Andrew Bennett reviews last season.

October 2009: "You've got to get down in the much and nettles"

On the Saturday CRC continued their FA Vase progress with a First Round thrashing of March Town United at the Abbey, running out 7-1 winners with two goals apiece from Bailey and Marriott plus one each from Bevan, McAuley (pen) and Coakley.


Sunday 4th October 2009: Histon 1-1 U's (Blue Square Premier - Att. 2,371, away 1,168)
Goals: Langston 90 / Holroyd 81

United had requested not to play Histon over the Christmas/New Year period as previously, after the admission shenanigans of last season, and the Stutes' chairman Gareth Baldwin was suitably apologetic in Sunday's matchday programme. His club had also constructed a proper toilet block at the away end for the first time.

Ling chose, rightly or wrongly, not to wield the axe after that dismal effort at Grays, making only one change in recalling Crow for Phillips. Histon, recovering after a poor start to the season, went with one striker (Danny Wright) up front and the familiar Donald Pleasance-like presence of Alan Lewer was now assisting Steve Fallon in the mysterious 'gardening leave' absence of John Beck. A whole volume of books could be written about the whirlwind of events that were to descend upon the Glass World Stadium in the coming months, although it is arguable what category they would be classified under: tragi-comedy, perhaps.

United knew they would have be up for the battle from the start, so the amber army was dismayed to instead see them start like a bury of frightened rabbits, overrun and outplayed with ease by the village part-timers. Somehow the visitors held on by dint of some desperate last-ditch defending and heroic goalkeeping from Potter, and when Wright robbed Carden in the centre circle and advanced unhindered on goal, he obligingly sidefooted wide of a relieved Potter's goal.

The U's finally began to get a grip towards the end of a first half about which the most positive thing to say was that they had not gone behind. They were out early for the second half, after some doubtless choice words from their manager, and to be fair they looked much improved after the restart.

An open, even contest ensued, Potter still on his mettle to make a couple of fine saves from Josh Simpson, while Pitt began to tease and torment the hosts' defence, and a double Histon substitution on 68 was the cue for United to lay siege to their goal for the next fifteen minutes. Potter's oppo Danny Naisbitt was now the hardest worked of the two keepers, saving well from Pitt and Hatswell, and the breakthrough came ten minutes from time when Pitt's cross-shot from a short corner was turned in by Holroyd at the far post.

If you were to ask anyone remotely familiar with Histon who was not at the match how and when their equaliser came, chances are they would say 'injury time, scrambled goal from a corner.' And some things in football are, after all, still predictable. It was the second flag-kick which did the damage, Matt Langston (a postman, apparently) winning an untidy header in a melee from which it bounced, probably with the help of a deflection or two, into the net with dispiriting predictability.

Overall the draw was a fair result, but United could only be disappointed with conceding so late, notwithstanding their mostly dismal first-half efforts.

Ling summarised "The first half was nowhere near good enough. We lacked energy, we were second to every ball, and I laid into them at half-time. I told them the first thing we've got to do is match their endeavour and in the second half we had them pinned back for the whole of the half, which showed the difference. To be fair they had a few one-on-ones with Pottsy so overall it might have been a fair result but it seems these late goals are out to cost us. Once you get your noses in front after having a lot of play in the second half, it's frustrating to concede at that time."

Man of the match Potter mused "You don't turn into a bad team overnight and we're still the same squad of players that finished two points off promotion last season. It might be a confidence thing and I don't know why confidence should be so low - OK, we haven't performed but every team will go through that this season."

Paul Barry revealed that United were to concentrate on developing the Abbey after the Planning Inspector's report on the South Cambridgeshire Development Plan, which stated that the Milton site favoured by Churchmanor Estates as United's new home was not suitable for development under the Green Belt.

The interim Chairman revealed "The idea was for a Community Stadium provided to Cambridge United in a high profiled location with potential conference facilities allowing the Club to have income seven days a week. However, the Planning Inspector's ruling has put the issue of a relocation on the back burner for at least ten years. Cambridge United is and has been at the heart of the community in Cambridge and I believe we must now focus on our current location. Of all the various football stadia I have visited around the world, my favourite ones are those right in cities. Fans are at the heart of the atmosphere created at stadia, and with our passionate fans, staying at and improving the Abbey would be my personal wish."

