Andrew Bennett reviews last season.
November 2009: "I wont act as a football manager, I want to be a good football manager"
United's Under-18s continued to blaze a trail in the FA Youth Cup, thrashing Histon 4-0 at the Glass World in the First Round Proper with first-half goals from Hudson, Berry, Eades and Bailey. A rather more tricky tie at Tranmere Rovers now awaited.
An injury to Mansfield's Kyle Nix meant that Jai Reason was called up to the full England C squad for their game in Poland. His international colleague, Holroyd, was reported as having raised the interest of several Football League clubs, including Norwich City and Bournemouth, although the latter were still operating under a transfer embargo.
Gleeson was ruled out for two weeks with a thigh injury, so a planned loan move for Josh Coulson was postponed. Ling explained "Rory will come in for Dan and he's done a good job previously, but with Dan injured it means we are short of defensive cover so Josh will remain inside the building. A loan will have to go on the back burner for now because although he needs to get some games under his belt I can't take the risk of him going out with the situation we're in."
Saturday 7th November 2009: U's 4-0 Ilkeston Town (FA Cup 1st Round - Att. 2,395, away 331)
Goals: Holroyd 5, Reason 65, Pitt 72, Marriott 86
For the second round in a row United met opponents that they had never played before. The men from Derbyshire looked a more difficult prospect than Lincoln, going well in Conference North under a managerial team of ex-pros Kevin Wilson and Darren Caskey, although injuries and suspensions meant they could only fill six of the seven allotted substitute berths.
For the hosts McAuley was in for Gleeson and Pitt for Parkinson, with youngsters Marriott, Patrick and Ives on the bench. United made the perfect start when Carden's blocked shot rebounded off the U's skipper straight to Holroyd, who made no mistake from eight yards out. And they continued in dominant vein for twenty minutes or so, Hatswell missing the target with one of his trademark forty-yard free-kicks along the way.
But somewhere along the way complacency began to set in, the passing got longer and lazier, and Ilkeston began to play their way into the match with some nice football of their own. The U's held firm, however, and looked more like themselves after the break after a word or two from the boss. Paul Dempsey provided a warning shot across the bows with a blaster that clipped Potter's bar just before the hour, but Reason restored order with a superb 25-yard strike into the top corner which screamed 'goal' as soon as it left his foot.
Six minutes later victory was sealed via an excellent Pitt free-kick, curled over the wall into the same corner as Reason had found with the keeper rooted to the spot. Pitt was then withdrawn to give Challinor his first game of the season wide on the right, and the erstwhile outcast settled in well.
With the tie won, Phillips and Marriott replaced Crow and Holroyd for the last ten minutes, and young Maz soon demonstrated his tremendous potential with a coolly taken goal, controlling and burying Challinor's cross before the keeper could so much as breathe. All was well that had ended well, and we could look forward to seeing those goals again on ITV's Cup roundup programme some time in the wee small hours,
A happy Ling said "We got the early goal but let's be fair, for an hour it was an even game. I said to the players at half-time that I thought we were standing off them a bit and we needed to put our foot down, and when we did that we scored three quality goals."
Marriott commented "Jon Challinor did really well cutting the ball in from the right wing and I'd made some space for myself, and as soon as I hit the ball I knew it was in. I hit it with my laces after seeing the keeper move to his right and just made sure it was in the corner.
"The grounding myself and the other lads get in the Ridgeons League is something we can bring to the first team. Playing up front for CRC I know all about the physical nature of the game. The centre-halves you come up against aren't always the nicest or youngest but that gives you the perfect experience for when you make the step up. You take the rough tackles, that's all part of the game and the perfect answer is getting a goal and winning the game."
Ling expressed his faith in the young players coming through the ranks: "When you know you have your own youngsters in the building who can do the job, you don't need to go out and get loan players for those times when you've got players out injured or suspended."
Mark Beesley's loan spell at Chester was extended until 5th December, although he would not be permitted to face his parent club on the 1st of that month.
