U's 2-0 Eastbourne: Warm front from the south
What an August that was. It was dull, grey, depressing and thoroughly wet, with storm clouds hanging ominously over us for far too long… and the weather was pretty poor too. But suddenly, with United's first victory of the season, the sky has cleared, the sun has come out and one is suffused with a comforting, warm glow. And that is not because I have wet myself. What a difference a win makes.
There was no doubting the underlying simmering tension at the Abbey on Bank Holiday Monday, with the team still winless after a lifeless performance at Mansfield on Saturday and the league table showing them second from bottom; early days, but an unpleasant sight, nonetheless.
The weather had improved, with the howling gale somewhat abated and sunshine having broken out, making the temperature pleasant if hardly sub-tropical, and 85 intrepid souls had decided to take a day trip away from the seaside to support visitors Eastbourne, presumably including the valiant 14 who came to both the Sports' matches in the space of four days at the Abbey last season.
United line-up: Brown; McAuley, Coulson, Saah, Jennings; Russell, Carden, Miller, Platt; Clare, Wright.
James Jennings retained his place at left-back following the club's decision to appeal against his harsh dismissal at Mansfield, and Rory McAuley made an unexpectedly swift return from injury to start at right-back in place of the injured Kevin Roberts. Up front, Daryl Clare was handed his first start in place of Robbie Willmott, who joined strikers Adam Marriott and Wayne Gray, plus Darryl Coakley and Danny Naisbitt, on a positive if lop-sided bench.
Eastbourne have impressed many of us with their friendliness and honesty since their promotion to the Conference two years ago, and after a hairy finish to last term in which they stayed up on the final day, they have made a lively start to 2010-11, with a 4-2 defeat at Tamworth on the opening day followed by a 5-0 thrashing of Hayes & Yeading, a dramatic 4-3 defeat of Wrexham, an anticlimactic 1-1 draw at Histon and a 3-2 home loss to Wimbledon on Saturday.
Long-serving boss Gary Wilson was clearly unimpressed with the latter result, and made a radical six changes to his team, handing five men their first starts of the season, including club debuts for youngster Ethan Strevett and new signing from Ebbsfleet, Kane Mills. Four players were dropped to the bench while Matt Crabb and ex-Histon striker and top scorer Richard Pacquette did not even make the squad, although there was one familiar face in former Cambridge City and Histon centre-back, Matt Langston. Apparently he's a postman. Second familiar face was one-time Abbey legend Danny Brown, handed his first start since the opening day at left-back, and they lined up in a cautious 4-5-1 formation with Andy Atkin as lone striker.
Eastbourne are always competitive and always play decent passing football, but United made a good start against them with Conal Platt and Simon Russell buzzing busily on the flanks and Clare and Danny Wright willing targets up front. And the hosts got off to the perfect, confidence-boosting start inside seven minutes.
Jennings whipped over a wicked, curling corner from the right, it soared across the six-yard box, and there were Josh Coulson (not 'John' as it stated in the otherwise excellent programme) lurking unmarked at the far post, powering his header down and in. 1-0.
The visitors tried to respond with the assistance of a new weapon, Ross Treleavan's long throw, which as with Southport last week made for long, tedious delays while he trotted over from the opposite flank and took ages to wind up his windmilling arms. His deliveries were not bad, but Rory Delap he ain't, and the United defence coped reasonably well.
On 14 Wright carved out a splendid chance with a powerful run to the byline down the left channel, and a pull-back which appeared to be just too far ahead of Clare, but somehow he managed a prodded shot which did not carry a great deal of power but needed a save from former Lewes keeper Rikki Banks.
Treleavan found Atkin's head with another throw three minutes later, but he nodded wide of the near post under pressure, and United went on to win a series of corners but were unable to create any clear-cut chances.
There are always calls to make football more entertaining in a business which is more results-orientated than ever, but the supporters' demands do not usually extend to a desire for comedy or slapstick. Unless they are members of the Robbie Savage Fan Club. Unfortunately that is exactly what the amber army got on 25, when Strevett fouled Paul Carden.
Four players stood over the ball thirty yards out, all looking as if they were waiting for different buses, and in an increasingly familiar confused shambles of a free-kick, they knocked the ball around in a foot-wide circle, leaving Platt standing with the ball at his feet as everyone else ran away from him as if he just dropped a whiffy one, then he finally slid a ball to McAuley whose attempted cross was easily blocked by the half-dozen Eastbourne players who had been afforded the time to close him down while United had been faffing about. If they had been Pakistani cricketers we might have thought they were doing it deliberately, but I'm sure the set-piece worked perfectly in training against a team of bollards.