It was announced that Global Self Drive were to step aside as United's home shirt sponsors, although they would continue to supply the first team minibus, maintain advertising hoardings and offer discounts to U's season ticket holders.

The reason for this was to make way for renowned local brewers Greene King to become main club sponsors and home shirt partners (and beer suppliers!) in a three-year deal hailed as one of the most important sponsorship deals in the club's history. Development manager Gary Atyes said "This association is fantastic news for the club: not only will we have great beer in our bars, but we will also be able to work with local pubs to build grass roots support. Both our organisations are an integral part of the local community and the link we have made will be used to benefit U's supporters and pub customers alike."

The Under-18s progressed in the FA Youth Cup with a Second Qualifying Round victory over Dereham Town, winning 4-0 at the Abbey with goals from Hudson, Berry, Bennett and Jack Eades.

Mark Beesley joined his former club Chester City on a month's loan after falling out of favour. Ling explained "Mark has been a bit frustrated with his lack of pitch time, and because he missed a chunk of time at the end of last season with injury he feels he needs some games to get his fitness levels to where he wants them to be. This is an opportunity for him to do so. It's not that I want him out of the club or that Bees wants to leave the club, it's that he wants to be starting in the team and he missed a lot of last season. So he's joining them for 28 days and I feel a fitter and sharper player will come back."

Ling was still trying to decide on his best strike pairing: "Chrissy [Holroyd] is a draft pick because he's scoring consistently and it's a case of who to partner him with. Danny [Crow] did very well in the second half on Saturday but there are still questions about who is the best partner and I'm still trying to come up with that answer. We'll find it, but I feel we've got players here who can all do the job."


Saturday 10th October 2009: U's 4-0 Ebbsfleet United (Blue Square Premier - Att. 3,668, away 83)
Goals: Pitt 45, Holroyd 53(pen), Willmott 81, Crow 90

Ling kept faith with the line-up which started at Histon, with Beesley's place on the bench surprisingly going to keeper Laurie Walker rather than one of CRC's bright young stars like Marriott or Patrick. Liam Daish's side had endured a dreadful season so far, with only one win to their name, to no-one's real surprise after their dramatic decline in subscribers had resulted in an almost total rebuild of the squad on the tightest of budgets.

Fleet decided to flood the midfield and their game plan was initially successful, Pitt seeing a shot blocked by keeper Lance Cronin's legs in an otherwise moribund opening spell. United enjoyed the better of the chances but only a brilliant save from Potter at the end of the half from a breakaway Scott Shulton kept the scores level.

But in time added for Ebbsfleet's time-wasting, United conjured a lead: Holroyd hared onto a Reason channel ball, skipped around Cronin, and crossed for Pitt, the smallest man on the pitch, to score with a collector's item of a header. The little wing wizard wheeled away, clutching his head with a look of bemusement on his face.

That goal seemed to spark the U's into second-half life, and they attacked with renewed vim and vigour from the restart. Pitt drew a penalty with some fancy footwork which Holroyd despatched confidently for his thirteenth goal in sixteen matches, and Tonkin missed a good chance to break his goalscoring duck on the hour.

United took their foot off the pedal a little, but Fleet simply lacked the quality to respond. Ten minutes from time Willmott raced down the middle through their reorganised back three to draw Cronin and slot home number three, and in added time sub Phillips almost broke the crossbar with a stupendous half-volley and Crow produced a delightful pinpoint chip from the rebound to round off the scoring.

Ling said "It's an easy game when you're confident but you have to pick up results when things aren't going so well, and today was important for us. We've had a run of poor results until our second half performance against Histon last week and I want to see us play consistently at a good level. That's what I'm aiming for throughout the season and today we did it for most of the game but not all of the game… With CRC winning today as well, and Adam Marriott scoring a hat-trick, it's a good day all round."

Pitt revealed that Phillips had psychic powers: "It wasn't my first headed goal - I did score one a few years back. [Lee] said before the game I would score a header at the back post and I thought 'no way,' but it happened so I saluted him when I scored."

