Wrexham 1-0 U's: The Wicker Meerkat
'The Wonder Of You.' 'Song Of Joy.' 'Sweet Inspiration.' 'All Right Now.' 'It's All In The Game.' 'Everything Is Beautiful.' 'Love Of The Common People.' 'The Long And Winding Road.' The Top 40 of forty years ago today was bursting with songs that seemed made to celebrate the momentous occasion of Cambridge United's long-awaited first game in the Football League, on 15th August 1970. Add to that two songs with the word 'yellow' in them ('Yellow River,' 'Big Yellow Taxi') and 'I Don't Believe In If Anymore' by ripsnorting rock god "Raunchy" Roger Whittaker, and it seemed that the day United had been dreaming of for decades was something that was just meant to be.
It was not a perfect day, by any means. A gang of Lincoln City hooligans, intent on initiating the U's into the League in their own moronic way, was intercepted at the Trinity Foot and sent back to the stone from which they had crawled under, and a nervous United side went one down inside eight minutes to a Derek Travis goal and were thoroughly outplayed during the first half.
But geed up by inspirational manager Bill Leivers' half-time talk and roared on by a crowd of 6,843, the U's worked their way back into the game and twelve minutes from the end, skipper Colin Meldrum scored their first-ever goal in Division Four with a towering header from John McKinven's corner which smashed against the bar then cannoned down and over the line. No need for goal-line technology, thank you.
United's first League point had been hard won and Leivers' decision not to strengthen the squad which had won the Southern League for the previous two seasons proved to be one of misplaced loyalty as his team struggled to an eventual 20th place finish in the table. But it was the start of a 35-year rollercoaster studded with glory and despair, greatness and ineptitude, thrills and spills, Dublin and Ryan. And as we start our sixth season in the Conference with that familiar cocktail in our stomachs of butterflies and hope, with a healthy dose of blind optimism, we can dream that next season we will once again step out into the light of the League where we belong.
Supporters of every club feel that way at this time of year, of course, and there were plenty of them milling around Norton Canes Services at lunchtime: wide-eyed Fleetwood Town fans on their way to the exciting new experience of Nene Park, Altrincham on their rather less enthused way to Luton, some Wimbledon shirts en route for Southport, Fulham followers travelling up to Bolton, two clubs with which United competed on equal terms less than twenty years ago. And one lad in a Barcelona shirt, who one suspects probably wasn't on his way to the Nou Camp.
Friendly greetings were exchanged in anticipation of closer meetings later in the season, and the U's fans wended their way through winding country roads towards North Wales, notably passing a remarkable twenty-foot straw effigy of a meerkat standing to attention in a field on the way: a Wicker Meerkat, if you will. That was just down the road from a country pile called Carden Hall, presumably the United assistant manager's historic family seat.
Soon enough the road signs began to sprout second names in the local language and Wrecsam was on the horizon, leaving us all feeling distinctly bilingual: from memory, 'Gwesty' = Hotel, 'Clwb Golf' = Golf Club, and 'Ambiwlans' = Ambulance. I won't try to pronounce the more complicated ones for fear of spraining my tongue or drenching the keyboards with phlegm.
The Racecourse Ground has been dogged by ownership issues for many years but still remains a decent-sized venue, albeit it is effectively three-sided now with the closure of the lovely big old-fashioned terrace at one end. The newest part is the pleasingly unusual-shaped main stand (the 'Greene King IPA Stand' - sounds familiar), while the cavernous stand opposite housed the 386 away supporters in its end third, adjoining the main home 'singers' in the used end, all seater now when its front paddock was once a terrace, although the latter part went unused.
There are two names above the door at the Racecourse this season, something called 'Crusaders' enjoying equal space for its club badge. It is one of those wretched new contrived Rugby League clubs which was invited into the sport's top league for the sole reason of increasing RL's 'reach' in new 'territories.' They actually started in Bridgend but evoked so little interest that a Wrexham-based businessman bought them and they descended, cuckoo-like, on the football club, even sharing space for their garish shirts in the club shop ('Siop y Clwb').