A Fans' Forum provided an insight into the manager's way of doing things: "I was at Leyton Orient for five and a half years and for the first eighteen months I was criticised as being a quiet manager. You're not going to see ranting and raving like Steve Evans and I'm not going to act just to please the fans. It hurts me to be losing and it's pleasing when we're winning."
"If you're looking for someone to slide on their knees on the touchline, it won't be me. But if I don't walk the length of the pitch at the end, it doesn't mean I don't appreciate the support. I'm not going to act for the fans. Some managers do it for the show. I won't act as a football manager, I want to be a good football manager."
Ling also expressed his opinion of certain players, like Challinor: "To be totally honest, as you saw on Saturday I don't see him as a central midfielder. I see him as a second striker or someone who could play wide. If truth be known, if the right kind of agreement came along, I'd probably let him go, I've said that all along. We have a surplus of midfielders and he'll be one of the higher earners because he's a senior pro."
On Ben Farrell: "I've spoken to him, and he needs to go out and play. He's not doing it for me at the moment... He's behind Carden, Reason and Ives at the moment. He's not dead in the water, but he's lower down the order than he might have expected."
On Beesley: "Beesley was getting a bit frustrated at not getting in the side, and Holroyd and Beesley is the least physical partnership we have. Danny Crow is going to win a few headers, Phillips is going to win a few more. We'll assess it at the end, but at this moment in time it's better for everyone that he's playing at Chester than being on my bench, but no decision has been made on his future."
And on Coulson: "Saah and Hatswell have done well enough to keep Josh out of the side. I saw him in pre-season, though I don't think he's done enough to knock Saah or Hatswell out of the side. If there are injuries and so on, he'd probably get his chance."
United's next four games were all against teams higher than them in the league (three in the league and York in the FA Cup). Ling assessed "We're in eighth, just outside the play-offs, and once we've played those three games - two of them here - that will be more of a barometer of where we are and where we're going. It's not going to be make or break, but if results are really good it will be great and if they're really poor it will be a hindrance."
Saturday 14th November 2009: U's 0-2 Kettering Town (Blue Square Premier - Att. 3,088, away 451)
Goals: Hatswell 3 (o.g.), Elding 90
The local television cameras were out in force for the local-ish derby with Kettering, but they were not there to film the action, but to report on Poppies boss Mark Cooper's last match in charge before taking over at Peterborough. Like everything connected with that lot, it would all end in Barry Fry bluster and tears…
A strong wind made conditions more tricky than usual, and the match became even trickier when United gifted the visitors the lead inside two and a half minutes. Exodus Geohaghon hoisted one of his speciality long throws into the box, Hatswell mistimed his leap, and his dreadful header looped backwards and dropped slowly and inevitably over the stranded Potter's head and into the far corner of the net.
The U's responded positively, however, and enjoyed a good spell of pressure for most of the rest of the half, but wayward shooting and solid defending kept them at bay. Playing against the wind in the second half, they again started well but then gradually began to lose their way, and after much huffing and puffing they switched to 4-3-3 with the introduction of Challinor and Phillips in place of the wingers. But Martin, I thought you said you saw him as a wide man or a second striker…?
United continued to flail impotently, Kettering threatened on the break, Hatswell clearing off the line from Danny Thomas with Potter beaten, then in added time the hosts came their closest to equalising, Holroyd crossing for Crow at the near post, keeper Lee Harper going the wrong way, but Crow's toe-poke cannoned off his trailing leg for a corner.
Then they were caught on the break with all four defenders stranded upfield, Moses Ashikodi beating last man Carden to set up the unmarked Anthony Elding for a straightforward coup de grace. Four home defeats already meant United were very much playing catch-up.
Ling rued "It was disappointing in the first and last minutes. Danny Crow has had a great chance there in the last minute, and then they go up the other end on the break and score. Overall it was probably a '1-1' game, but we didn't play as well as I know we can and they punished us."
Saah added "You can't argue that defensively Kettering did well today; they played to the conditions and after getting the goal so early they sat back and soaked up most of the pressure. We are disappointed that we didn't create any real clear-cut chances to win the game, but I think we did enough to get a point over the ninety minutes."