Carlos Tevez's open-goal miss for Money City was funnier. The comic capers continued four minutes later, however, when Carden and Platt contrived to give the ball away on the edge of their own box following a corner with some sloppy passing, and Steve Brinkhurst sprinted past Carden, tumbled to the ground and was duly booked by ref Burt (Mr Burt, that is, we aren't on first-name terms) for diving. Silly boy.
Eastbourne were, however, enjoying a good spell of possession, albeit Simon Brown was not especially troubled, while United were struggling to string a coherent passing movement together. Simon Weatherstone drove a snap shot wide on 31, while three minutes later a good combination between United's strikers saw Clare set up Wright, but he was just too slow to get in a decent shot before being closed down.
The visitors continued to press, Brown clutching a Weatherstone corner, then United broke away following another Treleaven long throw through Russell, who set up Platt to gain a flag-kick for the hosts. Jennings arrowed over another excellent delivery, Saah had a header blocked at close range, it fell to Platt inside the six-yard box and he threaded a shot through the crowd towards the far post, where Gary Elphick hacked desperately off the line. So close.
On 43, however, United doubled their lead. Another strong, galumphing run from Wright saw him hauled back by Strevett, who was booked for his pains. Free-kick, in line with the right-hand post, 22 yards out. This time there was no committee stood over the ball as they left it to Jennings, whose magnificent strike curled over the wall and into the top right corner past Banks' despairing dive. Simple quality: 2-0.
Hopefully that is the last we will see of United's daft bus stop queue free-kicks. They had not always been convincing, but they had scored when it mattered, kept a clean sheet and led at the interval, to the relief of the amber hordes. More in part two, please.
First threat of the second half came from the visitors, Weatherstone rolling a shot just wide, then Platt set up Carden who attempted a spectacular volley which smacked into the Premier hoarding above the NRE. No rush, he's never scored for United before November.
Eastbourne then enjoyed another spell of pressure, United struggling to clear their lines at times, and Brown fell onto a Brinkhurst shot on 52. Then the hosts began to pull themselves together. Platt found Wright on 54 and he brushed off Langston to fire a decent shot which Banks held. The same pair combined again a minute later, this time Wright shooting when he might have squared it for Clare, but again he forced a save from Banks, and his third shot shortly afterwards was slowed by Elphick's sliding challenge.
On 57, though, it was something of a miracle that Eastbourne did not pull one back. United were caught out by a quick Strevett cross from the right which found Atkin unmarked in the middle. His looping header beat Brown all ends up, but it crashed against the bar and bounced down onto the line.
A mad scramble ensued in which both Wills and Treleaven had prods at goal blocked off the line by Coulson, Saah and Brown, and somehow it was cleared without the U's goal having been breached. You can turn the force field off now, Ian.
On the hour the visitors made their first change, Nathan Crabb for Wills, then Danny Brown got a sight of goal but slashed high and wide. On 66 Brown and Adam Miller clashed near the corner flag in a collision that probably rattled ornaments in Peterborough, if anyone has ornaments in Peterborough. Brown was OK but Miller was unable to continue after extensive treatment and was replaced by Willmott; Russell moved into the middle and the sub went wide left, Platt having switched to the right at the restart.
On 71 Martin Ling made another change, Wayne Gray on for the hard-working Wright, then Strevett was withdrawn in favour of Matt Smart for the visitors. Three minutes later Russell cut out an Eastbourne pass and sent Willmott haring down the middle; he found Clare fifteen yards out, and his powerful shot aimed at the top corner was well stopped by Banks. Jamie Taylor replaced Atkin in the visitors' last personnel change.
United continued to press and on 78 Clare drew a foul from Elphick; Jennings' free-kick was nodded down by Saah to Coulson, but he blazed an off-balance shot over from close range. On 82 Darren Baker was next into the book for bringing down Willmott, Banks fisting Jennings' free-kick clear with some difficulty, and three minutes later it was Willmott's turn to see yellow when he was too easily dispossessed as he dribbled forward and tried too hard to get it back, felling Elphick with a clumsy and rather reckless challenge.
The teams appeared to have fought each other to a standstill, with the U's prevailing, but it should have been three-nil in the last minute of normal time when the ball broke to Clare in the centre circle and his superb through ball sent Willmott sprinting clear of his marker straight down the middle. But with only Banks to beat, his shot was too near Banks who made a decent save. And at this or just about any level, that was a poor, poor miss.