Wrexham are in their third season in the Conference, following two mediocre mid-table finishes under ever-popular manager Dean Saunders, and they gave league debuts to seven new players today, plus a return to the club for veteran goal-poacher Andrew Morrell. There were plenty of familiar old faces, such as former Histon wide man Nathaniel Knight-Percival, ex-Posh midfielder Dean Keates, controversial striker Andy 'Bet He Won't Score' Mangan and former Morecambe centre-back Chris 'Jesus' Blackburn, looking more messianic than ever. And he was partnered in defence by the oldest face of all, 39-year-old Frank Sinclair. Yes, he really is still going. Ex-U's loanee Christian 'Brick Wall' Smith was on the bench.
U's starting line-up: Brown; Roberts, Saah, Partridge, Jennings; Russell, Carden, Miller; Willmott, Wright, Platt.
In Martin Ling's much-anticipated first team selection of the league season, Simon Brown won the battle with Danny Naisbitt for the goalkeeper's jersey, Dave Partridge edged Josh Coulson out of a central defensive start, and Adam Marriott and Wayne Gray missed out as the boss went for the 4-3-3 system which worked well at Bury and Bishop's Stortford. Kevin Roberts returned from injury to replace young Jonathan Thorpe. James Jennings, Adam Miller, Danny Wright and Conal Platt were making their competitive United debuts.
United wore their new first-choice strip for the first time, and very smart it was too, a rich, deep shade of amber which made last year's 'sash' effort look positively anaemic, offset nicely by black shorts and socks.
The team received a riotous welcome from the impressively noisy drum-assisted away following, but an immaculate minute's silence was observed before kick-off to remember Exeter striker Adam Stansfield, who passed away this week from bowel cancer at the tender age of 31, leaving behind a wife and three young children. 'Silence' was actually something of a misnomer, because the rain started pouring down so strongly that the noise of it hammering on the roof of the stand was all-pervading, the only sound in the ground and strangely eerie.
The most memorable incident of the opening minutes was the arrival onto the pitch from the unused end of a small brown and white terrier, which gambolled into midfield past several bemused players before allowing itself to be gently but firmly picked up by Adam 'The Dog Whisperer' Miller, who handed it to a steward.
United looked the more comfortable in the early stages, knocking it around well and forcing a couple of corners which were headed over by Partridge. The Wrexham attack enjoyed the advantage of an overweight and unfit-looking linesman who was unable to keep up with play and missed several offside decisions.
Keates and David Brown flashed shots wide for the hosts, and on the quarter hour an uncharacteristically shaky Brian Saah permitted Mangan to speed past him into the box but recovered sufficiently to block. It took an unimpressive home side the best part of twenty minutes to gain their first corner, by which time the torrential rain had given way to bright sunshine.
Platt and Willmott switched flanks and on 22 Paul Carden found the latter, who beat young full-back Declan Walker to hare for goal and pull a shot across goal which Wright almost turned into a pass, knocking it into the side netting from an acute angle.
There was danger for United a minute later when Morrell arrowed over a cross which somehow evaded every red shirt in the middle, but rather against the run of play, the hosts were in front on 28. Keates crossed from the left, Partridge committed himself but was beaten by Morrell, and with the goal this mercy, he lashed home powerfully past the exposed Brown. 1-0.
If Ling wanted a reaction to that, he was to be disappointed. Tails up, Wrexham took charge while United began to look increasingly disjointed, with too many players performing well below their best; none of the new boys Miller, Platt or Jennings could repeat their fine pre-season form, with only Wright as an honourable exception, leading the line with strength and skill but backed up by precious little.
Just after the half hour there was a hint of previous seasons' déjà vu for the away fans when Keates' corner found Knight-Percival at the far post, but he failed to add to the four goals he has scored against the U's (all in the FA Trophy) for Histon. United clung on, their early fluency a receding memory, Jay Harris firing wide on 40, and they rallied briefly towards the end of the half.
On 43 Willmott floated a cross to the far post where Platt nodded wide, then good work by Wright drew a free-kick which Willmott tried to curl over the wall but carried insufficient loft. In added time a disastrous unforced slip from Partridge, by no means his first of the half, allowed Mangan to burst clear but Saah did well to cover back and avert the danger. Partridge needed treatment for his self-inflicted injury and did not have time to re-enter the fray before the interval whistle sounded.
