Tuesday 24th February 2009 - Grays 0-1 U's: One Good Reason
Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way...
That jolly festive standard has long been a favourite of away fans wishing to herald a victory on enemy ground, although like 'Coconuts' or The Dripping Pan, its origins are lost in the mists of history. And after five months of fruitless travelling, United's supporters are more entitled than most to celebrate in song after breaking that winless run with four three-point hauls in a row on the road, faithfully following the ups and downs of their ever-evolving team.
Being a philosophical sort of cove, one's thoughts turn, perversely, to the season of 2001-02, one of only two during United's Football League sojourn during which they obtained no wins at all on their travels, save ironically for two achieved on their way to the LDV Vans Trophy Final before succumbing to the tough-skinned Tangerines of Blackpool.
Who could forget the 21st away game of that winless season, 2-1 up at Oldham's Ice Station Boundary Park with goals from Ian Ashbee and a Luke Guttridge penalty, until Rick Holden popped up in the seventh minute of added time to steal an equaliser for the ten-man hosts, and to seal relegation for the hapless U's? Or the very last trip, at Northampton's Sixfields, again 2-1 up through a Tom Youngs brace until another sickening injury-time equaliser, from John Hodge, ensured a big fat zero in the 'away wins' column for the season? Savour these modern smash-and-grab raids, Unitedites, the ovations shared between players and supporters, the sullen, jealous faces of the locals, the ride of honour back though town and on the road home with a smile on your face and a warm glow in your heart. It's what following your team is all about.
If Lewes was quirky in a thoroughly charming way, Grays Athletic's New Rec also has its bizarre charms in a rather less picturesque fashion with its empty bus-shelter stands, the long trek to access the away end and, of course, those flats with the sporadic local lurking almost apologetically on his balcony, keeping half an eye on the European football on the telly through a half-open patio door while his better half complains about him letting all the heat out.
The story of Grays is an increasingly familiar tale of ambition thwarted by finance. Less than three years ago they were finishing third in their first season in the Conference (losing to Halifax in the playoffs) and lifting the FA Trophy for the second successive season. But then the money began to run out, the turnover of players and managers began to increase exponentially, and the fans began to turn on the chairman who had overseen three promotions in three years. Other clubs have followed suit as they find competing on a national stage with full-time ex-League outfits simply is not possible with a hardcore support of well under 1,000 and a fanbase of not much more. And there will be more, no doubt.
This season's belt-tightening has seen a promising manager, Wayne Burnett, released last month for purely financial reasons and departures and arrival of players so recent that the PA announcer saw fit to introduce all of Grays' new players before the match, three of which had not even had time to have their names ironed onto the backs of their shirts.
The matchday programme was necessarily slim for the hosts' first home game since 27th January, with shirt sponsors Galliard Homes' full-page ad still "...wishing Grays the best for the new season" in February and, amidst the usual commercials for scrap metal dealers and plumbers, an intriguing ad for 'The Art of Decorating Ltd,' with its strapline 'The Avant-Garde of Decorating.' Is there much demand for avant-garde decorating in Grays, one muses? "Yeah, we'll hang the prawns over the doorway, paint the walls in Albanian earwax and replace the floor with tiles made of hardened Dairylea slices..."
Our Gary stuck with the 4-3-1-2 system from Saturday but replaced Daryl McMahon with Jon Challinor, sporting a radical new haircut which seemed to have started at his neck but stopped at the tops of his ears. Danny Crow returned from suspension to replace Rory McAuley on the bench. For the hosts, Jamie Slabber and Stuart Thurgood had returned to the scene of previous glories, two ex-U's lined up in the shape of Rob Gier and former Abbey trialist Jamie Stuart, and their danger man looked to be nippy England 'C' winger Ishmael Welsh.
For the third successive match the travelling amber army formed at least half of the attendance, at 754 the lowest to attend a U's game since the 634 at Droylsden last April, most gathered on the steep open terrace at one end on a chilly evening with just a hint of marauding mist.
