessary against such limited opposition, but hey, you take the wins any way you can get them in a league as tight as this. Lewes had put up stout and spirited, if rather cynical, resistance, but they will need a little injection of added quality if they are to stay at this level, in the event they raise the funds necessary to upgrade The Dripping Pan.

As for United, it wasn't the change to 4-3-3 which won it, just dogged determination. This team is full of talent, but the blend is not quite right yet, and we cannot expect it to grind out binary score results all season. However, I have a feeling that only another one or two changes are needed before the jigsaw is complete and the team will just click. It might already have clicked had Andy Parkinson and, for a time, Beesley not been injured. Perhaps playing better quality opposition will bring out the best in them. Who's next? Weymouth? Oh well, fingers crossed...

Statto Corner
Tonight marked the second time this year that United have completed a hat-trick of consecutive clean sheets. The previous run was in their last three games of last season, before the playoffs: all 2-0 wins, away to Salisbury, home to Torquay and finally at Northwich.

Three men have played in league football for both Lewes and the U's. Dean Hooper came to the Abbey directly from the Dripping Pan in January 2007, but after three appearances he was forced to retire through injury. Winger Tony Towner made eight appearances for United in 1986 before drifting into non-League, while Mark Watson made four appearances for the U's on loan from West Ham in 1995, scoring one goal, but he never made the grade at Upton Park and also ended up in the lower reaches of the game.

Spot a few familiar faces in the Lewes line-up? Five of them have appeared at the Abbey before. The veteran of the quintet was Anthony Barness, who faced United three times for Charlton Athletic during the John Beck years, home and away in 1991-92 and in a 1-0 victory for the Valiants in August 1992.

Danny Cullip first appeared in Cambridge for Fulham on the last day of the 1996-97 season, the Cottagers celebrating winning the Fourth Division title with a 1-0 win. He has since faced the U's three times for Brighton, home and away in 2001-02 (including a dramatic 4-3 win at the Withdean in the pouring rain with a Bobby Zamora hat-trick) and in a pre-season friendly 2-2 draw at the Abbey in July 2004.

Kerry Mayo also played for Brighton in those last two games, and in three previous matches against the U's, all in Sussex in April 1997, March 1998 and April 1999, avoiding his club's away matches with United in all three seasons.

We have encountered Scott Taylor four times before. On the first occasion he was on loan at Rotherham from Bolton, and scored the second of his side's two injury-time goals to snatch a last-gasp 2-2 draw at Millmoor on 27th January 1998. By 2002 he was at Blackpool, and after helping the Tangerines to a 3-0 win at the Abbey in February, he was there to repeat the dose at the Millennium Stadium in the LDV final a month later, scoring the last of their goals in a 4-1 victory. His team-mates included future U, Tommy Jaszczun. We last saw him in the colours of Grays at the New Rec in United's 2-1 defeat in January of this year.

Manager's son Joe Keehan turned out for Crawley in their 2-1 Abbey defeat of 29th October 2005. No U's manager has ever selected his son to play in the black and amber, although Gary Johnson's son Lee was a schoolboy at the Abbey when dad was the boss. The two were later united at Watford's youth academy, Yeovil Town and now Bristol City.

Player Ratings
Potter 8. Made a couple of cracking last-ditch stops from chances that might have seen Lewes snatch an unlikely win.
Gleeson 9. Outstanding defensively and very useful supporting the attack, too.
Bolland 8. Consistent as ever.
Hatswell 8. Excellence is his middle name.
Tonkin 6. Looked like he had washed his boots and couldn't do a thing with them, regularly misplacing passes to the opposition or spooning it out of play. An off-day.
Willmott 7. Some promising bursts of pace and decent crossing, although he will have to start producing a bit more if he wants to stay in the starting line-up.
Challinor 7. Steady if unspectacular, but what a vital goal.
Carden 7. Not at the height of his powers, but put in a solid shift.
Jardim 7. A constant menace with his dribbling skills and unlucky to be substituted.
Beesley 8. Absolute class from start to finish; just a shame he missed two gilt-edged chances. Put it down to ring-rustiness.
McEvilly 7. Some way from his best, and too selfish several times in shooting from distance with better-placed colleagues ahead of him. Still played his part, though.

Holroyd 7. Eager and willing as ever, although couldn't find a cutting edge and ironically his howler of a miss led to the winning goal. Eventually.
Farrell 8. Impressive return for the ginger prince and made a good case for a start next time.

Match Summary
United scraped their second home added-time winner in a row after a frustrating ninety minutes which they dominated from start to finish but still could not find that magic formula up front; in fact two sharp saves from Danny Potter saved them from a much worse result. Nice result, but more work needed to get the balance of the team right.

Man of the Match
Dan Gleeson. Positively imperious.

Ref Watch
Farries 4. When you are in non-League I guess you must expect non-League standard refs, and this no-hoper will never trouble the Football League list. Intolerant of much innocent physical contact, unable to tell a fair challenge from a foul, far too quick with the whistle and seems to have minimal working knowledge of the advantage rule. Did his best to ruin the game from start to finish.

Becky's World of Wit and Wisdom
"Just about any dream grows stronger if you hold on a little longer." [Plymouth, 26/12/91]

Hello... Goodbye
Today's birthday boy is Tony Spearing (1964). Chirpy, likeable number two to Rob 'Buzz' Newman after facing the U's several times as a player for our chums from the north of the county, he never missed a chance to pull on the old boots in friendlies and even scored a screamer in a 6-2 win at Thetford in April 2006. I bet the players never heard the last of it.

Ben Sedgemore made his United debut on this day in 2006, in a 2-0 defeat at Gravesend & Northfleet. He scored his only U's goal in his next game in a 2-1 win at York, but managed only one more appearance plus one as sub before moving on to Rushden. He was last sighted at King's Lynn, although we did encounter his brother Jake at Altrincham last season.

Jon Rigby made his introductory U's appearance on this day in 1986 in a 2-2 League Cup tie at Wimbledon. A willing but limited trier of a striker, he notched seven goals in 33 games plus four as sub over two seasons before moving on to the Norfolk obscurity of Thetford and Wroxham, which was more his natural level.

Declan Perkins, recently celebrated in these pages as a goalscoring debutant back in 1995, played the second and last game of his Abbey tenure in a 4-2 win at Cardiff on 7th October that year, before returning to his parent club, Southend United. Another loan obscurity, Terry Robinson, took part in his last U's match on this day in 1972 on loan from Luton; he scored once in six appearances.

Soundtrack of the Day
The Music 'The Spike'

Andrew Bennett

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