Crow also made an uncanny prediction: "It's been frustrating for me because I know I can score goals and I don't really think I've shown a lot of people that, but if you look at my stats over the years I don't usually start scoring until October. So touch wood I can go on a bit of a run now and the team can pick up the wins on the way!"

An exasperated Daish growled "My players have to realise or decide if they are good enough; just be honest with themselves. If they are good enough they'd better start performing soon. At a certain point you have to change things. You change the players or you change the manager. I'll have to turn things around and there will be some to the point meetings during the week with personnel in the squad. I've given them a chance and they have had enough time out there, and at the moment I'm not seeing enough from players as individuals and I have to do something to about it." He said, sharpening a big axe with a strange glint in his eye.


Saturday 17th October 2009: Hayes & Yeading United 3-0 U's (Blue Square Premier - Att. 744, away 507)
Goals: Fitzgerald 24, 49, Cadmore 63

After the (eventual) demolition of Ebbsfleet, newly promoted Hayes & Yeading looked like an away banker, with no home wins all season and only one away (at, where else, Ebbsfleet) and the lowest attendances in the league. In fact there could not have been many more away games in United's history when they enjoyed such a massive percentage of the support.

It was a very enjoyable away day until kick-off: a delightful clubhouse, a wonderfully old-fashioned ground which was three sides terrace, an informative programme with a good sense of history, and a proper old-school club shop just like in the good old days stuffed with memorabilia, stacks of old programmes and an old telly showing the official film of the 1966 World Cup.

The United side was unchanged from last week, although Jon Challinor was a surprise choice to replace the injured Parkinson on the bench. Jordan Patrick took part in the warm-up but was not one of the final sixteen.

Some home fans showed which way they thought the game would be going when their team won the toss by making their way towards the end that their side would be defending, but the hosts started well, playing a high-tempo pressing game. Holroyd drew a fine early save from keeper Simon Overland with a screamer of a shot, and United appeared to be getting a grip on the game although Pitt had to clear a Scott Fitzgerald effort off the line from a corner 21 minutes in.

But three minutes later the visitors committed footballing hari-kiri to hand the hosts the lead. Hatswell underhit a bobbling back-pass towards Potter, Fitzgerald gave chase, Potter trotted casually from goal, and he hit his attempted clearance straight into the inrushing striker…then stood, transfixed, as Fitzgerald chased the ball towards the empty goal and rammed gleefully home. Worst Goal Of The Season.

The confidence visibly drained from the fragile visitors, even their most experienced players Hatswell and Carden having stinkers, and they were thankful to go into the dressing room only one down. The forwards had been willing runners, but the midfield had been utterly anonymous and the back four was a collective bag of nerves.

Their start to the second half was even worse. Within four minutes of the restart Sean Canham's through ball found Fitzgerald easily losing a snoozing Hatswell and he ran on to lift the ball comfortably past the exposed Potter to double the hosts' lead.

United should have pulled one back five minutes later when Willmott crossed for Crow to meet it with a diving header barely two yards out, but somehow Overland scrambled it off the line. And just after the hour United's humiliation was complete when Adam Green touched a free-kick to Tom Cadmore and he rifled a fantastic thirty-yard drive low past Potter for number three.

Ling tried his 4-3-3 trick again, but left on the ponderous Reason and Carden, who were part of the problem in the first place. The subs did their best, but as a whole the team was disjointed and dysfunctional, and they sunk pitifully to a defeat that made their efforts at Grays look like the Brazilian 1970 World Cup winners. What on Earth had gone wrong, Mr Ling?

"It's another of those games that we were talking about before the game. It's a team in the bottom four and you come here and people expect you to win the game, but we've got people not performing at the level they need to perform at. Any success in this league is when you go to the places like Grays and here, where you've got to get down in the muck and nettles and get amongst them and answer some questions."

"…There's plenty of life around the training ground and around the club, but any criticism from me or criticism for fellow players seems to be taken as a slight. It needs to be that we're all in it together and we're all pulling it together out there. People will call people out, managers tell players what to do and you build off that. But it seems that people are scared to take criticism off anybody. If any player says anything they seem to go back at each other, but it's about being together out there as a team and as a unit and today wasn't good enough.