After three successive wins, United started in confident style and dominated early possession in a contest which bore strong echoes of the weekend's lop-sided contest at Lewes. Chris Holroyd was the main thorn in the hosts' side with intelligent running and pace they could not match, and Jai Reason again looked the pick of the midfield with his power and precision of pass.
The visitors, however, could not work home keeper Steve Arnold. Their first real chance to do so came on 11 when Joe Tabiri felled Reason just outside the box, left-back George Beavan picking up a pointless booking for kicking the ball away. Reason took the free-kick himself, but he was if anything too close to goal and his effort flew over both wall and crossbar.
Reason almost compensated a couple of minutes later with an excellent through ball for Holroyd to run onto, but Arnold sprinted from goal and just cleared in time, while the keeper got down to save a speculative long-ranger from Challinor on 17. So far, it was all United and Grays had barely managed to get out of their own half.
Home skipper Thurgood took his side's first shot a minute later, a wildly hopeful effort from over thirty yards that left Danny Potter untroubled, then back came United with three Paul Carden corners in as many minutes. Wayne Hatswell rose but could not keep the second one down, then a scurrying run from Holroyd culminated in a shot which Arnold blocked away at his near post, but the breakthrough would not come.
First real sign of life from Grays came on the half hour when Welsh displayed his electrifying pace and close ball control to dart past a host of black'n'amber shirts until he was felled just outside the box by Carden. Barry Cogan took the free-kick, but he blasted high and wide. United responded with a long ball from deep for which Arnold came but got nowhere near, Scott Rendell nodding past him but also past the far post before Holroyd could nip in to capitalise.
Welsh's run, however, seemed at last to have galvanised Grays into action, and they began to gain a toehold in the game. Hatswell's foul on Andy Pugh on 34 presented Cogan with another free-kick which he curled to the far post, but Beavan could not direct his header, and the next few minutes saw the hosts put United under some considerable pressure, although the doughty U's defence held out comfortably against their two corners.
Then out of nothing United took the lead on 42. Reason latched onto a half-clearance out on the right, drove a ball into the box that seemed to be neither shot nor cross, but veteran Tony Dinning could only stab the ball straight to Rendell's feet twelve yards out. He coolly picked his spot and placed it past the helpless Arnold. 1-0.
The U's deserved their lead for that first half-hour, although not for the previous ten minutes. They enjoyed the better of the closing minutes of the half, Reason appropriately having the final say with a long-range bouncing bomb that was well clutched by Arnold. So far, so not bad.
If United thought they were going to cruise comfortably through the second half, they were soon disabused of that notion as Grays started part two like a roadrunner with a belly full of Red Bull. Pugh fired for goal on 47 and saw it diverted behind by the covering Carden, then Welsh forced a tip behind from Potter a minute later, but United responded with a Rendell shot hacked away by Thurgood following a corner, followed by a fizzer just over from Dan Gleeson.
Back came Grays, and from Gier's cross Pugh drew the save of the day from Potter as his bullet header screamed for the top corner until the tousled U's custodian flung himself acrobatically to tip it around the post. Top save.
Cogan's ensuing corner found Welsh outside the area and his dipping volley landed on the roof of the net, then the quicksilver winger ran at the United defence down the left channel but could only fire into the side netting. So far it was all Grays, but just before the hour came the incident which proved to be the turning point of the whole match.
Beavan lunged into a nasty-looking challenge on Gleeson, leaving the U's man in a writhing heap, and he now regretted that silly first half booking as he saw yellow for the second time and red for the first. Off.
The hosts introduced another left-back in Kenny Davis, sacrificing Tabiri, but they had suddenly lost all momentum, like a bobsleigh hitting a snowman with a boulder concealed inside. Reason spotted Holroyd haring down the middle and aimed a through ball into his path, Dinning stretched to intercept but to his horror Arnold had sprinted from his goal to meet Holroyd, and Dinning's touch sent the ball rolling straight towards the now empty goal. With two United men breathing down his neck, the hosts' defender kept running and was relieved to prod it past the post at the expense of a corner.
