Andrew Bennett reports:
Earworms are everywhere. No, they are not some form of hideous infestation of the auditory canal, but rather those songs that lodge themselves, unbidden, into your cranium from out of nowhere and you cannot dislodge for hours, days or even weeks at a time. An earworm might not even be a song that you necessarily like; something ghastly by Celine Dion, for example, might be triggered by a news story about Kate Winslet or anything to do with ships, foghorns, tortured cats, pipe-cleaners etc. Others might not be explicable at all, brought about by something wired directly into your subconscious or dredged up from distant memories.
After United's game with Salisbury on Tuesday night, yours truly found himself humming the Lightning Seeds' 'Life of Riley,' or rather the repeating riff between its verses; inexplicable at first, until you remember that it used to be the 'bed' music behind Match of the Day's Goal of the Month competition (when it was a competition and not 'just for fun' as it is now). Because the match that the amber hordes (and the Salisbury trickle) had just witnessed had contained three spectacular Goal of the Month contenders, plus another two near-misses that had all but broken the crossbars in two. Ba-ba-ba-ba-ba, ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-baa...Goal A, Matt Tubbs, for Salisbury against Cambridge United...
There is a positive buzz around the Abbey again after the team's recent winning run, although that was not reflected in a disappointingly low attendance of just over 2,000 on a cool but hardly freezing night against opposition which admittedly does not fire the enthusiasm greatly, competing as it was with Chelsea's bid to overcome the 'Special Needs One' or something in the UEFA Rich Playthings Euro Super Duper League Cup on Sky Sports HD 3D VD JD & Coke Channel.
Salisbury have done well to survive in the Conference on small crowds, wafer-thin finances and, this season, a ten-point deduction for entering administration, and they also achieved their first ever win over the U's last month in their march on Wembley in the FA Trophy, which stumbled last weekend when they lost the home leg of their semi-final 1-0 to Barrow.
Revenge was the expectation for a United side on a run of three consecutive one-goal victories, although a couple of changes were forced on Martin Ling with the absence through injury of Simon Russell and Aiden Palmer. Antonio Murray was promoted from the bench to start wide left, and surprise choice at left-back was Dave Partridge, his experience and left foot edging out the claims of younger specialist Darryl Coakley.
A third change saw Dan Gleeson return from injury to replace Kevin Roberts, while the departure of Mark Beesley on loan to Telford (sadly a cause for some rejoicing, but let us not forget his valuable contribution in previous seasons) opened the door for a return to the bench for Adam Marriott. For the visitors, ex-U Danny Webb was amongst the subs, the former striker now billed as a centre-back.
The teams lined up in a riot of colour with United in amber, keeper Simon Brown in red and the visitors somewhere in between, sporting a vivid shade of orange instead of their usual white that was not deemed to constitute a clash of colours by ref Mr Hendley. An away travel contingent of 25 adventurous souls had made their way from deepest darkest Sarum.
To say United got off to a slow start would be an understatement; perhaps 'comatose' would be a better description as they gave the impression that after a hat-trick of victories, they thought they just had to walk out onto the pitch to claim another three points. They were soon disabused of this foggy notion by a spirited and lively Salisbury side which was first into the tackle and pushed the ball around the park pretty well, too, while the hosts struggled to string two passes together and seemed reluctant to press forward, the midfield staying deep and leaving strikers Danny Crow and Calum Willock isolated.
They did manage the first shot of the evening, though, when the forwards combined to set up Murray for a poke at goal which he pulled wide on 5.A minute later, however, they were undone by a stunning goal of the season contender. There seemed little danger when BSP top scorer Matt Tubbs picked up possession just outside the centre circle, but when the United midfield stood off him and he looked up to see Brown off his line, he aimed a quite brilliant lob from fully forty yards which looked in from the moment it left his boot. Brown tried to scramble back but he was already beaten: 1-0.
It was a superb goal, and although one might question Brown's positioning, he could not have anticipated such a stunning strike which could easily have graced the Euro game on the television and would doubtless have had the likes of Andy Townsend drooling. Bring back the Tactics Truck.
United failed to respond, adding 'sluggish' and 'shellshocked' to their collective expressions, and Salisbury continued to take the game to them, gaining a number of corners but unable to breach the home rearguard. They were still defending too deep, and Partridge did not look at all comfortable out on the left. On 17 he miscontrolled a pass which rolled to Jake Reid, he lunged in to try to retrieve the situation and was duly booked for a clumsy foul.
The only beacon of hope for the U's was WIllock, playing his target man role with strength and skill, winning almost every header that came his way and holding the ball up well under pressure. Salisbury began to temper their adventurousness, perhaps subconsciously deciding to hang on to what they had, until on 23 a goal out of the blue changed the course of the match.
Paul Carden lofted a free-kick into the box from deep, it was half-cleared to him again a bit closer in, and this time his delivery to the far post found Partridge, who nodded into the middle of the six-yard box; keeper James Bittner tried to palm it away, but there was Josh Coulson to prod home from close range for his first ever goal in the black'n'amber. And thoroughly deserved, too: 1-1.
