Andrew Bennett reviews last season.
September 2009: "The next one might sting you"
United enjoyed almost another full week in which to absorb the manager's ideas and instructions, and the squad was joined by Jon Challinor after his loan at Forest Green expired after he had taken part in all seven of their matches in August - in which they had gained just one point, at Oxford. Ironically Rovers were next up at the Abbey.
There was a reminder that United were far from alone in having to watch the purse strings with the news that Salisbury City had entered administration, with an attendant deduction of ten points, and recently relegated Farsley Celtic, with insufficient funds to continue and the withdrawal of a potential buyer, had had their Throstle Nest ground closed and their next game postponed. That decision was reversed at the last minute, but for them it was literally the beginning of the end.
Saturday 5th September 2009: U's 7-0 Forest Green Rovers (Blue Square Premier - Att. 2,646, away 39)
Crow 43, 50 (pen), Holroyd 47, 65, Ives 68, 75, Beesley 89
United's starting line-up remained unchanged for the fourth consecutive match, although Lee Phillips was able to make the bench, but Ling was absent with stomach trouble; with CRC not playing until the following day, Jez George assisted Paul Carden from the dugout. Rovers boss Jim Harvey had been subjected to a bizarrely protracted sacking, seemingly for daring to talk to the U's about their managerial vacancy, so with caretaker player/manager David Brown in charge, the Nailsworth's club's travelling trickle of supporters must have been fearing the worst.
The visitors resisted stoutly, however, flooding the midfield, but United probed patiently and were rewarded just before the break when Hatswell forged into the box and pulled it back for Crow to fire home from ten yards.
Within five minutes of the restart the points had all but been wrapped up. First Holroyd caught Pugh in possession and used his pace to race away and slot home for number two, then he gained his team a penalty when he was clattered by keeper Burton, who received a straight red for throwing the ball at the ref in disgust. Under the present rules Rovers were allowed to bring on a reserve keeper but Holroyd, having been treated for his injury, had to stay off the field so was unable to take the spot-kick. Crow stepped in to fire confidently home.
United's quick passing, Holroyd's pace and Crow's intelligent prompting were all too much for the depleted visitors, and Holroyd notched his ninth goal in eight games to go top of the BSP scorers' chart when Willmott robbed Jonathan Smith and sent him speeding down the middle to slot easily past sub keeper Tom Pass.
Sam Ives replaced Reason and scored with his second touch, latching onto the rebound when Pass parried a Crow shot to find the target from the edge of the box via the inside of the post, and he also grabbed number 6 when he ran onto Saah's fine through ball and although Pass got a hand to his shot, he could not stop it looping into goal.
Not one for sentimentality, Ling withdrew both strikers even though both were on hat-tricks, Phillips making his season's debut alongside Beesley, and such had Holroyd and Crow's impact been that United might have made double figures had they stayed on. Beesley nonetheless rounded off the scoring a minute from time from Tonkin's cross.
Carden was aware of United's historic difficulty in beating teams reduced to ten men: "We proved today that we can do it. There were a few words said at half-time because we needed to get in amongst it a lot more and we upped the tempo in the second half and when we did we got our rewards."
Of the penalty incident he revealed "Some of their lads were moaning about their keeper being sent off. I don't think he actually got sent off for the foul, I think it was for throwing the ball towards the referee. But he was lucky a couple of times in the first half because he was coming out with the same action. You accept keepers coming out with their knee up but as soon as he straightened his leg and showed his studs, he caught Chrissy Holroyd and it was a penalty. Even though he got the ball in his hands it's like saying just because he's got the ball in his hands he can smack someone. You can't do that, it's still a foul. So it was a penalty and you can't throw the ball at the referee the way he did."
He was also pleased with 18-year-old Ives' showing: "Sam has that in him. If you watch him for CRC he gets in the box, he runs beyond forwards and he's got an eye for goal. In training he wants to get forward and it's refreshing that you can put young substitutes on like that who have an impact the way he did."
Ives started in Sunday's first-ever foray for CRC into the FA Vase, and the Ridgeons League pace-setters ran out 5-1 winners over Huntingdon Town at the Abbey with goals from Patrick, Marriott, McAuley, an own goal and a Luke Berry penalty.
