Saturday 12th December 2009 - U's 3-1 Luton: Hats off to United
'Tis the season to be jolly, apparently, but it was pretty depressing this week to walk around the Borders store in Market Street. Christmas decorations are overshadowed everywhere by garish, desperate signs reading "Closing Down", "Everything Must Go", "Liquidation Sale" and the like, with ever-growing, yawning gaps in the shelves where stock has been sold, never to be replaced, and an overwhelming feeling of impending finality. One can only feel sorry for their employees, working in an atmosphere similar to what it must be like at the Glass World Stadium at the moment.
There was something of that aura at the Abbey today, too, with eerie gaps in the stands where supporters normally reside, due to the combined factors of an unnecessary all-ticket restriction, early kick-off, festive shopping duties and unappealing opposition after the antics of a few of their supporters last time they visited. And let's face it, in the Christmas stocking of the football season, the FA Trophy is the unappealing, brown-tinged apple right at the bottom.
At least both clubs took the match seriously, naming full strength teams in recognition of the gold-plated carrot of a Wembley final a few rounds down the line and the fact that the likes of Cambridge United and Luton Town darned well should be targeting a lengthy run in a competition such as this.
For United, young full-backs Rory McAuley and Darryl Coakley were replaced by the returning Dan Gleeson and Anthony Tonkin, while top scorer Chris Holroyd was restored up front at the expense of the injured Lee Phillips after his benching at Eastbourne. The substitutes included the experience of Mark Beesley and Andy Parkinson with the mercurial Adam Marriott returned to the CRC side for their visit to Kirkley & Pakefield.
Luton fielded the same starting eleven which stuffed Rotherham United 3-0 in the FA Cup earlier in the week, with ex-U Freddie Murray at left-back in a 4-5-1 formation with Kevin Gallen as sole striker, recent loan signing from Kidderminster Matthew Barnes-Homer confined to the bench.
The lunchtime sun shone on the smart new frontage for the renamed 'Greene King IPA Stand,' the distinctive green livery offsetting a snappy 'Cambridge United - Your City, Your Club' sign in its centre.
Festive bonhomie extended to several supporters of King's Lynn FC, whom United were playing in this competition only two years ago, but now appear to have lost their club in a morass of debt. Their bucket shaking left them almost £1,000 the better in their battle to save or at least relaunch a fine old club which has always enjoyed impressive levels of support, and they left with all our best wishes. There but for the grace and all that...
There was some concern that the bug which has laid a number of players low recently would affect the team's performance, and confident Luton certainly had the better of the early exchanges, Gallen scuffing a shot into Potter's gloves within a minute and Adam Newton miscuing another effort on 4.
All of the visitors' early neat approach work was undone, however, on 6 in United's first real attack. Courtney Pitt curled a fine low angled cross into the box from the left channel, and it ran perfectly for Danny Crow to lash home from eight yards past helpless keeper Kevin Pilkington. 1-0!
A lively, end-to-end encounter ensued. Pilkington had to be quick to race from goal to clear when Holroyd outpaced the ponderous Luton centre-backs a few minutes later, then the visitors endured a scramble following an inswinging Pitt corner before enjoying some pressure of their own without troubling Potter.
Murray was forced to withdraw from the fray on 17 to sympathetic applause from a nostalgic Main Stand, and Luton played a couple of minutes a man short until Lewis Emanuel was able to come on to replace him. O come, o come Emanuel...
The early match buzz gradually faded and in an atmosphere of near silence, sunny (if cool) weather and half-paced football, the contest began to resemble a belated pre-season friendly, both sides playing the ball around competently but with a distinct lack of 'edge,' in contrast to the two rather fraught league matches between the sides this season.
Sam Ives and Paul Carden were faring well against Luton's packed midfield, with good support from Pitt and willing running from Crow and Holroyd, although Robbie Willmott looked subdued and had an irritating tendency to gain possession then spend so long making his mind up what to do with it that he was relieved of the ball before he had the chance to do anything.
On 26 Claude Gnakpa set up Gallen for a shot which was blocked, and it ran to Newton whose effort was deflected away for a corner, but a comfortable looking U's defence held firm without too much trouble. And on the half hour a good afternoon for the hosts just got better.
Some tidy passing led to Pitt gaining possession out on the left, and his deftly swung cross found Holroyd outwitting the Luton defence with his movement, losing his man to meet it with a deft header across Pilkington to nestle perfectly into goal at the far post. 2-0.