But now United were in the ascendant as they pinned Grays back into their own half. Challinor fired wide, then Reason did well to chase a ball down to the corner and arrow over a low cross which Challinor met at the near post, but his powerful drive was well blocked by Arnold. The keeper was doing well saves-wise, but his kicking betrayed his nervousness as he found touch time and again.
Hatswell then nodded a Carden corner over, and on 70 Grays swapped strikers, withdrawing the ineffectual Slabber for James Lindie. Two minutes later a comedy of errors saw Stuart's attempted clearance cannon off Davis' behind to send Holroyd scurrying clear down the right. Reaching the box, he saw both Rendell and Beesley racing into the middle, but he just overhit his cross and Beesley stretched but could not make sufficient contact to turn it into the net.
On 76 Thurgood fouled Holroyd (by this time the hosts could not get anywhere near him) and Hatswell tried one of his outrageous long-range free-kicks, but hammered it too high. The Grays skipper, rapidly losing his rag judging by the way he was nagging at the ref, finally found his way into the book two minutes later for hacking at Challinor.
The latter came agonisingly close to doubling United's lead a minute later as he picked up possession from a left-wing corner, cut inside and aimed a daisycutter which was scudding into the far corner until Arnold dived to tip superbly around the post.
Still United pressed, gaining a couple of corners, and Phil Bolland nodded another flag-kick over on 86, but the clincher just would not come. And a minute later Grays came close to levelling the scores. Gier tumbled under the challenge of Carden, who picked up the visitors' only yellow of the day, and Cogan's free-kick from the left soared over everyone to find Davis unmarked at the far post, but he can only have seen it at the last moment and scuffed wide, booting the post he had missed in frustration.
From there on United calmly saw the match out, Holroyd's teasing earning bookings for Stuart and Dinning, and right at the end of the four added minutes, Robbie Willmott replaced Beesley but had barely trotted ten yards when the final whistle sounded.
It has been an efficiently gained victory for United, in a performance much improved from Saturday, although after a slow start Grays had been a credit to themselves and the outcome of the match was uncertain until Beavan's dismissal. The U's will need to raise their game a notch or two against their next three opponents, Crawley, Histon and Roy McFarland's Burton Albion, but the signs are there that they are capable of doing just that. May those bells jingle for a while longer yet.
Statto Corner
Another hoodoo is defeated as United secured their first ever win in Grays. A disastrous first league match there three years ago resulted in a 5-3 defeat, followed by a 1-1 draw, and a 2-1 reverse last season. United also drew 2-2 at the Rec in a pre-season friendly in 1991.
Four consecutive away wins equals United's run in the last four games of the regular season last term. Previous such runs came in the last four matches of 1993-94, the first four of 1991-92 (including a League Cup tie), the last four but one of 1969-70, 1962-63 and 1957-58. But you need to go right back to the Cambs League campaign of 1938-39 to find a run of five away victories in a row, when Abbey United defeated Linton Granta 2-1, Chatteris Town 4-1, Soham Rangers 3-0, Cottenham United 3-2 and Pye Radio 3-1.
United continued the run into the next season when due to the advent of war they competed in a hastily arranged Cambs Emergency League, defeating Willingham 7-2 and University Press 2-1, but both opponents subsequently withdrew from the league and their records were expunged.
Scott Rendell has now scored in three consecutive matches, one behind his run in December against Burton, Salisbury, Histon and Stevenage.
Total red cards in United matches this season now stand at thirteen (six U's, seven opposition), the same as for the whole of last season and the season before that. The record stands at seventeen in 2002-03, of which eight were from United.
Player Ratings
Potter 7. Always in command and produced the big saves when it mattered.
Gleeson 6. Looked a little out of touch at times but did his job.
Bolland 8. Towering presence as ever.