The following day CRC continued their progress in the FA Vase, beating Enfield 1893 (a reformed Enfield FC) 4-1 in their Second Round game at the Abbey with goals from Marriott (his 18th of the season for CRC), Hudson, a Berry penalty and Patrick.
Four of that side played in the Under-18s' FA Youth Cup 2nd Round tie at Tranmere three days later, but shorn of the inspirational but injured Luke Berry, they went down 3-1 despite hitting the bar and having a shot cleared off the line. Berry's replacement, Chris Tonks, grabbed their goal.
The previous night, Chris Holroyd has scored his first goal for England C in a 2-1 win in Poland. He started up front with ruddy-cheeked lookalike Richard Brodie of York and equalised for the Three Lions in the 36th minute. Jai Reason came on as sub with twenty minutes to go and set up the winner five minutes later for fellow sub Matthew Barnes-Homer.
On the Friday Challinor departed on loan to Mansfield until the start of the January transfer window, with a view to making it a permanent deal until the end of the season. Director of Football Jez George explained "When we signed Brian Saah at the start of the season it took us over budget and we understood this would need addressing during the season. At that point Courtney Pitt and Jon Challinor were both on the transfer list, and whilst Courtney has come off the list and made several appearances, Jon's opportunities have been very limited. He hasn't started a game this season, so it's in everyone's best interests. Martin also feels it will give an opportunity over the coming weeks to some of the youngsters on the fringes of the first team."
Saturday 21st November 2009: Luton Town 2-2 U's (Blue Square Premier - Att. 7,458, away 711)
Goals: Gnakpa 61, Craddock 80 / Crow 81, 90 (pen)
A trip to Luton is a journey into the past at the best of times, and the local constabulary took the visiting U's supporters back in time by greeting their coaches on the outskirts of town just like the olden days and giving them a non-stop motorcade to Kenilworth Road, speeding through red lights and stopping all other traffic on the way.
Unofrtunately Luton's ground has not changed since the olden days either, with those bizarre glass-fronted chalets down one side, the gardens to traverse, seats with leg room that would have difficulty in accommodating a dwarf, and casually attired yobboes bellowing abuse from both corners. It fair takes you back.
At least it made for an exciting, fiery atmosphere, as the York players would find out in the play-offs, and Ling tweaked his side by replacing Crow and Pitt with the maturity of Phillips and Parkinson. Luton, now with some chap called Brabin as chief scout, fielded only five of the line-up which won 4-3 at the Abbey eight weeks previously, having been 2-0 down with ten men.
A hard-fought contest ensued, mostly played out in midfield, with pantomime villain Claude Gnakpa in fine form, being only spoken to for a blatant dive then going unpunished for flattening Potter with a hint of an elbow. But the match itself began to reflect the weather, grey, damp and rather dull.
The dreadlock was at last broken on the hour, Nicholls's free-kick bundled home from close range by, who else, Gnakpa, and the atmosphere began to build again as the hosts threatened to finish United off. Fifteen minutes from time the dropped players replaced their replacements for the U's, but they were caught on the break five minutes later when Tom Craddock hared down the middle and he crashed a superb swerving 25-yard thunderbolt past the helpless Potter.
Game, set and match? Not on your nelly. Within ninety seconds the visitors had halved the deficit, Willmott intercepting a sloppy Nicholls pass, having his shot palmed into the air by keeper Kevin Pilkington, and there was Crow following up to head home into the empty net.
Another minute, another drama. Freddie Murray was harshly adjudged to have brought Reason down in the box, and Holroyd stepped up to take the penalty; but he appeared to have been distracted by Pilkington's jumping about on the goal-line and tapped a feeble effort straight at him. It was his first-ever spot-kick miss in United colours.
United pressed for an equaliser and nervy Luton introduced an extra defender. But in added time United were awarded a free-kick near halfway, Carden loaded it into the packed box, and as George Pilkington rose to meet it, the ball skidded off the top of his head, past his bewildered namesake in goal and appeared to be going straight in until it cannoned agonisingly off the inside of the post and spun across goal, just evading the inrushing Holroyd.