Tuesday 8th September 2009: U's 0-0 Altrincham (Blue Square Premier - Att. 2,749, away 41)
Ling remained laid low by a virus which had caused him to lose half a stone in weight so missed Tuesday's home encounter with last season's last-day party poopers. His team remained understandably unchanged for the fifth time on a humid evening against opposition which had won three of its first four games, then lost three of the next four.
Alty had come to frustrate and their attitude was summed up by Matt Doughty's yellow card for time-wasting after only 38 minutes. Add to that their predilection for falling over to gain a free-kick at every opportunity and United's inability to find the target, and you had a stark contrast to the weekend' goalfest.
Holroyd had the ball in the net just after the hour but was denied by a debatable offside flag, then Hatswell powered Reason's free-kick home but Gleeson was penalised for shirt-tugging in the build-up. The visitors threatened occasionally on the break and the hosts gradually ran out of inspiration against Alty's stubborn flat back ten. They had done it again.
Carden admitted "It was frustrating. We didn't work them as hard as we should have. We had opportunities to put the ball in the box and we turned them down, we had opportunities to pass it earlier and maybe took an extra touch, and in the second half, once they had something to hang on to, they were very good at doing that."
A philosophical Hatswell had a word for the supporters: "We all appreciated how the fans stayed with us tonight - they understood how hard we were trying and how difficult it was becoming to break them down. They don't boo and give us stick very often, and when they do I think they are probably right."
On the Thursday came a game at the Abbey that was the exact opposite of Tuesday's, as United's youngsters crushed Diss Town 12-0 in the preliminary round of the FA Youth Cup. Owen Kessack (2), Alex Bevan, Liam Hughes (3), Jack Bailey(3), Jack Igglesden (2) and Joe Bennett were the scorers for a team which was effectively the CRC side minus the first-year pros. Had Messrs Marriott, Patrick, McAuley and Ives been playing, who knows what sort of cricket score might have ensued.
Courtney Pitt's future remained uncertain, having made just two appearances from the bench. Carden revealed "Courtney is transfer-listed and up to now there hasn't been much interest. The manager has put a proposal to Courtney, which Courtney hasn't come back with yet, but I'm sure he will soon because he wants to play football. Hopefully he wants to play football for us and when the manager comes back I'm sure he'll address the situation."
Saturday 12th September 2009: AFC Wimbledon 0-0 U's (Blue Square Premier - Att. 4,128, away 682)
Ling returned to the dugout and named an unchanged team for the sixth match in a row for United's first-ever encounter with AFC Wimbledon, who had risen heroically through the ranks after the original Dons were spirited away to Milton Keynes by the Child Catcher-like figure of Pete Winkelman.
It was a hot, sweltering afternoon in Kingston attended by an excellent sized crowd, helped by the last-minute lifting of an all-ticket restriction, and United took the field in their light blue strip against the hosts' darker blue with yellow side panels, which were presumably the rather odd reason for a kit change.
United started well in an open and entertaining game; Holroyd was denied by a goal-line clearance early on, and Crow was unable to control an open-goal chance on 18. The hosts gradually responded and a hard-fought first half finished with honours even.
Crow attempted an outrageous shot straight from kick-off at the restart and home keeper Brown was forced to backpedal and tip over the bar. Chances continued to fall at both ends but neither of the division's top marksmen, Holroyd or Dons' Danny Kedwell, could make a breakthrough, and as the U's began to tire towards the end, they were happy to settle for a sweat-drenched point. Still unbeaten away and with five clean sheets out of six, there were plenty of positives to take from the game.
Ling's verdict: "I've not been feeling great but the performance has lifted my spirits. That was our toughest test so far but on chances we were the better side… You can pick a few holes in some of our attacking play but we had three gilt-edged chances and we should have won the game, and their manager said as much afterwards."