Whether the team as a whole deserved it was more debatable, but having failed to be spurred on by Salisbury's goal, Coulson's strike at last appeared to galvanise them and instil some much-needed confidence and positivity. Murray charged down a Chris Giles clearance on 25, and it bounced away and over, but now United began to resemble a team as they began to find each other with the ball and exert some pressure on the visitors.
And on 32 the turnaround was completed in dramatic fashion. Willock flicked Scott Neilson's pass into the left channel where Murray was advancing, and with no challenge coming in 25 yards out, he let it bounce once then rifled a fantastic half-volley with his left foot which, like Tubbs' effort earlier, had 'goal' written all over it as it flew into the top left-hand corner past the helpless Bittner. Stoater: 2-1.
Like Coulson, it was Murray's first goal for the U's, in only his second start. And somehow, after twenty minutes of somnambulism, United had rallied and turned the game on its head in ten minutes flat. Luke Ruddick embodied the visitors' frustration with their first yellow card on 37 for obstructing Gleeson, although Chris Flood dragged a shot wide two minutes later.
Willock drew the latest in a series of free-kicks for United on 41, which Carden touched to Gleeson whose cross was met by Crow, but his leaping volley spooned into Bittner's waiting gloves. Somehow the ref found three added minutes, during which Willock almost burst through onto a Carden long ball despite having his shirt pulled by Chris Bush, but unaccountably the linesman penalised the United man for shirt-grabbing, presumably because it was the easier decision to give because Bush would have been heading for a red card if he had been the one to be penalised.
So ended a bizarre, schizophrenic half of football, during which the U's had been first abject, then rampant and by the end, seemed to have settled into a cosy place somewhere between the two. Salisbury had never stopped trying but looked as baffled as the crowd as to the chain of events which had led to their being a goal down at the interval.
Battle was resumed seamlessly after the break, first chance of the half falling to the hosts on 49 when Stuart Anderson fouled Willock. Crow stepped up to take the free-kick 25 yards out, but he tried to shoot past the wall rather than over it and it was deflected away.
Five minutes later it was back to the days of Beck when Brown punted a long clearance down the middle, it bounced past the Salisbury defence and Willock pounced, but he had hesitated for a split second when he thought the visitors' last man might clear it and he was only able to get the faintest toe to the ball before the outrushing Bittner arrived to intercept.
Two minutes later, however, came a far more unequivocal finish. Crow's fine ball past the orange-shirted back line sent Neilson clear into the box down the right channel, and he unleashed a shot of quite stunning ferocity which flashed past Bittner, crashed against the underside of the bar, bounced down on the line and was scrambled away. It was a close escape for Salisbury and for the crossbar, which I hope they checked for a hairline fracture later.
The visitors tried gamely to respond, and after one attack both Gleeson and Brian Saah needed treatment at the same time, but United held firm. On 62, though, it was very nearly two-all when Salisbury surged forward and Flood tried his luck from well outside the box, only to see his shot beat Brown and cannon off the bar, the rebound falling to Ben Adelsbury, but his effort was clutched safely by Brown. Breathless stuff.
United struck back two minutes later when Crow ran onto a Partridge through ball down the left and tried a cheeky flicked lob with his right foot, a good effort which Bittner had to dive behind himself to catch before it bounced in. Willock then prodded a shot straight at Bittner, and up the other end Reid hurdled a couple of challenges down the right before firing across the six-yard box, somehow missing everyone.
Back came the U's, Gleeson firing into the car park from distance on 67, and a minute later Lee Phillips replaced Willock, who had done a fantastic job leading the line but seemed to be limping and had been rumoured to be carrying a knock before the game; there certainly had to be a reason other than performance to bring him off.
Tubbs sent a bicycle kick into Brown's arms on 70, then after a mix-up with the substitution board Salisbury made two changes, surprisingly removing danger men Tubbs and Flood and replacing them with Reece Connolly and Bradley Gray.
On 73, however, the result was settled by another goal of the highest quality. Rory McAuley threw the ball to Phillips out on the left, he flicked in on to Neilson, he side-stepped a defender then before the visitors could react, he hammered a venomous shot into the top left corner from twelve yards which Bittner could hardly have seen as it screamed past him. Awesome, and three goals in four games from the Bradford loanee: 3-1.
There was more Neilson magic three minutes later as he turned the Salisbury defence inside along the right-hand byline, but somehow his pull-back evaded a United shirt. Adam Marriott replaced Crow on 77 and Jai reason came on for Murray on 81 as United began to relax…a little too much.
Salisbury are a spirited bunch and they dominated the last ten minutes in their search for a comeback. In thirty extraordinary seconds a frantic spate of pinball in the crowded United box saw Anderson, Gray and Adelsbury all have shots blocked by home bodies, and after what seemed like an eternity the ball was eventually hacked away to sighs of relief from all around the ground.
