Lowestoft 2-1 U's: A taste of the Far East
Fish'n'chips. A '99' ice cream with a Flake in it. A stick of rock. Lemon meringue pie?
We are all familiar with good old-fashioned British seaside grub, and those U's fans who set out early for Saturday's friendly at Lowestoft, England's most easterly town, will have availed themselves of such nostalgic delights in between paddles in the sea and sandy-toed walks along the beach. Such sustenance was not available at Lowestoft Town's Crown Meadow ground, but it was possible to purchase a cup of tea, a mincemeat slice or, yes, a slice of lemon meringue pie at a kiosk manned by a nice lady next to the main stand. A rare treat, indeed.
United had not played the Trawlerboys since 1977 and the Lowestoft Town of 2010 are a much more ambitious and successful club than the one they encountered back then, having won the Ridgeons League and Ryman League Division 1 North in the last two seasons. And they have done it with more than a smattering of players with an Abbey Stadium connection: former first-teamer Matt Nolan, ex-trialists Matt Halliday and Greg Crane, and youth products Craig Bussens and the Cockrill brothers, Dale and Darren. The latter has just departed for local rivals Kirkley & Pakefield.
The friendly had been arranged as part of the deal which took prolific young Lowestoft striker Christy Finch to CRC last season. Sadly the move did not work out, Finch having an injury-hit spell at the Abbey, and he was not offered a scholar's place. He is now back where he started, but the matchday programme expressed the Trawlerboys' appreciation of United's honouring their promise to come to town.
Crown Meadow is tucked away in the centre of town behind a block of flats bearing the ground's name; presumably the site was once part of the ground itself and sold off a la Grays Athletic to raise funds. Three sides of the Meadow comprise only a narrow strip of uncovered standing, with houses behind one side, a small astroturf pitch behind one end and the flats and the LTFC clubhouse behind the other, which must limit any plans they might have to expand their facilities.
All covered accommodation is along the other side: the only seated stand in the middle, a covered terrace alongside it extending to the turnstiles, well back from the pitch, and on the other side a building dated 1988 housing the dressing rooms and the aforementioned kiosk. Lowestoft's singing section, a band of half a dozen youths armed with a drum and a small horn, occupied the terrace and spent most of the match regaling all and sundry with an impressive array of chants, about one in three of which was recognisable as conventional English.
The pitch was in good nick, green when surrounding lawns were a dusty beige, and the weather alternated between brilliant summer sunshine and cloudy, the temperature suddenly lowered by a swift breeze off the North Sea.
Fifteen United players warmed up on the field while the rest sat watching in the stand. Martin Ling stuck with his two selections from Wednesday, except the team which started the second half at Mildenhall began the first half at Lowestoft; the only difference was the introduction of CRC defender Alex Bevan to play right-back for the first 45. For the hosts, only Crane started of their ex-U's contingent, playing in their change strip of all red against United's 'sash' shirts and black shorts.
It was very soon apparent that the Trawlerboys would be providing a much sterner test than Mildenhall, playing with the confidence and understanding of a team that is used to winning and backed by a vocal crowd of 548. But it was United who took the lead with their first attempt on goal on 9: Simon Russell curled a corner in from the left, keeper Andy Reynolds flapped and missed under no pressure, and the ball dropped nicely for the unmarked Wayne Gray to prod home into the empty net from close range. 1-0.
Lowestoft's main danger man was former King's Lynn left winger Joe Francis, who gave young Bevan a more thorough investigation than a Customs official's rubber glove, and a couple of early cross-shots whistled across Simon Brown's goalmouth without anyone in red being able to connect.
For United, Adam Miller was playing the holding role in midfield while Luke Berry roamed further forward, and as on Wednesday, they continued to try balls over the top to exploit Wayne Gray's pace. It almost worked on the quarter hour as Gray gave chase to a ball down the left channel, the shaky Reynolds tried to usher it out of play and the pacy trialist nipped round him and got in a cross which was bundled away by Crane at the expense of a corner.
Lowestoft gave as good as they got, however, with most of their threat via Francis, but neither side could create a clear-cut chance, Brown confined to the occasional comfortable catch of a shot from Francis or Lee McGlone. United could create little for themselves in the final third, with Adam Marriott confined to one shot which whistled over the upright from twenty yards, Jordan Patrick unable to make much impression down the left or right when he switched occasionally with Russell, and Gray chasing willingly but rarely in receipt of suitably accurate service.
At least the defence looked reasonably solid, with Brian Saah as classy as ever and James Jennings again impressive, always eager to hare down the left flank in support of the wide man. A hard-fought one-goal lead at half-time was just about deserved, although more cutting edge would have been nice.
United brought out their alternative XI for the second half while Lowestoft introduced former Cambridge City goal-poacher Danny Bloomfield amongst others, eventually finishing with Halliday, Bussens and Finch on the pitch at the end. But it was Francis who created the hosts' equaliser within six minutes of the restart with a coruscating slalom run down the left, leaving Kevin Roberts for dead, a cross which cut out Danny Naisbitt, the ball was knocked back from beyond the far post, and McGlone beat Jennings to it to back-heel cheekily into the unguarded net from inside the six-yard box. 1-1.
With their tails up, the Trawlerboys forced another goal on 55. Again the trouble came from Francis on the left, his cross handled by Roberts for a clear penalty; Bloomfield stepped up and sent Naisbitt the wrong way. 2-1.