"All the players apart from Brian Saah are players who have been left here and they've got to show me what they want. They can't do it on the odd occasion here and there - they've got to be doing it consistently, week in, week out. Today they didn't do that and I've told them that. It's about a three-year project and finding out what players want to come along on the ride."

"I said after the Histon game that the difference between our good and our bad is miles too wide, and our consistency is nowhere near where it should be. Today was a really bad day at the office and it's hard to pick a player that comes out of it with any sort of credit. A performance like that frustrates you and gets you down, and you start to scratch your head when you look at the players from last week's performance and you're working with the same players. Sometimes it has to be about personal pride, personal discipline, personal performance, and if you do all that personally then the collective becomes better. I'm available to accept the criticism for the collective because the collective wasn't right today."

The following Wednesday the Under-18s continued their FA Youth Cup run with a 1-0 win at Rothwell Town in the Third Qualifying Round, Jack Eades grabbing the winner. An entirely different CRC side had won 5-0 at March the previous evening in the Ridgeons League Cup with a number of emergency 'guest' signings making up the numbers.

BSP basement boys Chester City had a player embargo placed on them by the Conference, having failed to pay certain promised monies, and they were now under threat of expulsion from the league altogether.

Ling moved to clarify his 'three-year project' comments and to clarify that he still had hopes for this season: "There is a three-year plan, I signed a three-year contract, there is infrastructure that needs to be put in place, but this season has never been written off and we'll do the best we can with the budget we've got to spend. That's not writing off the play-offs. We need consistency and we'll plug on - we've had a bad result and we'll move on from it. This season is not over and we'll push as hard as we can to get into those play-offs this season, and it's a realistic target to do so."

He was also keen to ensure that his comments about player criticism should not be taken out of context: "You come out after a game disappointed and quite raw and what I was trying to say was you want the players on the pitch talking to each other, getting on with it, pulling together and moving on to the next stage. But there seems to be a little bit of an argument before we move on to the next stage.

"I said to them that when you're on a football pitch the other players will be there to encourage you, to criticise you, trying to make you a bit better. No-one's trying to criticise to make you worse, and they are listening but I don't like the bickering back at each other and trying to apportion the blame to someone else. We're in it together and we take the good collectively, the bad collectively, and we take it on the chin when it's bad. Sometimes when you're raw after a defeat your comments can get blown out of proportion and you regret it afterwards."


Sunday 25th October 2009: Lincoln United 1-3 U's (FA Cup 4th Qualifying Round - Att. 837, away 436)
Goals: Forrester 3 / McAuley 35, Willmott 39, Hatswell 41

United's first foray of the season into the FA Cup was a trip into the unknown, a.k.a. Ashby Avenue, home of Lincoln's 'other' club, who were bumping along near the bottom of the Unibond League Division One South with only one win all season. They had, however, already negotiated four rounds of the Cup to get to what they termed their 'big day' with victories over the likes of Friar Lane & Epworth and Jarrow Roofing Boldon Community Association. The match was played on a Sunday due to Lincoln City having entertained Torquay on the Saturday; clearly Lincoln's policeman couldn't be in two places at once.

The United fans were afforded a warm welcome into Lincoln's cosy clubhouse where their players gathered to watch the draw for the next round on TV, seeming somewhat underwhelmed by a potential home tie with Ilkeston Town. Lincoln, whose most recent league attendance had been 58, gave over half of their tidy little ground to the visiting U's, including their main stand, from which we could marvel at the dugouts which had a press box perched on top of them, and a bus stop-like second seated stand to their left.

Former U Terry Fleming was now on the hosts' books, but was sadly absent on the day, although they did sport an old foe in Jamie Forrester up front. The United line-up showed only one change from last week's embarrassment, and that was enforced, Gleeson's ban for running up five yellow cards meaning he was replaced by Rory McAuley for his first start of the season. Seven subs were allowed so Parkinson and Marriott joined the existing five.

Lincoln won the toss and cunningly changed ends so that the U's were playing against the strong wind and into the sun. The grass was long enough to lose Courtney Pitt in, but that could not be blamed for the hosts taking the lead inside three minutes as that man Forrester scored his eleventh career goal against United with an unstoppable long-range lob-cum-half-volley which beat Potter all ends up.