Hatswell 8. The team's rock as usual.
Tonkin 7. Decent performance with some good overlapping at times.
Reason 9. Pure class.
Carden 8. Industrious and committed.
Challinor 7. Played his part and unlucky to be denied a goal by Arnold's excellent save.
Beesley 7. Much better than Saturday, Bees' display was not headline grabbing but he was a vital and busy cog in the machine.
Holroyd 8. Led Grays a merry dance in impressive style with his tremendous pace and movement; a fine performance was missing only a goal.
Rendell 7. Not at his most influential, but that goal record is nothing short of phenomenal.
Willmott - On for exactly six seconds.
Match Summary
United were given a sterner test than at Lewes but ground out another efficient away win which with better finishing might have been more comfortable. The real tests start on Saturday.
Man of the Match
Jai Reason. The lad seems to have everything: vision, skill, a sound work ethic and splendid attitude. Just needs to find his free-kick range now.
Ref Watch
Sheldrake 6. Awarded a trifle too many fussy free-kicks and must have missed the page in the rule book pertaining to the advantage rule, but we have seen worse.
Becky's World of Wit and Wisdom
"He creates mental pictures of his goals, then works to make those pictures become realities. He keeps an open mind, observing, analysing, considering, questioning - looking for the hidden key which will unlock the problem. A man thinks with his memory." [Portsmouth, 17/4/92]
Hello... Goodbye
Today's debut boy is Graham Rathbone, a strong, experienced centre-back who was signed by Bill Leivers from Grimsby at the age of thirty in February 1973, and made his debut on the 24th of that month in a 2-2 home draw with Bury. He managed forty solidly unspectacular first team appearances before seeing out his career with Kettering.
This day in 2001 saw the last appearance in black'n'amber of David Preece, in a 2-1 defeat at Bristol Rovers. A supremely gifted and creative midfielder, he was number two to Roy McFarland during United's last promotion campaign in 1998-99, and would surely have played more than the 83 games he did for United had he not been approaching the end of his playing career (he was 37 when he last played for us). His talent, however, was always there to see and enjoy, and it was a ghastly and tragic shock when he passed away in 2007 aged only 44.
That same Bristol Rovers match also marked the last United appearances of Richard Logan and Stuart Wilson. Logan was a striker on loan from Ipswich who played five times for the U's, scoring once in a 2-0 win at Wycombe, before embarking on a nomadic career which has for the moment settled at Exeter.
Wilson was a stick-thin wide man signed on a free from Leicester, who looked as if he would snap every time he was tackled. After three games plus three as sub his Football League career was over at the age of 23 and he drifted into non-League, firstly with Cambridge City before moving back to the East Midlands where he is currently playing for Barrow Town of the East Midlands Counties League.
Soundtrack of the Day
Blow Monkeys 'Travellin' Soul'
Parky's Pick of the Pops
Andy Parkinson lends an ear to the Rec sounds. "All right, lads and lasses? As you know, I like my music simple, played with PRIDE and PASSION, a bit like me football, like! My cousin Our Kev is studying philosophy and woodwork at the Internet University of Nollidge, based in Nigeria (the course is a bargain - only £50 a week spread over twelve years, y'know), and he reckons this lad called Hegel says 'Of this I am certain, nothing great in this world was ever accomplished without passion' and you can't argue with that, ey?
"Anyroad, I heard plenty of rockin' passion tonight through the likes of Snow Patrol, Oasis, Kings of Leon, Crowded House and Bruce Springsteen, and I admit I had a little chuckle to meself when they played the uncensored four-letter-word version of that new Lily Allen song! There was also music for the oldies from Slade and the Monkees and newer stuff like that Pink - she's a feisty lass, reminds me of a Scouser!
"All good stuff, like, and I'll give 'em 8/10. And remember, as Hegel said, 'To be independent of public opinion is the first formal condition of achieving anything great or rational.' Never walk alone!"
Andrew Bennett
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