As five added minutes rolled around, Simon Brown did his best to add his own brand of slapstick to his colleagues' comedy free-kick routines by messing about with a through ball which he tried to dribble into his area to pick up but instead lost control and conceded a needless corner. Crabb tried to grab it for a quick flag-kick, Brown resisted and there was a minor scuffle for which a less tolerant ref might have awarded more than the yellow card the United keeper was shown.
The corner came to nothing, Adam Marriott made a late cameo in place of Clare too late to touch the ball, and then at last the first three-pointer of the season had been secured.
It had been hard work against tough opposition who on this showing should be very competitive this season, and there had been several spells during the match when United had been second best. But there were plenty of encouraging signs, too: Wright and Clare's growing understanding, Miller and Platt's gradual improvement, McAuley's impressive comeback, the outstanding Jennings, and a back four which had been the first to stop Eastbourne scoring this term. There is a long way to go, but the clouds have begun to clear over the Abbey and the sun of hope is beaming down like Barry Fry after a large dose of Senokot. All clear!
Statto Corner
It has been a remarkable 18 years since two United defenders last scored in one league match. The occasion was on 25th April 1992, when goals from right-back Mick Heathcote and centre-half Phil Chapple helped the U's to defeat Port Vale 4-2 at the Abbey on the way to qualification for the playoffs to get into the newly formed FA Premier League. Steve Claridge and Lee Philpott also got on the scoresheet.
The feat has been accomplished more recently in cup football, the last time being last October when Rory McAuley and Wayne Hatswell assisted United to a 3-1 FA Cup win at Lincoln United. As today, McAuley was playing right-back.
United first met Eastbourne just two years ago, winning 3-0 in Sussex with goals from Lee McEvilly, Ben Farrell and debutant Chris Holroyd on 23rd August 2008. The U's completed their double that season, 2-1 at the Abbey, but were less successful last season, drawing 2-2 away then losing 1-0 at home to a Jamie Taylor strike in January. The clubs met a further two times in the space of ten days after that, drawing 2-2 in the FA Trophy before a 2-0 away replay win took United into the next round.
Danny Brown joined the U's from Crawley in November 2006 and made his debut on the 11th of that month in a 3-0 home win over Gravesend & Northfleet (remember them?). He scored two goals in 51 appearances plus 1 as sub, the first in a 3-0 win at Woking in January 2007, and the second in a 1-1 draw at Mansfield in September the following year. His last outing in black'n'amber came on 16th October 2008 in a 2-2 draw at Forest Green, after which he joined Eastbourne first on loan then permanently.
Danny played against United twice for Crawley in 2006, finishing on the winning side both times. His three appearances versus the U's for Eastbourne have now yielded one win and two defeats.
Player Ratings
Brown 7. Gradually getting back to last year's form, although that ridiculous late spat that cost him a booking was not exactly inspiring.
McAuley 8. A little lack of pace betrayed that Rory was not 100% match fit, but he still looked easily the best right-back in the squad, confident on the ball, strong in defence and useful going forward.
Coulson 8. Colossal at the back and chipped in with a vital, confidence-boosting goal.
Saah 8. Cool and classy.
Jennings 9. A match-winning performance from left-back.
Russell 8. Another display of industry and quality.
Carden 7. Good job as the midfield destroyer.
Miller 7. Starting to find his feet at last and a pity that injury curtailed his afternoon.
Platt 7. Absolutely tremendous in full cry with the ball at his feet and if he can add consistency he will be a key player this season.
Clare 8. His class shone through from the start and a partnership with Wright promises much.
Wright 7. Decent game as the attacking fulcrum and will improve further with more stamina and a better quality of finish, which he can surely learn from Clare.
Willmott 6. Made himself busy, although his fluffing of that late chance showed why he is on the bench.
Gray 6. Decent, competent stand-in for Wright.
Marriott 5. Again given no time to get into the game.
Match Summary
At last! Fluent United produced their best performance of the season so far with an enjoyable and hard-fought victory over a useful Eastbourne side in which they rode their luck at times, but made sufficient chances to give their impatient followers hope for the future. The season starts here.
Man of the Match
James Jennings. About as good as a left-back can get, providing a superb delivery to make United's first goal, scoring a splendid free-kick for the second, and helping his team to a clean sheet with an error-free display of defending. Worth every penny of what the transfer tribunal decides.
Ref Watch
Burt 7. A trifle too keen to stop play on occasion, but competent, sparing with the cards and good to see him booking a player for the pernicious offence of diving in the box.
Soundtrack of the Day
Jamaica "Short And Entertaining"
Andrew's previous match reports
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