Shellshocked United could easily have gone two down within a minute as Pitt cleared a Jon Machin header off the line from a corner and Potter produced a 'worldie' save to stop Brendan McDaid's goalbound follow-up shot.

The visitors gradually began to work their way into the contest, soon working out that Dutch-type total football would not be appropriate for the conditions and favouring a more up-and-at-'em style. Holroyd had a 'goal' disallowed for offside on 23, and they eventually equalised when Pitt floated a free-kick in from the left and the impressive McAuley arrived late to ram a deflected shot home from ten yards, his first professional goal.

Five minutes later the 'giants' were in front when Willmott ran on to Reason's ball down the middle to flick neatly past the keeper, and the comeback was completed soon after when Hatswell nodded powerfully in from Willmott's corner. Relief all round.

United continued to dominate their plucky opponents in the second half, and only the heroics of keeper Ziccardi kept them out, although Lincoln rallied late on and Forrester hit the top of the bar with another chip. Marriott came on for his first-team debut a minute from time.

Ling was pleased to get it over with: "Today was a banana skin and we've come through it with flying colours, which is pleasing. It's a difficult place to come to and you have to come and do the job and do it right and we did that today."

Reason reflected "After the Hayes game we had a really productive week on the training pitch working on playing at a higher tempo. Through that we achieved a lot more out there today. We fully understand just how disappointed the fans were after the Hayes game, and we as a team feel it just as much as the fans. We as players are equally part of this club as the fans are; we all want to be pulling in the right direction and getting the results that this football club deserves."

The following Friday, Holroyd received his second England C call-up for a friendly in Poland on 17th November.


Saturday 31st October 2009: U's 2-0 Kidderminster Harriers (Blue Square Premier - Att. 3,508, away 141)
Goals: Holroyd 13, Hatswell 31

Ling made two changes for the return to league duties against United's former bogey side, until last season's double. Gleeson returned at right-back despite McAuley's impressive showing at Lincoln, and Parkinson came in for the injured Pitt. McAuley joined CRC compatriot Jordan Patrick on the bench.

Before kickoff there was a poignant minute's applause to celebrate the lives of two young United supporters who had passed away recently, Daniel Marsh and Adam Taylor.
The U's hit the ground running and took an early lead when Reason's perfectly weighted cross from the byline floated over keeper Coleman and fell nicely for Holroyd to dive and head home from close range.

The goal seemed to galvanise Kidderminster more than United and they enjoyed a spell of pressure thereafter, Potter spectacularly pawing away Brian Smikle's header. The hosts were unable to provide their front two with any sort of quality service, but doubled their lead from a set-piece when Hatswell ghosted in to guide Willmott's free-kick home with his head at the far post.

United continued to produce something of a curate's egg of a performance, and Harriers asked plenty of questions during the second half but were rebuffed by a strong back line and their own profligacy in front of goal. Parkinson might even have made it three late on, but blazed over with only Coleman to beat. It had been solid, it had been unspectacular, but it had produced three points.

Ling was pleased: "It was a professional display. We scored two good goals, and I thought we asked them a lot of questions and saw the game out quite comfortably in the end. They had a couple of chances, and they were always going to have the odd moment, but on the whole I thought it was a good display and a consistent display."

"We've talked a lot about the play-offs, and I think we're five points off them now. We don't seem to have too many problems coping with teams above us, it's the ones down at the bottom that we struggle against, but if we put in professional displays like that on a consistent basis we'll be alright."

Ling and Potter both sang the praises of Jai Reason, the United keeper saying "Jai had a great match - his attitude is fantastic and he's been brought up well at Ipswich. Possibly there's a lot of expectation on him this year after what he did for us last season, but it's hard to keep to such a high standard week in week out, as much as he tries every game. He's a fantastic lad, he's got a great attitude, he's teetotal and after training every day he's doing extra work."

Later in the week Reason was included in the standby England C squad for Poland, as was Michael Gash.

End of month position: 8th

Andrew Bennett

Cambridge United: YOUR CITY - YOUR CLUB

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