Saturday 1st November 2008 - U's 0-0 Rushden: In the bleak mid-season
Gloves! He's wearing gloves! Hallowe'en on Friday night signalled the beginning of November, and to all intents and purposes the onset of the good old British winter. And to commemorate the occasion, Chris Holroyd trotted out to warm up in a pair of snug black hand-warmers.
Of course, the namby-pamby likes of foreigners like Pascal Chimbonda pull on the gloves at the first hint of a cool breeze these days. Football has always been a winter game in this country, and there is something strangely comforting about digging the old black'n'amber scarf and hat out of the wardrobe when the cold weather sets in. And the gloves, of course.
Somehow I never feel fully dressed, going to the match in shirtsleeves. Now the first muppets of November have started letting off fireworks several days early as usual, it is time to pull on full winter footballing plumage, even as the traditional yellow snow-season ball is unveiled on the telly. What drama these garments have seen over the years! What goals! What players! What weather! Don't remind me of Canvey Island again, please...
Blow, blow, thou winter wind, thou art not so unkind as man's ingratitude; thy tooth is not so keen because thou art not seen, although thy breath be rude. As the seasons of mists and mellow fruitfulness (not to mention eggs and flour, the little beggars) gave way to grey, chilly but bearable football weather, the day's visitors were Rushden & Diamonds. After a close season of conspicuous expenditure, a deeply underwhelming start to the term hit rock bottom last week with FA Cup defeat at Evesham United, and boss Garry Hill responded by slapping a number of formerly illustrious names on the 'available for transfer' list.
One name who escaped the list of shame was Rob Wolleaston (no, not because he just forgot he was there) and he was restored to the side to face his former employers. Wolly was a frustrating player in black'n'amber, capable of great artistry, but just as likely to turn into the Invisible Man when the going got tough. But he scored some corking goals for the U's, and in his last game he scored the most memorable: the fastest goal ever seen at the Abbey in the playoff semi-final against Burton after 27 seconds. Thanks for the memories, Wolly.
Our Gary kept the same side which battled to that 3-2 win at Boston last week, a good result in the light of what happened to Rushden, Lewes (Leiston!), Crawley (Havant & Waterlooville!!) and Wrexham (Eastwood Town!!!). The visitors' side was a mixture of youth and old stagers like Chris Hope, Curtis Woodhouse, Andy Burgess and our old chum Daryl Clare.
United started in lively fashion, playing a proper 4-4-2 with two wingers who hugged the touchlines and were always looking for the ball down the flanks in order to ping crosses into the middle. As last week, Felino Jardim started on the right and Robbie Willmott on the left, although they would swap from time to time throughout the match. A competitive opening saw visiting left-back Michael Corcoran booked on 4 for an agricultural 'tackle' on Paul Carden which might have earned him a red card later in the match. United have certainly had players sent off for less this season.
For all the hosts' good approach play, however, it took them nine minutes to carve out their first chance, Willmott squaring it low for Danny Crow to poke wide at the near post under pressure from Hope. Rushden also got forward on occasion, but did not overly trouble the United defence, but a key moment for the U's came on 16 when another Willmott cross to the near post led to a clash of heads between Hope and Mark Beesley.
The Diamonds man was able to continue after treatment, but Bees was not, blood streaming from a head wound in front of a South Stand full of guests from the emergency services, and he was replaced by Chris Holroyd. When the ensuing corner was eventually taken, the first of the match, Wayne Hatswell saw his header deflected wide.
Holroyd is a willing worker, but United lost some subtlety with the loss of Beesley. Woodhouse fired wide for the visitors from twenty yards on 23, then United enjoyed a few minutes of pressure, but although the crosses were flying in, there was no end product in the box and the most keeper Dale Roberts had to do was pluck them out of the air like stray balloons on the brumal breeze.
Marcus Kelly shot over for Diamonds on 29, then after Jardim was fouled by Corcoran, Willmott arced a free-kick into the box which Holroyd nodded wide. Jon Challinor then also missed the target before the same man reached Willmott's corner but saw his header pawed away by Roberts.
Still no breakthrough, although United had enjoyed much the better of possession, Carden and Challinor edging the middle of the park against the pugilistic Woodhouse and the wraith-like figure of Wolleaston, clad all in white with matching boots like the Ghost of Playoffs Past. It took the visitors 35 minutes to gain their first corner, but like every other ball into either box, it came to naught.
