U's 1-0 York: Sealed with a Purkiss
Tuesday 18th November 2008 - U's 1-0 York: Sealed with a Purkiss
Own goals are always funny: the earnest concentration of the 'scorer' to do anything but steer the ball into his own net, the rapidly changing moods of the goalkeeper from bafflement to horror to all-out screaming anger, the resigned, sorrowful head-shaking of the hapless propagator's team-mates as they turn away with a rueful half-smile on their faces, half amused and half glad it didn't happen to them, and the raucous mixture of laughter and mocking acclaim from the grateful supporters of the recipient team.
And with YouTube and the inevitable annual Christmas bloopers DVD presented by this year's Danny Baker/Nick Hancock (Tim Lovejoy?), everyone will have the opportunity to enjoy the moment again and again. Just ask Wayne Hatswell.
Own goals seem to require a special sort of skill, one which is usually beyond the talent of the scorer, whether it be the inch-perfect lob over the keeper's head, the uncannily accurate header into the top corner, or the instant bullet volley which the scorer could never replicate in front of the opposition goal in a month of Setanta Thursdays. Tonight's was no exception...
Goals have been hard to come by for United this season, and they need all the help they can get. The squad was boosted on the morning of the match by the news of the on-loan return of last season's striking hero, Scott
Rendell. He was afforded the warm welcome his efforts deserved by the amber army in the warm-up as he prepared for his place on the bench, back in the black'n'amber after nine months and a reported quadrupling in wages at That Place in the North; you know, the one with the player whose 'girlfriend' is letting it all hang out on "I'm A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Peterborough" or whatever it is called. Well, who can blame her for going to the other side of the world to escape from it...?
United's starting XI differed in three positions from the side that gained that battling draw at Crawley on Saturday. With Jon Challinor and Ben Farrell missing through the outrageous foul and red card respectively they received at the Broadfield Stadium, Paul Carden and Felino Jardim returned as the U's reverted to a conventional 4-4-2. At the back, Josh Coulson could count himself a little unlucky to make way for Phil Bolland after his efforts in Sussex.
Opponents York were bumping along in lower mid-table, being the only team to have drawn more games in the BSP than our own U's this season, and they went for a safety-first wing-back system. There was a frisson of horror to be had upon seeing the name of John Hopkins as tonight's referee, given his previous half-crazed efforts in United games, but there was a pleasant surprise in store on that score. Not perhaps so pleasant was the cover of tonight's programme, its first topless shot! Sorry guys, it was one of Mark Convery immediately after scoring on Saturday. On the pitch, I mean...
On a mild, dry night United kicked off facing a South Stand laden with local students, doubtless in need of some excitement after a thrilling days' lectures in X-Factor Studies and the like, and United set out the way they meant to carry on, playing a pleasing brand of passing football that utilised the full width of the pitch thanks to wingers Jardim and Robbie Willmott, who had started on the left. York sat deep, leaving the front two of Daniel McBreen and Craig Farrell more or less to their own devices, although left wing-back Mark Robinson was quickest to get forward in support.
First shot, however, went to the visitors when Mark Greaves fired wide from distance on 4, then the hosts responded with a Willmott run and cross that found the vertically-challenged Jardim, of all people, winning a header at the near post and nodding narrowly wide. With Carden and Mark Convery tireless runners in the middle, United soon began to dominate. Willmott had a shot well saved by keeper Michael Ingham on 8, and they really should have been ahead three minutes later.
Tremendous work by Lee McEvilly down the right saw him bustle past his marker, get to the byline and arrow a low cross past Ingham to the unmarked Mark Beesley running it at the far post. Who knows whether he slipped, or there was slightly too much pace or a bad bounce on the cross, but somehow he managed to screw his shot over the top from about four yards out as he slid in. One for the 'easier to score' file.
York finally responded just after the quarter hour when Steven Hogg let fly from a good thirty yards and Danny Potter dived to paw it wide. The corner came to nothing, however. Five minutes later the two wingers combined to set up Beesley, but his shot was blocked by David McGurk almost before it had left his boot.
The pattern was set: United dominated possession, knocking it around fairly well, but that final killer ball just could not be found, and Ingham remained untroubled. York continued with their containing game, trying to set up quick breaks for their front two whenever possible.
A foul by Darren Kelly on McEvilly on 26 presented Convery with a free-kick opportunity just outside the box, but he slammed it disappointingly into the wall. Meanwhile Mr Hopkins was merrily waving play on tolerantly despite a few hefty challenges (not that I'm complaining). Had he had a personality transplant??
York's danger moments were mostly restricted to the odd long free-kick into the area, but the United back four coped with ease, while their colleagues continued to prompt and probe, but that final-third cutting edge remained elusive. Convery thrashed a couple of shots wide and the wingers sent in the occasional cross but could not pick out a colleague.
A superb through ball down the left from McEvilly sent Willmott haring for goal on 40, but he was too slow to shoot and his eventual cross once again missed its mark. The pressure continued, but York's defence held out resolutely, blocking shots from Beesley and Willmott, and at half-time it was mission half-accomplished for the visitors as they went in level.
