Saturday 10th February 2007 - U's 2-0 Grays: Bottle for Battle

They say we're going down - man we don't wanna go
Mr Howard says "Please?" but we still say "No!"
We lost seven in a row - that's hard work
But if you think we're giving up then you're some kind of jerk

You gotta fight for your right to stay up!

The papers said we're doomed and we said "No way!"
Our great support's there every match day
Man, watching the U's can be such a drag
But we'll keep cheering 'til the good times are back

You gotta fight for your right to stay up!

Now we've got some lads who're proud of the shirt they wear
Defenders can't get Robbie Simpson out of their hair
They hear Danny Brown coming, say "What's that noise?"
Get out of the way - it's the Abbey Boys!

You gotta fight for your right to stay up!
Stay up! Stay up!

Day Three of the Great Abbey Revival saw the visit of Grays Athletic, another club which has been experiencing a traumatic season, losing its manager then getting through three more, losing its best players and now without a league win since October. And they're still above United in the table (sigh).

It might be sheer coincidence, but there is a strong ex-U's presence in the current Grays squad, with the fondly remembered (Abdou 'Gary' El Kholti), the indifferent (Dennis Oli), the not-so-fondly remembered (Ashley Nicholls) and the 'who?' (Jamie Stuart, one-time pre-season trialist). The fifth ex-U in their squad, John Turner, is presently experiencing the joys of Bishop's Stortford on loan.

United were obliged to try to continue their unbeaten run (two games - oh, dizzy heightss!) minus three players from last week as Andy Duncan, Christian Smith and David Bridges sat out suspensions following last week's card blizzard from the worst ref in the world... ever! Retaining the 3-5-2 formation, in came another teenaage loanee, MK Franchise's towering centre-back Sam Page, plus Josh Simpson and Rob Wolleaston, with Wayne Purser's return from injury confined to the bench as Dan Chillingworth continued his burgeoning strike partnership with Robbie Simpson.

Only fantastic work by United's off-field team, Ian Darler and helpers, had made the pitch playable at all after the last few days' horrendous weather, and the surface on a grey drizzler of a day was like a Richard Curtis rom-com, wet but just the right side of slushy.

Danny Brown led the teams out like he was born to the job, and with this character in charge on the pitch there is no way that the U's will ever go down without a fight. They did not get off to the best of starts, however, as with only two minutes on the clock Nicholls' cross found the head of Grays striker Chukki Eribenne and his header scraped the home post.

United responded in spirited fashion, however, and Chilli showed good confidence a minute later with a turn and shot which whistled past the Grays post. And on 7 the hosts came agonisingly close to taking the lead when Brown stretched to retrieve a Chilli pass and produced a miraculous defence-splitting ball which enabled Robbie Simpson to sneak past the visitors' defence on their blind side and gallop through clear on goal. His shot from the 'D' was well struck and arrowing for the bottom corner of the net until keeper Ashley Bayes produced a superb diving save low to his left to palm it round for a corner.

The big guns were brought up for Jon Brady's ensuing flag-kick in the shape of youthful centre-back trio Page, Aidan Collins and Michael Morrison, towering six-footers all, and it was the latter whose header under pressure sailed over the Grays bar.

El Kholti sent a long-ranger sailing into the South Stand on 10 like a Jonny Wilkinson fly-kick, and four minutes later Page sent the lively Josh Simpson away for a run which culminated in a shot which was knocked behind by Bayes. Over came Brady's corner, and this time it was the gigantic Collins who rose above the pack to power a header goalward which was heading in at the far post until that man Bayes produced another super save with a dive which enabled him to bat the ball away on the bounce with his right hand.

United were unable to sustain this early breathless pace and the game settled into an evenly-matched contest between two sides both attempting to play decent passing football.

The hosts' driving force was again Brown, protecting the centre of the field and snapping into tackles before distributing carefully, enabling Josh Simpson to roam further forward in his best position. His namesake Robbie led the line with tenacity and speed and was well supported by the mobile Chilli, although the wing-backs were having a quieter day as Grays forced them into a fair amount of defensive work.

At the back Collins was the pick of the bunch, never missing a header but also displaying acute positional acumen and a mean tackle.

United's vulnerability down the flanks was exposed by Gavin Grant on 24 when he produced a darting, weaving run down the right channel, his final shot from seven yards superbly blocked away by the sliding Collins (right).