Wombles boss Terry Brown agreed: "Cambridge are a good side and they will be in the play-offs. It's just up to us to work as hard as we can in training sessions between now and Saturday to make sure that we can stay on the coat-tails of the likes of Cambridge. Cambridge need to hang on to Holroyd because if they let him go it will be very difficult to replace his quality. Oxford and Luton have more resources than Cambridge to buy players but if Holroyd stays with Cambridge they will cause a lot of teams lots of problems. He could well be the difference between Cambridge and the other play-off contenders."
Holroyd gained his first England C cap on the Tuesday in a 1-1 draw against a Hungarian Under-23 side which included players from Manchester City, Newcastle and Liverpool. Mansfield's Louie Briscoe grabbed the visitors' goal.
There was good news in midweek when those nice people from the Premier League made a one-off 'solidarity payment' of £1 million to the 68 Conference clubs due to adverse economic circumstances such as the loss of the Setanta deal. The Conference apparently remained committed to finding a broadcast partner, but thankfully there was no breath-holding at club level.
Ling confirmed that United's estimated £30,000 share of the pot would make no difference to his tight budget and although returning outward loanees Challinor and Farrell had returned to training with the club, he would rather they were back out on loan. Talks with Pitt about 'things within his contract' remained ongoing. And within a few days the little winger had come off the transfer list and Ling had promised that he would figure 'an awful lot more' in first team action.
Saturday 19th September 2009: U's 2-0 Wrexham (Blue Square Premier - Att. 2,823, away 231)
Goals: Hatswell 9, Willmott 81
The weather remained humid and the United team was still unchanged for the visit of Dean Saunders' underachieving multi-national Welshmen. The hosts took an early lead when Holroyd was felled by the pony-tailed Mansour 'Mani' Assoumani and Hatswell stepped up to place the free-kick past the wall and in at the far post.
Veteran Gareth Taylor missed an easy header for the visitors, but it was the hosts who dominated with a top-form Carden pulling the strings in midfield, and it was something of a surprise that they went into the break only one goal up after a fluent and dominant display.
Wrexham were much improved after the interval, especially when they switched from wing-backs to 4-4-2, and Gleeson cleared a deflected Sakho shot off the line, but Ling kept his subs on the bench and was rewarded when Crow sent Willmott away down the left, he cut inside and fired low into goal at the near post with the help of a deflection.
The second goal seemed to break the visitors' resistance and a comfortable victory ensued; with a confident, settled side, a third consecutive tilt at the play-offs appeared to be well and truly on track.
Ling hailed the performance of Hatswell: "I thought Hats was outstanding. Gareth Taylor is a hard one to mark and the referee has got a hard job because each of them is pulling the other, but the centre-half pairing at the moment looks very solid. You don't like to say that as a manager because the next one might sting you, but they do look solid."
CRC continued their FA Vase adventure when they won 1-0 at Brantham Athletic in the Second Qualifying Round, Adam Marriott notching the winner.
Tuesday 22nd September 2009: York City 2-2 U's (Blue Square Premier - Att. 2,321, away 234)
Goals: Gash 33, 89 / Reason 79, Beesley 83
Kit-Kat Crescent does not seem to have changed since the 1920s, although one of the away end floodlight pylons was leaning alarmingly towards the pitch and was held up by a jack, but York City's team was much improved on last season and had won its last four home games with only one goal conceded. United were unchanged yet again versus a side which included former U Michael Gash, for whom the Minstermen had splashed out £55,000 of their FA Trophy runners-up money from Ebbsfleet.
The first half an hour was an even, hard-fought midfield battle, but the hosts took the lead with the untidiest of goals, Andy Ferrell's shot bouncing off Saah to Gash to poke home from close range. It was the first goal United had conceded since the end of August.
York seemed more cautious in the second half and United took the game to them, dominating possession, but they could not make that breakthrough and twenty minutes from time Ling gambled by withdrawing Parkinson and both strikers and introducing Pitt, Beesley and Phillips. And it paid off ten minutes later when Beesley slipped a clever little ball in to Reason and he finished calmly with defenders closing in.