Our Gary's interval conundrum was how to break the deadlock. His team had retained possession pretty well, they looked comfortable with the formation, but it was going to take something special, a moment of brilliance or, dare we say, luck, to break down the Minstermen. All Gary could do was lift his men, boost their confidence and get them playing at their best. Or if he had been Steve Evans, SHOUT AT THEM EVEN LOUDER.
Whatever he said seemed to have had some effect as United began the second half with renewed vigour, now attacking the NRE. McEvilly showed some early inspiration by pushing the ball past Daniel Parslow, muscling in front of him to the byline and floating a cross to Willmott just beyond the far post; he knocked it into the middle, and as Beesley bent to head home, he was beaten to it by Kelly, who cleared his own bar at the expense of a corner.
The U's kept it up, Convery testing Ingham from distance on 50, and a minute later the breakthrough finally came. Jardim was the architect, with a superb run past his marker down the right wing followed by a teasing whipped cross towards Willmott in the middle. Ben Purkiss got in front of the United man, but somehow in trying to clear he managed to chest the ball unerringly past his keeper and into the top corner of the net. Remarkable: 1-0!
He probably couldn't do that again if he tried a hundred times. But there was the luck for which United had been praying. They did not let up, however, and four minutes later an exquisite ball from Beesley beat the entire Yorkie defence and set up Willmott for a free shot on goal fifteen yards out. Fatally, he hesitated, took a couple of unnecessary touches, and by the time he pulled the trigger, that man Purkiss had slid in to block it away.
Visiting boss and ex-U's striker Colin Walker changed his side's formation on 55, going to 4-4-2 in replacing Robinson with wingman Simon Russell. The move favoured United in that in gave them more room in which to play, and the only danger now was that they would over-elaborate and try to walk the ball into the net. Hatswell and Dan Gleeson had efforts blocked at a corner, then on 58 York swapped strikers, introducing the pacy Onomo Sodje for the rather ponderous McBreen.
Sodje fluffed a shot in the box within a minute of coming on, then Hogg headed a Russell cross wide as the game opened up, free from the suffocation of York's initial gameplan, and this particularly suited United's strikers. McEvilly was able to win header after header to flick on, while the visitors' tiring back four looked increasingly vulnerable to any sort of ball over their heads for a U's man to chase from off their shoulders.
McEvilly set up Beesley for a shot on 61, blocked by Parslow, and six minutes later Paul Carden became first man in the book for the latest of a series of fouls, about an hour after we had expected Mr Hopkins to start reaching for the cards.
More good wing work by Jardim set up Beesley again on 70, but once more Parslow got in the way of his shot at the near post. A minute later, perhaps sensing that his side needed a secondary boost, Our Gary replaced the hard-working but luckless Beesley and introduced the returning hero, Rendell, these days sporting a number 27 shirt. He looked unchanged from when we last saw him; so recently really, but so, so long ago.
York shuffled the pack on 73, introducing Ben Wilkinson for Rusk, and four minutes later the game should have been over as a contest. Another ball over the top down the right channel sent McEvilly away, outpacing the chasing pack, and he cut inside towards goal. Entering the area, he might have squared it for the supporting Rendell, who would have had a fairytale tap-in, but he went for goal himself and saw his powerful drive well stopped by Ingham.
Still United pressed, Jardim finding Rendell who fizzed a shot wide of the far upright, then the diminutive Dutchman embarked on a dazzling run that ended anticlimactically with a scuffed shot wide. He repeated the trick a couple of minutes later, but on 81 the visitors reminded us that there was still only one goal in it with a breakaway from which Russell crossed to Farrell, and his downward header skimmed past Potter and cannoned off the foot of the far post before bouncing to safety. A one-goal lead is precarious indeed.
Seven minutes from time McEvilly was withdrawn after his most powerful and dynamic display of the season, to be replaced by Danny Crow. If anyone had told you in April that within six months United would be fielding a front two of Crow and Rendell, they would have said you were madder than Barry Fry's fan club. Mind you, she really is certifiable.
First booking for the visitors came on 84, Kelly carded for flattening the teasing Jardim, and from the ensuing free-kick, Convery found Hatswell sneaking in at the near post, but he nodded just wide. Greaves was next to see yellow for an unsubtle clattering of Willmott, and United continued to chase that clinching goal right to the end.
As the 90 came up, Rendell's chasing almost yielded dividends when he forced Kelly into a mishit back-pass that rolled past Ingham, but he was able to chase and clear, and York managed a spirited finish with a couple of balls into the box. Coulson replaced a slightly crocked Gleeson right at the end, but United held out for a deserved victory.
Lots of nice build-up but little penetration has been the story of United's season so far, but this time the side looked genuinely promising and likely to live up to Our Gary's feeling that they will really turn someone over soon. Perhaps Rendell will be the final piece in a long-awaited jigsaw, and Convery's form is certainly a welcome bonus. And that defence is as mean as ever. A tough trip to in-form Altrincham on Saturday will give us a better idea of how far this team can really go. And hopefully this time, they won't have to rely on their opponents to do the scoring for them.