The resultant corner was swung in low and pinged around the box before Eribenne toe-poked for goal at point blank range, but just as a score seemed inevitable, Herbert somehow appeared from nowhere to dive and clear.

Most entertaining, if disturbing, sight of the day so far came when Eribenne went down with an injury shortly afterwards. This was the cue for the entrance of the Grays physio, an extremely portly fellow who sported the tightest, briefest pair of shorts imaginable on one so large over his ample corned-beef thighs. I'd have thought the mere thought of those micro-shorts bulging towards you would be enough to make a player leap up from a broken leg.

Mr Blobby's healing hands (and shorts) could only cure Eribenne temporarily and on the half hour he was forced to withdraw in favour of Dennis Oli. Play continued to switch from end to end, with Grays marginally on top in a style that belied their dreadful current form. It was a good, clean contest, which made Josh Simpson's unnecessary booking by a fussy ref for an honest challenge on Dean Howell on 38 all the more disappointing.

Maheta Molango nodded wide for the visitors two minutes later, and it was United who were probably more looking forward to the half-time break until the last minute of the half. Then Robbie Simpson, an awkward handful all day whose rough treatment had thus far gained little sympathy from man in black Sheldrake, bustled his way between two opponents into the left-hand side of the area and was clumsily bundled to the ground by Nicholls. Penalty!

The ex-United man was booked and Robbie himself stepped up as Bayes leaped about on his line like an orangutan with a Red Bull habit. Robbie took no notice and calmly sent the keeper the wrong way as he knocked it confidently into the bottom right corner. 1-0.

It was United's first spot-kick since Danny Carey-Bertram's last-minute consolation versus Morecambe back on 18th November. There was still time for last-minute palpitations at the other end as Oli led a counter-attack and his long, raking cross soared over Shane Herbert to the far post where a magnificent defensive sliding tackle by Brady robbed Grant of a tap-in. United survived the storm and went in one up.

There had been some stirring individual performances from the men in amber, but as a collective they spent much of the first half second best, with neither wing-back firing on all cylinders and Grays exploiting some gaps down the flanks. Part two could still go either way and a Beckham-style comeback could not be discounted for the visitors.

The two sides enjoyed a corner each in the opening minutes of the second half but other than that both keepers were about as busy as if they had been defending against the England team. Neat build-up play on 54 finally carved out a chance for Courtney Pitt, but he pulled his shot wide of the far post. Brady blasted over a minute later, and on 57 Grays' latest boss Justin Edinburgh decided on a midfield change and introduced Glenn Poole for Molango.

Poole's first serious action a couple of minutes later was a 30-yard free-kick after Collins was harshly penalised for a foul on Oli. With a penalty box more packed full of jostling bodies than a China-QPR 'friendly' he chose to go for goal and blazed underwhelmingly over.

Danger threatened on 61 when Grant produced another of his jinking runs and set himself up for a shot six yards out, but Herbert stood firm and clutched safely with both hands. With United still struggling down the wings, JQ mixed it all up on 67 with a double substitution, removing the below-par Pitt and Wolleaston and introducing Charles Ademeno and Dean Hooper. The latter went to right-back as the back three became a back four in a 4-4-2, with Chilli wide right, Brady left and Ademeno up front with Robbie Simpson.

Ademeno, nippier than a double-jointed terrier, almost immediately gained his side a corner with his usual speed and tenacity, but none of the big men could beat Bayes to the flag-kick. Jay Smith met Howell's corner at the other end but could only nod wide.

Grays made a crowd-pleasing sub on 72 as the underachieving Nicholls was withdrawn in favour of Ben Harding, an on-loan colleague of Page's from the plastic club with the concrete cows. Chaos ensued when Oli broke free down the middle and was foiled by the ever-alert Herbert, sprinting from goal to clear, although the ball only fell to El Kholti 35 yards out, but his attempted lob sailed well wide.

Poole tested the U's keeper again on 76 with another free-kick but again Herbert was up to the task. United were hanging on grimly now, Brown urging his troops to dig in, and Hooper gave away a free-kick on 78 with a foolish lunge on Howell. The Grays man responded in bad-tempered fashion with a push to the chest that a harsher ref (hello, Earth calling, Mr Hopkins) might have punished with a red card, but Mr Sheldrake settled for a yellow apiece.