So where had it all gone wrong? Marriott and Wright had started to develop an exciting partnership in pre-season, but Ling showed his lack of faith in his strikers Marriott and Gray by selecting two wingers to accompany Wright up front in the 4-3-3, and unfortunately they thought and played like wide men, staying out on the flanks to leave Wright isolated in the middle, with not nearly enough quality on the final ball. The big man was winning the high balls and holding it up well, but the midfield three had been slow to get forward in support, and neither full-back looked like helping the attack much either. There were too many players out there who were under-performing and just too tentative, with the result that the movement and fluidity required to make the formation work just was not there.
Josh Coulson replaced the ponderous Partridge for part two and was soon in the thick of the action, denying Knight-Percival on the run, and pulling themselves together for a few minutes, United came agonisingly close to levelling the scores on 53.
Jennings crossed from the left, Miller sneaked in beyond the far post, his stooping downward header took a deflection in a crowded box and it was going in until Sinclair scooped it off the line. It then ran to Wright near the penalty spot, and his powerful shot cannoned off the foot of the left-hand post, and Russell's follow-up was crowded out.
Wrexham responded with a move culminating in a shot from Morrell which was well stopped by Brown, then Miller conceded a free-kick which Keates blasted into the wall. Miller received the only yellow card of the day for his clumsy follow-up tackle.
The industrious Russell scudded a shot into keeper Scott Shearer's gloves on the hour, and a couple of minutes later the anonymous Platt was withdrawn for Marriott and United went at last to 4-4-2, with Willmott and Russell as wide men. Willmott fizzed an effort across the six-yard box, Mangan sent a shot off target, then on 70 came another near miss for the visitors.
Wright was the architect, picking up possession wide on the right then surging past his marker to reach the byline and arrow over a cross that deflected goalward off Blackburn but was cleared from near the line by Walker at the far post.
Astoundingly, Wright, the only man who had looked likely to carve out an equaliser, was then withdrawn in favour of Wayne Gray. It was to be a fatal blow to United's hopes of salvaging a point, as Gray turned out to be a willing runner but to have all the touch of an elephant in concrete wellingtons.
Marriott, so potentially dangerous, was starved of possession, managing only one twinkle-toed run which culminated in a shot blocked away for a corner. United huffed and puffed but had shot themselves in the foot by removing their main threat and line leader.
David Brown forced a splendid reaction save from his namesake Simon with a close-range shot on 76, then the match began to drift inevitably to its conclusion as the hosts wasted as much time as they could and the visitors lacked the inspiration to do anything about it. WIllmott and Jennings tried long shots but both were utterly hopeless, one miscued nearer the corner flag than the goal and the other scuffed so feebly it barely reached the byline.
Three minutes from time Brown (D) was replaced by Jamie Tolley, dawdling off as slowly as possible, and a Jennings corner fell to Roberts on the opposite side of the box, but with his colleagues begging for a powerful low cross into the danger zone, he essayed a wildly ambitious volley which sailed over everyone's heads and well wide of the far post. Willmott had a header from a Russell cross blocked, but with the end of the four added minutes in sight, United sealed their own fate with a free-kick routine that summed up their performance perfectly.
Faced with a free-kick opportunity 35 yards out, Wrexham withdrew all of their players behind the ball, those not in the wall marking United men in the box. They must have been relieved, then, when FOUR men in amber stood over the ball, and instead of loading the ball into the box, they tippy-tapped it to each other three times before Jennings' eventual attempt at a shot was blocked at point blank range by a Wrexham man who had enjoyed all the time in the world to break out of the wall and close down as the men in amber faffed about self-indulgently. It was inappropriate, it was ill-judged, it was just inept. What on Earth were they thinking of?
There was just time for returning hero Morrell to be replaced by Kevin Gall, then it was all over. Wrexham had done nothing special, but a United performance littered with underachievement and basic errors had been insufficient to grab so much of a point. Ling had made the call by selecting his team and formation, then his substitutions, and today he just got it wrong. Best to get your mistakes out of the way early, as long as you learn from them.
The United team resembled that Wicker Meerkat: very nice to look at, very well constructed, but what could it actually do? What could it achieve? The U's faithful will expect answers on Tuesday. Mr Ling will have a sleepless Sunday.
Statto Corner - We have met before
Danny Wright faced United five times over the last three seasons in the league for Histon without scoring, taking part in one win, one defeat and three draws. He did however notch one in the Stutes' 2-0 FA Trophy win in Impington in January 2008, and missed a late penalty in their 3-2 defeat in the same competition in December of that year with the scores at two all.