Reason milked the moment for all it was worth after his unsuccessful trial spell at York before joining the U's last year, and four minutes later United were in front with a fantastic team goal. Saah picked up possession on halfway, surged into a gap down the right channel, then arrowed a diagonal ball towards Beesley; Bees dummied then hared for goal, the ball ran behind him for Phillips, and his perfect through ball cut the defence to pieces as Beesley ran onto it and placed an inch-perfect finish calmly past Ingham from eighteen yards. Exquisite.
York awoke from their slumbers, but United looked like holding on until a minute from time when Adam Smith crossed from the right and Gash rose above Gleeson to power an unstoppable header past Potter. The draw felt like a defeat after coming so close to victory, and playing so well, but it was still a good point in the end.
A disappointed Ling remained upbeat: "There's a good team spirit and people who are itching to come off the bench. We made three substitutions to bring on Pitt and the front two and there's a good atmosphere among the lads. We've gone eight undefeated now and it would have been lovely to get three points here tonight, but this keeps the run going and keeps up in good spirits."
On the Thursday the Under-18s continued their FA Youth Cup run with a 6-0 win at Leiston in the First Qualifying Round, Jack Bailey grabbing four goals with the others coming from Blaine Hudson and Alex Bevan.
Saturday 26th September 2009: U's 3-4 Luton Town (Blue Square Premier - Att. 4,870, away 1,728)
Goals: Pitt 20, Holroyd 33 (pen), 65 / Gallen 48, 74 (pen), Jarvis 60, Howells 61
The first all-ticket game of the season at the Abbey saw United's first clash with Luton since December 2002, when they won by an extra-time golden goal at Kenilworth Road in the LDV Vans Trophy. Both clubs had been through a hell of a lot, and a lot of Hell, since then.
Ling made his first team change in eight games by dropping Crow and Parkinson in favour of Beesley and Pitt, while ex-U Freddie Murray lined up for the visitors. Both teams went at each other from the start, but it was Luton who had all the early shots; however, it was Pitt, on his first start of the season, who struck first, finishing coolly from Beesley's pass.
Then it got better for the hosts when Claude Gnakpa was penalised for a tangle with Tonkin in the box and Holroyd lashed the penalty home to double his side's lead. The already-booked Gnakpa, though, did not receive a second yellow card.
Two minutes from half-time it got even worse for Luton when Liam Hatch picked up a second booking for a studs-up lunge at Carden which merited a red card on its own. The reaction of the away supporters in the South Habbin was ugly to say the least, their goading and threatening antics an unwelcome throwback to the bad old days of football hooliganism, and their injured captain Kevin Nicholls managed to get himself into a row with some home supporters in the Main Stand. The half-time whistle came as a relief to all and sundry.
United's worst enemy now was complacency, and they paid for a timid start to the second half when Potter parried Alan White's header and veteran poacher Kevin Gallen was there to ram home the rebound. Gnakpa then somehow escaped dismissal again when he blatantly tripped Pitt and was let off with a lecture by the ref. The Luton bench, taking the hint, substituted him immediately.
The visitors remained in the ascendant, fired up by their goal, and the ten men equalised on the hour when Rossi Jarvis played a one-two with Gallen and as no United man made any sort of challenge, he ran on to lash impressively past Potter into the top corner.
All of a sudden United's hitherto impregnable back line looked vulerable. Within a minute, Hatswell had made a pig's ear of an interception out on the left, Gallen robbed him and hared for goal, and although Potter parried his shot superbly, Jake Howells was first ahead of a slumbering back line to poke into the empty goal.
The shellshocked U's had to awaken from this bad dream fast, and somehow they did, equalising inside four minutes. Hatswell, perhaps feeling guilty about Luton's last goal, joined the attack and when Gleeson arced a perfect cross to the far post, he rose to draw a tremendous save from Mark Tyler; but Holroyd pounced to thrash the rebound into the net from close range.
Both teams now went at each other in an atmosphere which was little short of frenzied, like an X-Factor final but with better singing. And the drama continued when a routine Luton corner floated over and to everyone's surprise the ref pointed to the penalty spot, apparently for a Saah push on White, although unpunished pushing and pulling is a feature of just about every flag-kick ever. Gallen sent Potter the wrong way to restore Luton's lead.