The ball was cleared back out to Howell from the free-kick and his sharply angled drive fizzed across the face of goal and narrowly wide at the far post. There was more card action on 83 when Ademeno clumsily clattered Stuart, but a minute later a close-fought contest was decided.

Brown lofted a through ball high over the Grays defence and Robbie Simpson, just onside, latched onto it and sprinted away. His snap shot from the left-hand corner of the box appeared to have been stopped by Bayes, but he could only slow it down and it trundled past him and into the net. 2-0!

No player could have deserved it more, and even the ref seemed to agree as he started giving free-kicks in his favour after eighty minutes of complete indifference to the treatment meted out by the Grays defence. Relief swept around the Abbey like a particularly virulent strain of bird flu. Bootiful.

Brown tested Bayes' gloves with a blaster on 87 as tempers began to fray, and in added time someone in Grays' light blue was very lucky indeed that his off-the-ball punch/elbow on Ademeno that felled the little striker and bloodied his lip went unseen by any of the officials, who could only hold an uneasy conversation with players from both sides as Ademeno received treatment.

Thankfully there was no further unpleasantness and United saw out the remaining time comfortably, to rousing applause from the amber hordes and an even more rousing chorus of 'Coconuts.' It wasn't a great performance, although there were some great individuals, but United's tenacity and sheer hard work had reaped its reward and sent them up five places in the table.

Those other clubs' games in hand remain a worry, but we can only concern ourselves with our own form. And this run must continue for as long as possible. And we now have the most important ingredient: belief. Believe!

Player Ratings
Herbert 8. Imperious, alert, getting better with every game.
A.Collins 8. Unbeatable in the air, uncompromising on the floor. Tremendous signing.
Morrison 7. Steady as they come.
Page 7. New boy didn't let anyone down in no-nonsense fashion.
Brady 7. Worked hard although some way off peak form.
J.Simpson 8. Great to see a talent blossom and Josh really showed what a promising future he has in the game today.
Brown 8. Captain by name and by nature. The whole team revolved around him.
Wolleaston 6. Ran around a lot but was the weakest link in midfield.
Pitt 6. No faulting effort, but something of an off-day today.
Chillingworth 7. Good, busy team performance and linked well with Robbie.
R.Simpson 8. Magnificent line leader and now the goals are coming.

Ademeno 7. Another promising, busy cameo.
Hooper 6. Struggled to catch the pace of the game.

Match Summary
The fight goes on as a makeshift United side scrapped their way to a hard-fought and vital victory full of guts, spirit and some marvellous individual performances. This season ain't over by a long, long chalk.

Man of the Match
Robbie Simpson. We were truly spoilt for choice for MoM today, but Robbie just shaded it for evoking the ghost of the great Dave Kitson with his tireless and intelligent running, strength, distribution and deadly finishing.

Ref Watch
Sheldrake 5. Any ref would seem great after last week's dingbat, but Mr S was mediocrity personified with his fussy intolerance of the most innocuous of challenges, pointless bookings and consistent inability to give a throw-in the right way.

Soundtrack of the Day
The Long Blondes 'Giddy Stratospheres'

Andrew Bennett

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Previous match reports:
Oxford 1-1 U's
U's 3-0 Woking
Rushden & Diamonds 3-1 U's
Stevenage 4-1 U's
U's 0-1 Stafford
U's 1-2 Burton
U's 0-1 Rushden & Diamonds
Histon 5-0 U's
Woking 0-1 U's
U's 0-2 St Albans
U's 1-3 Morecambe
U's 3-0 Gravesend
Grays 1-1 U's
Northwich 2-0 U's (FA Cup Qual)
U's 0-3 Oxford
U's 1-2 Crawley
U's 2-2 Altrincham
Burton 2-1 U's
U's 1-0 Stevenage
U's 1-1 Kidderminster
Forest Green 1-1 U's
U's 1-3 Exeter
Dagenham 2-0 U's
U's 1-2 Halifax
St Albans 1-1 U's
U's 0-1 Northwich Victoria

Pre-season match reports:
Histon 0-0 U's (3-4 on pens)
U's 1-3 Norwich
Fakenham 0-7 U's
Enfield FC 0-2 U's
Cambridge City 0-2 U's
U's 4-4 Ipswich
U's 0-4 West Ham
Bury Town 1-2 U's
Leyton 0-3 U's

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