All this Tantric football (hours of build-up, no climax) showed little sign of changing. United continued to ping balls out to the wings, but Jardim in particular tried to do too much on occasion and failed to get the cross in, and when the ball did make it into the area, it never seemed to fall right for United, for whom Crow and Holroyd worked valiantly but were never able to exert the physical dominance of a Lee McEvilly or deft touches of a Mark Beesley.
Challinor tried a decent effort on 44, curling his shot from the edge of the box around a crowd of bodies, but Roberts dived well low to his left to save, and the sides traded corners again before the half-time whistle sounded. So far, so reasonable, but a final product would be needed in part two.
The weather took a turn for the worse as the afternoon became crepuscular, steady rain falling and gradually becoming heavier as the second half progressed. Hope re-emerged for the restart (the player, not the virtue) with his head impressively bandaged and play resumed much as before.
Clare, almost entirely anonymous so far, saw a shot blocked behind by Hatswell early on, and the half saw an early booking like the previous one when Burgess was carded for a clattering of Holroyd out on the left on 53. Willmott's resultant free-kick was superb, lofted into the area with pace, and it only needed a touch to guide it in, but Holroyd got too much power on his header and nodded disappointingly over.
Jardim then found Willmott at the far post, but his shot was blocked by Corcoran, and on 58 danger threatened at the other end from a Kelly corner when Clare steered a header inches wide of the far post with Danny Potter beaten. In fact it looked so much like drifting in that Burgess turned away, hands raised in triumph to acclaim a goal, until he realised his rather embarrassing mistake.
Back came United, Willmott crossing for Holroyd to have his shot blocked by the doughty Diamonds defence, and Carden got in on the act on 66 when he galloped forward to fire a low shot from the 'D' which Roberts got down well to hold.
Five minutes later came the visitors' best chance when the U's rearguard fell asleep to allow Sam Smith to latch onto a ball down the right channel, he crossed low into the box and Clare screwed his shot wide from ten yards out under pressure from Messrs Hatswell and Bolland. Up the other end Crow had a shot blocked almost as soon as it left his foot, then Rushden responded with a Burgess blaster from a free-kick that Potter did well to stop at the expense of a corner.
By now, with the driving rain and a couple of tiring teams, it was becoming apparent that the afternoon was soon to end as untidily and anti-climactically as Russell Brand's radio career. With probably a similar amount of swearing, judging by the noises coming from the Habbin.
With neither manager apparently willing to make any changes, the crosses kept coming fruitlessly in and the defences stood resolutely firm, Hatswell blocking from Clare on 87 and Curtis Osano doing the same to Challinor on 89. As added time ground on, the visitors at last made a time-wasting substitution, Clare withdrawn for Jake Beecroft, then at the death, the U's finally had the ball in the net.
Jardim was the architect, cutting in to fire a shot that Roberts punched half-clear; the ball was floated back in the box, and in an untidy scramble, Holroyd pounced to fire past Roberts from six yards... only to be flagged offside. There had been a United player ahead of him when the ball was played who definitely had been offside, but the verdict on Holroyd himself must have been hairline to say the least.
Then it was all over: deadlock. Rushden had defended stoutly, and United had simply lacked the guile and quality in the final third to break them down. Their crossing had not been quite up to the standard of last weekend's and, without McEvilly and Beesley, the lack of a dominant target man and someone with foxy cunning had been telling.
Our Gary thought we had played some good football, which we had; but only in the first two-thirds of the pitch. And football without a cutting edge is like Christmas pudding without brandy butter: all a bit stodgy and unsatisfying and lacking that vital spark of excitement. No need to panic; United are unbeaten in seven games and despite dropping to seventh in the table, are only two points off the top. The team just needs a bit more tinkering under the bonnet. Then we can look forward to some winter warmers over the next few months.
As the saying goes: snowflakes are one of nature's most fragile things, but just look what they do when they stick together.
Statto Corner
Chris Holroyd has now made an appearance from the bench in five consecutive matches. The last United player to enter the fray as sub as many times in a row is Leo Fortune-West, who replaced colleagues six consecutive times around this time last season, starting with the 5-1 FA Cup win over Stafford Rangers. Before and after that run, he was back in the starting eleven.