Ling went for broke, replacing Beesley, Willmott and Pitt with Ives, Phillips and Crow and going to 4-3-3, and United went direct, pumping balls into the box at every opportunity, eschewing patience and subtlety for once. And it almost paid off four minutes from the end when a tremendous Carden run and cross picked out Saah close to goal, but his shot was blocked by United Nemesis, Tyler, when he should have scored.
United continued to flail away until the end, but the damage had been done, much self-inflicted, and the Curse of the Ten Men had struck again.
Ling was unimpressed: "We were 2-0 up at half-time against ten men and you're talking to people and looking them in the eyes and saying 'this ain't over' because it's often the case when ten men can do the job. And they nod at you and speak to you and they then don't do their jobs out there. Defensively they've been sound all season and we've talked about how good they've been defensively, but today was poor. Set plays have cost us and marking people defensively has cost us and that was nowhere near the standards that we've set ourselves.
"It's a shame the run has come to an end when we were looking such favourites at half-time after such a good performance in the first half, but for the twenty minute period when they got the three goals it was just like a schoolboy team out there, defensively throughout the unit. And I do mean throughout the unit because everybody has to do it, not just the defenders, it's everybody's job."
Tuesday 29th September 2009: Grays Athletic 2-0 U's (Blue Square Premier - Att. 976, away 482)
Goals: Charge 58, Poole 90 (pen)
History now tells us that this was United's last ever visit to Grays' New Recreation Ground, and we will miss it in a funny sort of way, with its bizarre array of flats and balconies along one side, the trek to the away end and the ever-present aroma of frying onions. This was also Grays' last season in the Conference for what looks like being a very long time indeed.
At the time Grays had won just one game all season, and Julian Dicks was on his fourth game in charge, his agent having sent United his CV when Ling had resigned in August. With tiny crowds, a programme which was designed to cover two matches to save money, and turmoil at both team and boardroom level, this was a club in terminal decline and surely an away banker for a U's side which should be determined to make amends for a slipshod Saturday.
Lee Phillips replaced Beesley in an otherwise unchanged starting line-up against a home side which included ex-U Gavin Hoyte in its first XI and three more on the bench: Lee McEvilly, Sam Cutler and Jack Jeffery. Grays started like their manager, a mixture of ferocity and cultured passing, while United struggled to get going at all.
The visitors slowly awoke from their slumbers in a contest distinctly lacking in quality and Pitt clipped the outside of the post just before the half-hour, and in a decent spell, Saah headed straight at the keeper with all the goal to aim at. The ref withdrew at half-time, through injury and not through boredom as we half-suspected, and the United team appeared to have been replaced by zombies as they failed to make any impression and fell behind when Glenn Poole drove the ball into the box and Daniel Charge turned it past Potter as the U's defence did its impression of the Terracotta Army.
United tried to respond and replaced Phillips with Crow, but continued to pump lazy high balls to be gobbled up by Grays' huge centre-backs. Ragged and uninspired against hard-working and increasingly confident hosts, several players (Reason, Willmott) were little more than passengers and replacing Willmott with Beesley did not help matters.
The final nail in the coffin came in added time when Tonkin brought down Richard Graham and Poole slotted the penalty home past Potter's dive. An air of surreality was added by the ref's insistence of booking Hatswell for Tonkin's foul despite his pleading.
It had been easily United's worst (non) performance of the season and there appeared to be too many players in black'n'amber who were lost in the comfort zone of complacency.
Ling was honest: "It was a bad day at the office, you can't deny it. We didn't get ourselves going and the first half was a non-event. A couple of chances fell our way but we didn't impose ourselves on the game. They're a team that's playing without any confidence and we didn't make it difficult for them, and that's the result. You can't just turn up at a place and expect to get a result. When things are going well it's easy for players to stand up and be counted, when it's not going so well it's difficult.
"That's what I've said to them. I've laid into the team and a few of them as well and now we'll see who the real people are who will stand up against Histon on Sunday, which will prove to be a difficult game coming off the back of our last two results."
End of month position: 12th
Andrew Bennett
Cambridge United: YOUR CITY - YOUR CLUB
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