James Jennings has opposed the U's twice: firstly as a midfield man for Altrincham in their 2-1 defeat at the Abbey in January 2008, then at left-back for Kettering in their 1-0 defeat at Rockingham Road in March this year.
Adam Miller has also faced United just twice, and in the same calendar year of 2007, for Stevenage. He featured in Borough's 4-1 win at Broadhall Way in January, then scored a penalty but was on the losing side 2-1 at the same venue in September.
Conal Platt has played against the U's six times for three different clubs, but has never managed a complete game; in fact all but one appearance was as a substitute. His first stint was in Morecambe's 3-1 win at the Abbey in November 2006, then as a Weymouth player he came off the bench in their 2-2 home draw in August 2007 and 1-0 away FA Cup defeat three months later. After moving to Forest Green he got his only start, but was subbed, in their 1-0 home defeat in April 2009, and he was a sub in their unforgettable 7-0 defeat in September and in the 1-1 return draw the following February.
Wayne Gray has been an opponent of the U's only twice, both for Southend United in the 2004-05 season, our last (so far) in the Football League. It finished goalless at Roots Hall in August and he failed to score in the Shrimps' 2-0 win the following March.
Adam Stansfield was one of those players who you hated to see on the opposition's team sheet but would have loved to have in your own team. He achieved promotion from the Conference with all three of the professional clubs he graced, and also scored for them all against the U's; in fact he only lost once in nine games in opposition to United.
He first faced us for Yeovil on 25th October 2003, in a 4-1 win for the Glovers at the Abbey, and scored in the return match at the Huish the following February, another 4-1 tonking for the U's.
We next encountered him in August 2005, playing for Hereford in their 2-1 televised defeat at the Abbey, and he got on the scoresheet in the return game in January, a 3-0 win for the Bulls at Edgar Street.
Moving back to his native Devon, he came up against United five times for Exeter, in their 3-1 win at the Abbey in September 2006, notching a goal in the Grecians' 2-0 home win the following April, then in the 2007-08 season he featured in both league games and the Playoff Final at Wembley. What a shame that this talented and highly respected opponent will never grace the Abbey, or any football ground, again.
Player Ratings
Brown 7. Put a mediocre pre-season behind him with a sound display and a couple of excellent saves.
Roberts 5. Seemed prone to lapses in concentration and frustratingly unwilling to put a cross into the box despite numerous opportunities. On this showing, he's no Dan Gleeson. Or even a Rory McAuley.
Saah 6. Looked distinctly nervy early on, gradually improved as the game wore on.
Partridge 5. Woeful first half in which he seemed unable to stay on his feet, never mind defend, and his withdrawal was a merciful relief.
Jennings 6. Never hit the heights of pre-season, but the potential is there.
Russell 7. One of the few United players to maintain last season's standard, busy as a buzzing bee.
Carden 7. Neat and tidy.
Miller 6. Slightly disappointing after an excellent pre-season, he looked strangely inhibited and was not the box-to-box player we have seen in the warm-ups.
Willmott 5. Made a lively start, but faded once United went behind and was lucky not to be substituted during an ineffective second half.
Wright 8. United's lone attacking threat.
Platt 5. Another underwhelming debut; Conal ran around busily but made little impression on the game.
Coulson 7. Showed the rest of the defence how to do it with a powerful, no-nonsense second half. Should have started.
Marriott 5. Maz cannot weave his magic without the ball and he saw precious little of it, a situation not helped by the withdrawal of strike partner Wright for the inferior Gray.
Gray 5. Failed to justify Ling's decision to bring him on to replace Wright, and will need to improve massively if he is to prove himself good enough for this level of football, because he looked out of his depth today.
Match Summary
United got off to a spluttering start when a malfunctioning formation and too many off-colour players cost them three points against an average Wrexham side. There is plenty of work for Martin Ling to do, collectively and individually, before Tuesday evening.
Man of the Match
Danny Wright. Highly impressive line leader, strong in the air, good shielder and layer-off, and when he ran at the Wrexham defence, they had no answer. Such a shame he was not given the support he deserved, and his withdrawal was just plain baffling and effectively cost United any chance of getting back into the game.
Ref Watch
Bratt 7. Mostly unobtrusive and sparing with the cards, although he could do with brushing up on the advantage rule.
Soundtrack of the Day
Edwyn Collins "Losing Sleep"
Andrew's previous match reports
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