Statto Corner
United have now kept five consecutive clean sheets at home. This is the best run since their League record of an amazing twelve at the tail-end of the 1982-83 season, in the old Division 2 (now 'The Championship'). The goalkeeper, Malcolm Webster, and three of the back four (Chris Turner, Steve Fallon, Jamie Murray) played in all twelve games, while right-back duties were shared between Dave Donaldson and Bobby Fisher. They also played two home FA Cup games in that run, keeping another clean sheet in one before losing 2-1 to Sheffield Wednesday, leaving the longest all-competitions run at eight.
Only one home game remained that season after that run, and Webster was presented with an award at half-time in the last game against Oldham, after another 45 minutes of a blank goals-against column. The scores remained level until the 67th minute, then typically, Oldham scored four goals in eight minutes and ran out 4-1 winners. United went on to be relegated in both of the next two seasons.
Those nice people from York have been very obliging with own goals at the Abbey this century. Tonight's was their third in six seasons, after Mark Hotte (April 2006) and David Merris (April 2004) inadvertently notched for the U's in the hosts' 2-0 victories. The generous Hotte had previously og'd for United when playing for Scarborough in a 2-1 FA Cup Abbey win in November 2002... the winning goal, after extra time.
Scott Rendell's last game for United before tonight was in a 2-1 win at Halifax on 16th February this year. Five of his colleagues that day started this evening (Potter, Gleeson, Hatswell, Beesley and McEvilly) with the latter two both scoring. Of the rest, Courtney Pitt is on his way back from injury, and Messrs Morrison, Peters, Wolleaston and Reed have moved on to better things. Well, one of them has...
Player Ratings
Potter 7. Dealt coolly and comfortably with everything York could throw at him... not that that was very much.
Gleeson 7. Solid at the back and offered decent forward support too.
Bolland 7. Mr Telescopic Legs was rarely troubled by York's distinctly average strikers.
Hatswell 8. Led from the back as usual.
Tonkin 7. Some good defensive work and several adventurous overlaps into the bargain.
Jardim 8. Regular buzzing threat and his superb cross caused United's winner.
Carden 8. Absolutely everywhere.
Convery 8. Two good games in a row... keep this up and we willl finally get to see the Mark Convery we were hoping for last season.
Willmott 7. Got involved pretty well, although final ball still has plenty of room for improvement.
Beesley 7. So much good work in the build-up, only to spoil it with second-rate finishing. At least he is getting into the positions.
McEvilly 8. Best display of the season, winning regular flick-ons and managing some exciting, bustling runs that really should have led to goals.
Rendell 7. A pleasure to see him back, and he looked his old lively self from the off. Goals guaranteed, and soon.
Crow 7. Good, solid contribution.
Coulson 6. Barely on the pitch long enough to touch the ball.
Match Summary
United's eighth League game unbeaten was anything but a dull, grinding 1-0, it was full of excellent, intelligent passing football and chances galore. If only their finishing matched their build-up play. If they can get that right, there is no limit to what they can achieve this season.
Man of the Match
Paul Carden. Better engine on him than on Lewis Hamilton's number one car.
Ref Watch
Hopkins 8. Must say I never thought that name and that number would ever be so close together. Time after time Mr Hopkins has haunted us with dismal officiousness and flying cards, but he seems to experienced some sort of footballing epiphany because the man in black tonight allowed the game to flow, was tolerant of physical challenges, unobtrusive and only booked players when absolutely necessary. Respect, Mr H, this is the transformation of the season.
Becky's World of Wit and Wisdom
"Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm." [Charlton, 2/10/91]
Hello... Goodbye
Today's birthday boys are two former players and one former manager. Jonny Harkness (1985) played seven unimpressive games at left-back on loan from Walsall in the early part of 2005-06, before moving on to Kidderminster. He could be seen last week playing live on Sky for his current club, Linfield, back in his native Northern Ireland.
Mikey Hyem (1988) was youth team captain and made six substitute appearances last season in midfield before serious injury struck. He was unlucky to be released and is now at Bishop's Stortford where his team-mates include fellow ex-CRC man Piers Wixon, ex-City striker Roy Essandoh and the splendidly named Precious Koko.
Jimmy Quinn turned 49 today and needs no introduction after the tremendous season he produced for us last term, even if it did end in heartbreak. His present job at Bournemouth looks even tougher than the one he took on at the Abbey two years ago, but at least the chairman's a good friend...
This day in 1978 saw the last game in black'n'amber for the underrated Trevor Howard. He suffered a knee injury in a 1-1 draw with Leicester that ended his career at the age of 29. He played in all but two of United's consecutive promotion seasons of 1976-77 and 1977-78 and formed a fearsomely hard-working central midfield with the great Steve Spriggs.
On this day in 1995 Lee Middleton made his United debut in a 3-1 defeat at Leyton Orient. Alongside him in midfield was his identical twin brother Craig (plus Micah Hyde and Paul Raynor) but it was his only start for the U's and after two sub appearances he moved on to Atherstone, unlike his brother who played forty League games that season before he left for Kettering. The twins were reunited later in their careers at Bedworth United and Coalville Town.
Soundtrack of the Day
Esser 'Satisfied'
Andrew Bennett
Andrew's previous match reports
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