On 83 Reid nodded a Sean Clohessy free-kick just wide, and he repeated the trick from Gray's set piece three minutes later. Clohessy then scuffed a shot straight at Brown, but on 89 a golden chance for 3-2 went begging when Bush's free-kick found Gray arriving unmarked at the far post, but from eight yards out he somehow shot across goal and wide of the opposite stick.
That would have made for an interesting four added minutes, but United held out for a win that was just about deserved for their clinical finishing, despite a curate's egg of a performance. Gutsy Salisbury should be OK on this evidence with their team spirit and Tubbs' goals to keep them afloat.
These are dizzy days indeed after four wins on the bounce and no defeat in seven. United have hardly been brilliant in the last month, but they have dug in resolutely, ridden their luck on occasion, worked hard and taken their chances when they came. Sometimes that is all you need, and perhaps now we can now start looking up the table again instead of down with a sense of dread. The preparation for 2010-11 has started already.
Statto Corner
United have now won four league games in a row and are unbeaten in seven. This is their best run since 1st February - 30th March last year, a fantastic spell in which the U's remained unbeaten in 12 matches and enjoyed runs of both four and five consecutive victories. The first run involved four away wins, at Rushden, Kidderminster, Lewes and Grays, while the second saw home triumphs over Burton (2-0), Mansfield (2-1), and Northwich (4-1), and successful away days at Barrow (2-0) and Woking (1-0).
Tonight's attendance of 2,028 was the lowest for a league match at the Abbey since 22nd January 2008, when United thrashed Droylsden 5-0 with goals from Scott Rendell (hat-trick), Rob Wolleaston and Lee McEvilly. The relegation-bound minnows' away support numbered a princely 11.
It was the lowest Abbey crowd in all competitions since the U's last played Salisbury, in the FA Trophy on 2nd February this year, 1,237 witnessing a dour goalless draw.
United have never lost to Salisbury in a league game, drawing 1-1 in their first-ever meeting on 20th October 2007 at the Abbey, then winning every match since. In this season's FA Trophy, however, the above-mentioned 0-0 was followed by a 2-1 defeat in the replay in Wiltshire.
Josh Coulson's first ever goal for the United first team came in his 39th league game and 47th match in all competitions. He had some way to go to beat the club's least prolific players. Since 1970, Marc Joseph tops the list of non-goalscorers with 150 matches plus 19 as sub without success in the opposing box. Dave Donaldson is the runner-up, with 143 plus 2 sub, then come Jimmy Thompson (123 + 1), Warren Goodhind (111 + 11) and Freddie Murray (90 + 10).
Danny Webb did not make it onto the pitch today to face his old club. He joined the U's on loan from Hull in December 2003 after spells with Southampton, Southend, Brighton (loan), and Lincoln (loan), making his debut in a 2-1 win at Northampton. He eventually signed permanently but was never a prolific marksman, scoring just four goals in 35 matches plus 10 as sub.
He participated in United's last game as a Football League club (so far) in the goalless draw with Notts County in May 2005, then embarked on a nomadic career that has taken him to Weymouth, Yeovil, Rushden (loan), Woking (loan), Marsaxlokk of Malta, Wimbledon, Chelmsford and Havant & Waterlooville before landing up in Salisbury. And he is still only 26 years old!
Player Ratings
Brown 7. No chance with the goal or the one that hit the bar, otherwise coped well, notwithstanding some chaotic scrambles in the box towards the end.
Gleeson 7. Looked a bit rusty at first, as he usually does after a lay-off, but settled in adequately without ever getting near his best form. That will come.
Partridge 6. Shaky start with a booking and does not look like a natural left-back; did his best though and gradually improved.
Saah 8. Getting near to his imposing best.
Coulson 8. Another strong display, capped by his first United goal.
Neilson 8. A totally inspired loan signing, his goal and shot that almost broke the bar were absolute peaches.
Carden 7. Good, solid effort.
McAuley 7. Settling in well in the centre of the park.
Murray 7. A bit in and out, but what a tremendous goal.
Crow 6. A rare off day for the top scorer when nothing much seemed to come off for him.
Willock 8. Target man masterclass.
Phillips 5. Willing runner but to little effect.
Marriott 6. A few decent flashes.
Reason 5. Late fill-in job.
Match Summary
After a near-comatose start, United awoke to win a curious match which resembled nothing so much as a mini-Goal of the Season contest with blockbusters flying into goal and against the woodwork from both sides. Winning is becoming a habit, and there is none better.
Man of the Match
Calum Willock. Just what the team needed, his dominance in the air, physical presence and excellent hold-up play give United a whole new dimension that no other squad player can offer. Now if he can just add goalscoring to his bow, he will be just about the perfect centre-forward.
Ref Watch
Hendley 6. Not the best, not the worst we have seen, with a few soft decisions along the way indicating an intolerance of physical contact, not helped by linesmen who couldn't keep their offside flags down if their lives depended on it.
Out of the Mouths of Babes
"I had a smashing time at the match and will be coming again every week." (Edward Timmins)
Soundtrack of the Day
MGMT "Flash Delirium"
Andrew's previous match reports
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