Today's attendance of 3,547 was the same as attended the Abbey on 10th November last year, when the U's inflicted a rare defeat on Aldershot in knocking them out of the FA Cup by two goals to one, Lee Boylan and LFW the scorers. Of the team that started that game, only three remain on the United books: Danny Potter, Dan Gleeson and Courtney Pitt.
Another starter in black'n'amber that day was Rob Wolleaston, an opponent this afternoon for Diamonds. Today was not, however, the first time that he has played against the U's: he came on as sub for Oxford United in a 2-1 win for the hosts at the Kassam Stadium in December 2004 against a visiting side that included such unforgettable talents as Colin Heath, Richard Hodgson and Kingsley Mbome.
Player Ratings
Potter 7. Always in control against a fairly toothless Rushden attack.
Gleeson 7. Much better than last week and mixed defensive solidity with some decent forward support.
Tonkin 7. Also much improved, and made some splendid overlaps outside the wingers.
Hatswell 8. His standards very rarely slip, and they certainly did not today against his old club.
Bolland 8. Doesn't do the 'sexy' attacking stuff as much as his centre-back partner, but defensively a master.
Jardim 7. Plenty of flashes of brilliance, albeit allied with several runs down blind alleys, and his threat was demonstrated by Diamonds putting two and sometimes even three men on him.
Carden 8. Commanding midfield display.
Challinor 7. Solid and reliable without really grabbing the game by the scruff of the neck.
Willmott 7. Slow start, but made a decent contribution although his crossing was not of the same consistent quality he produced at Boston.
Beesley 6. Only managed twenty minutes before forced to withdraw with a nasty head wound.
Crow 6. A willing runner and target man, Danny does not have the physical presence of a McEvilly in leading the line and we won't see the best of him until we discover exactly in what role he is most effective.
Holroyd 6. No doubting his willingness and enthusiasm, but needs more finesse which can only come with experience.
Match Summary
A plethora of possession and plenty of nice build-up play could not compensate for a strike force as toothless as Shane MacGowan on an afternoon of frustration and disappointment against a mediocre but determined Rushden side. Clean sheets are always nice, but they are not quite so meaningful when you are firing blanks.
Man of the Match
Paul Carden. Covered every blade of grass in his usual committed, uncompromising way, and if only he could add goalscoring to his impressive CV, he would be the complete midfielder.
Ref Watch
Sutton 7. Controlled the game smoothly and mostly unobtrusively, without the need to throw cards around. Only criticism would be a tendency to award some pretty soft free-kicks, especially when Rushden players were throwing themselves theatrically to the ground whenever the opportunity arose.
Becky's World of Wit and Wisdom
"Last people never finish nice." [Sunderland, 12/10/91]
Hello... Goodbye
1st November 2003 was the date of the first-team debut of Dan Gleeson in a 2-2 draw at Kidderminster. He came on as sub to replace another debut boy, striker Gareth Williams on loan from Crystal Palace, who had scored a splendid goal against a Harriers defence that included one Wayne Hatswell. Williams only made another three rather disappointing appearances for the U's and is now to be found plying his trade with Braintree Town. Gleeson has now made a total of 139 appearances for the U's in two spells sandwiched by a stint at Notts County, but he has scored only twice, in that 7-0 crushing of Weymouth in March 2007, and the next season in a 3-0 victory at Altrincham.
Another United debut occurred exactly twenty years before that Kidderminster match, for centre-back David Moyes in a disastrous 5-0 thrashing at Portsmouth. Signed from Celtic, he stayed at the Abbey for just under two years (and two relegations!) before being sold for £10,000 to Bristol City. He has been notably more successful as a manager...
Dependable left-back Ian Buckley played his last game for the U's on this day in 1980, in a disastrous 6-1 defeat at Bolton. Brian Kidd scored a hat-trick for a Wanderers side marshalled from midfield by Peter Reid. It was Buckley's last Football League game; he moved to South Africa to play for Durban City.
Winger Kevin Tully also played his last United game on this day, in 1975, in a 3-0 defeat at Bournemouth. He was replaced by sub Steve Fallon, while on the bench for the hosts that day was Harry Redknapp, who came on for Steve Buttle. The U's received £10,000 from Crewe for Tully, exactly what they had paid for him from Blackpool the previous year.
Soundtrack of the Day
Kid Carpet 'Hitting The Wall'
Andrew Bennett
Andrew's previous match reports
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