The substantial home support were beside themselves with glee, and United struggled to respond. Robbie Willmott was not afforded the time or space he got at Mildenhall, and Danny Wright waited in vain for a supply line as again his colleagues could not make much of an impression in the final third. Conal Platt looked promising with a few darting runs, but Jack Eades struggled to impose himself on the opposite flank and Carden and Ives in the middle were too busy battling the opposition to create much for their strikers.
Defensively the U's looked less convincing, particularly after that double goal shock, Naisbitt lacking Brown's air of authority and Dave Partridge looking harried alongside cool youngster Blaine Hudson. There is no doubt that Lowestoft are a decent side, well organised, motivated and in the habit of winning, and Crown Meadow will be a difficult venue for many visiting sides this coming season.
United's front two both had one good chance to equalise. Willmott latched onto a through ball from Platt to lash over the top from twelve yards when he should have hit the target, and later on Eades found Wright even closer in but his goalward prod was blocked off the line by a defender. But overall, just as in the first half, the penetration was not there.
Lowestoft celebrated their victory as if they had just won the FA Cup, and on this form you would not bet against a third consecutive promotion push. As for the U's, it is still very early days and there is no need to panic just yet, with two solid weeks of warm-up friendlies still to come. Nonetheless, it will provide food for thought for Martin Ling… and it won't be lemon meringue flavour.
Statto Corner
United last met Lowestoft on 26th November, 1977, in the first round of the FA Cup. In front of a capacity crowd of 4,000 at Crown Meadow, two goals from Alan Biley in the first half an hour secured a 2-0 win for the visitors.
Ten years previously the boot has been on the other foot as Eastern Counties League Lowestoft knocked the Southern League U's out of the Cup with a shock 2-1 win at the Abbey (att. 4,773) in a fourth qualifying round replay, after a 2-2 draw in Suffolk. The clubs had met at the same stage in 1962, but that time United ran out comfortable 4-0 victors at the Abbey.
The clubs were direct rivals for all of United's seven seasons in the ECL from 1951 to 1958. The U's won all but one of their home games, scoring 30 goals in six matches before drawing their final encounter 3-3. They won four, drew one and lost two of their matches at Crown Meadow, but lost there 2-0 after extra time in the semi-final of the ECL Cup in February 1955.
Two players who started at Lowestoft went on to play for the U's: Seventies striker Nigel Cassidy and Sixties winger Mike Fairchild. Former United men who went on to play for the Trawlerboys include Cedric Anselin, Mark Crowe, Doug Evans, Martin McNeil, Matt Nolan and Russell Stock, plus unsuccessful trialists Matt Halliday and Stewart Roach.
Matt Nolan was one of Rob Newman's intake of new blood at the Abbey in August 2005, having previously been at Peterborough, who had loaned him out to St Albans, Cambridge City and Ballymena United. He made his U's debut in a 3-1 home win over Accrington Stanley on 20th August, but never made a starting place his own in competition with Fola Onibuje and Craig Westcarr, and after three Conference starts and seven appearances as sub, without scoring, he departed for King's Lynn.
Dale Cockrill was an Abbey youth product who was allocated first team squad number 30 for the 2001-02 season. He never played in a competitive match for the U's however, getting no further than a friendly win at Cambridge City in July 2001, and after a loan spell at Wisbech he was released and joined Lowestoft.
Dale's older brother Darren was allocated U's squad number 22 when they were first introduced in 1999, but also failed to make the first team and left for Cambridge City before finding his way to Lowestoft via Gorleston.
Craig Bussens graduated from CRC but never got as far as a squad number at the Abbey, and after a successful loan spell at Sudbury he also went East to Lowestoft. Greg Crane came off the bench as a trialist for United in a 3-1 home friendly defeat by Norwich in July 2006 (as did Bussens) but was not offered a deal. And Matt Halliday played on trial for the U's in pre-season friendlies against King's Lynn and Cambridge City in July 2008 before going on to join Wroxham.
Player Ratings
Brown 7. Comfortingly commanding.
Bevan 6. Didn't let anyone down.
Saah 7. Defensive linchpin.
Coulson 6. Steady as he goes.
Jennings 7. Already looks like a cracking signing.
Russell 6. Busy although couldn't find that killer ball.
Miller 6. Looked a little rusty, but class will prevail.
Berry 6. Confirmed his promise.
Patrick 6. Can't see him getting into the first team for some time.
Marriott 6. Got one shot off, overall fairly quiet.
Gray 6. Grabbed a goal and ran willingly, but not given much service.
Naisbitt 6. Couldn't do much about the goals, but Brown must be ahead in the starting place at Wrexham stakes.
Roberts 6. Pretty average.
Hudson 7. Emerging as a serious contender for a first team start.
Partridge 6. Adequate.
Coakley 6. Competent but no threat to Jennings so far.
Eades 6. All part of the learning curve.
Ives 6. Grafter.
Carden 6. Not at his best just yet.
Platt 7. Shaping up to be another excellent signing.
Willmott 6. Never hit the heights of Mildenhall.
Wright 6. Getting there.
Match Summary
Useful Lowestoft showed just how rusty United are at this stage of pre-season with a hard-working win over 24 men in amber who seemed unable to produce anything of note in the final third. Still early days, though.
Men of the Match
James Jennings (first half), Blaine Hudson (second half). United's defensive future bodes well with young talent like this.
Ref Watch
Hambling 6. A little generous with the free-kicks but perfectly adequate.
Soundtrack of the Day
Tokyo Police Club "Wait Up (Boots Of Danger)"
Andrew Bennett
Andrew's previous match reports
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