The top scorer's drought was over with his first goal since 7th November. Luton tried to respond, Kevin Nicholls' free-kick onto Alan White's head flying just wide of the upright, then at the other end White's defensive partner Shane Blackett blocked a Holroyd drive, but on 36 the amber army's wishes came true with their side's third and surely decisive goal.
With United on the attack, the ball was cleared to Wayne Hatswell on the edge of the centre circle, and his ambitious long-range shot ricocheted off White straight into the path of Holroyd near the penalty spot. The United No.9 took his time before coolly dispatching his shot into the bottom corner past the exposed keeper: 3-0.
The Luton players' apparent lack of passion dissipated as skipper Kevin Nicholls aimed an angry, finger-pointing volley at his defenders and a heated debate ensued as the U's players and supporters celebrated. A surprising number of away fans, upwards of twenty or so, arose from their seats in the South Stand and headed for the exits, a remarkably pessimistic attitude to those of us who remember the match between these same two clubs on 3rd November 1992 when United came back from 3-0 down to snatch a draw with three goals in the last seventeen minutes, one from Lee Philpott and two from John Francis. And Luton were of course two goals down and one man down on this very pitch less than three months ago and went on to win 4-3. Bouncebackability, anyone?
Tonkin blocked a shot from Gnakpa and on 42 Willmott slalomed his way to within shooting distance and, ignoring the two strikers ahead of him, blasted his shot disappointingly high and wide. The half finished with two corners for the rampant U's and it was difficult to say who was more surprised or delighted with the interval score, the players or the supporters. What was that saying about Christmas coming early...?
United, of course, had to beware of complacency, even in the slightly unreal/surreal atmosphere of a four-fifths empty Abbey on a Saturday lunchtime. With the hitherto azure blue skies now beginning to cloud over, the visitors set their stall for part two by introducing two strikers, Barnes-Homer and Tom Craddock, and withdrawing both central defenders, White and Blackett - I take it their boss wasn't impressed with them - and moving George Pilkington and Keith Keane to their positions. Barnes-Homer joined Gallen up front, Craddock stationed himself wide left and Newton filled in at right-back, although he joined the attack at every opportunity to leave his team with three at the back when on the offensive.
United's task now was to stay organised and disciplined and to avoid giving Luton any sort of encouragement. The radical changes that Luton manager Richard Money had wrought did not have any immediate effect on the game, although the U's had to be wary of balls played into space behind the full-backs for Gnakpa or Craddock to run onto.
On 51 the sides exchanged shots, Holroyd firing wide from a tricky angle then Gallen blocked by Hatswell, and Crow almost connected with a Willmott corner, but proceedings remained pleasingly low-key as far as the hosts were concerned, like the early hours of Christmas morning before the kids awaken and wide-eyed, chattering mayhem is let loose.
On 57 Willmott's cross from deep found Holroyd outjumping both keeper and markers, but he could not get his straining header on target, then Luton charged back with a Gallen drive which Potter sprawled well to block. Ref Adcock seemed to be developing an annoying habit of awarding the visitors soft free-kicks, and on 68 United paid the ultimate price. Nicholls flashed over a tempting inswinger, and out of all the jumping bodies in a penalty area more crowded than the average department store at closing time on Christmas Eve, it was Hatswell who connected, planting the ball firmly into his own net with a quite unstoppable header. Oops, I did it again: 3-1.
The previously silent away supporters suddenly found their voices, their renewed chants reminding us that locally the 't' in Luton is silent, but United stood firm, marshalled by the imperious Brian Saah. Luton seemed to want to play too many passes at times and the ball was usually shepherded away in the end by an amber shirt.
Willmott was withdrawn after an underwhelming display on 78, Ives moving to the right flank as Jai Reason joined inspirational captain Carden in the middle, and Reason's first pass was an absolute peach, a long diagonal ball dropping perfectly for Holroyd, although he could not manage a shot on goal under pressure from attentive opponents.
The man in black had avoided showing any cards until now, but on 83 he eventually reached into his pocket to caution the unfortunate Reason following a theatrical dive from the villainous Gnakpa, who immediately recovered from what had looked like a life-threatening injury to stroll nonchalantly away towards the penalty box.
Luton's probing increasingly lacked conviction as United continued to stand their ground. Martin Ling made two further changes with three minutes to go, Andy Parkinson and Mark Beesley replacing Pitt and Holroyd, and soon Reason combined well with Ives to chip a cross over Pilkington from the byline which was just too long for the stretching Parkinson to convert at the far post.
There was still time for Newton to prod wide of a crowded six-yard box and for Nicholls to get himself booked for a bad-tempered challenge on Parkinson, then it was all over and United had comfortably beaten the Hatters at the third attempt this season and booked themselves a place in January's thrill-packed second round.
Luton had not played as well as in their previous meetings with United, but then the U's had not allowed them to play and they had been at full strength. It was a pleasing afternoon for Ling, with plenty of the sort of good, controlled football that will be required to match next opponents Oxford, Stevenage and Mansfield. The Abbey shelves may be bare, but there is now at least the prospect of some new stock arriving in the near future.
Statto Corner
Today saw United's fourth ever win in the FA Trophy. The first came in the competition's opening season, 1969-70, a 2-1 home win over Minehead, but the U's went out in the next round to Bromsgrove Rovers. We had to wait until December 2007 for the next victory, a 5-0 tonking of King's Lynn, but again United lost in the next round, to Histon. The U's gained revenge last season with a 3-2 win at Bridge Road before slumping out 5-0 at home to Crawley.
Courtney Pitt has made more Trophy appearances than any other U's player, with four starts and two from the bench. Most starts (5) go to Paul Carden and Danny Potter. Top scorer is Scott Rendell with four goals, and Chris Holroyd's brace today means he is the only other U's man to notch more than once in this competition.
Today's attendance of 1,665 was the lowest at the Abbey since last season's Trophy tie with Crawley attracted only 1,233. Highest home Trophy crowd remains the first, 2,376 against Minehead in January 1970, while largest away is the 2,786 at Histon in December 2006. The Abbey has not seen a sub-2,000 league attendance since September 2006, when 1,860 witnessed a 1-1 draw with Kidderminster Harriers.
Wayne Hatswell's second own goal in a month (the first was for Kettering) means he is only the third United player since 1970 to put the ball into his net more than once in one season. Steve Fallon did it three times in 1984-85, including two in a 3-2 away defeat by York, and Mark Crowe did it twice in 1987-88. Hatswell now joins nine other players on two career own goals as a U's player in the Football League/Conference era, behind Fallon on five and Andy Duncan on three.
Matthew Barnes-Homer is a familiar opponent, having faced United six times in the last three seasons for Kidderminster. He scored twice in Harriers' 3-0 win at the Abbey in 2007-08 and found the target once in the clubs' three meetings last season, in their 3-1 league defeat at Aggborough. He failed to score in United's 2-0 Abbey win earlier this season.
Player Ratings
Potter 7. Always in command and only troubled by his own defender's header.
Gleeson 7. Good comeback with little sign of rust this time.
Tonkin 7. Consistent as ever.
Saah 7. Mr Reliable.
Hatswell 6. Almost entirely OK, but must get out of that own goal habit.
Willmott 5. Unsurprisingly withdrawn after almost eighty minutes of losing possession and mainly substandard usage of the ball.
Carden 8. Captain's role.
Ives 7. Another encouragingly energetic and involved performance, and his first full ninety minutes in the first team.
Pitt 7. As maddeningly inconsistent as ever, but two fine assists to create the team's opening goals and some useful tracking back, too.
Crow 7. Nice first goal, although for all his hard work he did little of note thereafter.
Holroyd 7. The goal poacher is back.
Reason 6. Some good signs in his quarter of an hour on the pitch.
Beesley 5. Not on long enough to make an impression.
Parkinson 6. Lively few minutes.
Match Summary
United rediscovered their cutting edge in a professional performance that had too much quality for Luton in the first half and good, battling qualities in the second. That's more like it.
Man of the Match
Paul Carden. Tireless in the engine room with a display full of telling interceptions, tackles and passes. Did the unglamorous stuff so his colleagues did not have to.
Ref Watch
Adcock 6. Fussy little fellow who seemed to take a dislike to several United tackles which he tolerated when perpetrated by Luton players.
Out of the Mouths of Babes
"I know Cambridge could be at the top if they always played like that." (Jason Clark)
Soundtrack of the Day
Vetiver 'More Of This'
Andrew Bennett
Andrew's previous match reports
More Match Photos
The views expressed on this page are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cambridge United Football Club or the webmaster.