Just past the far post Crow arrived and some neat footwork drew a clumsy foul from Asafu-Adjaye: stonewall penalty. In an atmosphere of near hysteria, Crow coolly rose to the occasion by stepping up to slot the spot-kick neatly into the corner to leave the keeper helpless. The Fen Tevez has saved the day.
Ling's verdict: "I said to our lads at half-time that I thought we didn't pass the ball well enough in their half and we needed to pass it better to have any chance, and when we did that, when we were 2-0 down and the shackles were off, we looked like a proper side. There is a good side in there somewhere but sometimes confidence is a strange thing and getting the goal back quickly was important for us."
Of the match-changing Crow, Ling said "I left Danny and Courtney out today and Danny came on and scored two goals, which takes him to five, but he's missed some good opportunities lately. I talked to him yesterday and said he was absolutely working his socks off for us but I thought it was time he maybe came off the bench and he'd probably get a goal. I'm no magician but that's how it works sometimes. Chrissy has got all the plaudits for his goals and I think people understand what Danny Crow has done for us this season - and Lee Phillips is the same sort of player - but Chris missed his chances today and Danny took his two really well; it was a high pressure situation there for that second penalty after Chrissy had missed one."
Crow said "We came here to win this game. The Gaffer sent us out to get the three points. We weren't going to try to frustrate, like a lot of teams coming to Cambridge do. Fair enough, they went two-nil up and they played well, but the only difference in the play is that they created a few more chances than us. At two-nil down I suppose we would have settled for a draw, but with the missed penalty we feel we should be going home with all three points because for the last fifteen minutes we demolished them."
"I was a bit nervous when it came to taking the penalty but I always had confidence that I was going to score it."
Ling concluded presciently "This is a pleasing point because I still think that anyone who finishes above Luton will win the league."
Luton boss Richard Money stated "There is a lack of discipline about us at the moment that I have to eradicate very quickly. It's a lack of discipline at key moments and in ridiculous moments in some cases but I don't want to dwell too much on that other than it's two very important points dropped." Whether he was referring to his players or his supporters remains unclear… but United would be reacquainted with them all too soon, as they were drawn at home to the Hatters in the FA Trophy.
Tuesday 24th November 2009: U's 2-2 Rushden & Diamonds (Blue Square Premier - Att. 2,612, away 253)
Goals: Carden 60, Saah 64 / Tomlin 13, Louis 27
Rushden had amassed seven wins in a row in all competitions and United's side showed four changes from Saturday, Coakley and Pitt replacing the suspended Tonkin and Willmott, fit-again Gleeson restored in place of McAuley, and Crow was rewarded for his weekend heroics with a recall in place of Phillips. Marriott made the bench.
The hosts set off at a slow plod and were soon one down, Lee Tomlin fooling Potter with a thirty-yard free-kick which the U's keeper expected to be aimed at the 'big men' at the far post but which instead curled straight in at the near post in a repeat of Hatswell's party trick.
United responded with some pressure on Diamonds keeper Nathan Abbey and Parkinson wasted a glorious chance to equalise by blazing over with only Abbey to beat from ten yards. The visitors, however, were lightning fast on the break and soon caught the U's out again when Gleeson played everyone onside and Mark Byrne squared for the unmarked Jefferson Louis to double his side's lead, the pesky beanpole striker's seventh goal in ten games against United for six different clubs in which he had only finished on the losing side once.
The U's lost their way entirely, with the honourable exception of young Coakley, and Carden and Reason both picked up needless fifth bookings of the season to rule themselves out of Saturday's Cup match with York. The team was booed from the field; an inspirational team talk from the boss was a must at half-time.
United began to gain a foothold in part two with the wind at their backs, and an early substitution saw Phillips replace Parkinson and Holroyd go to wide right. But it needed a Paul Carden special to get his side back into the contest, and on the hour he obliged, winning the ball in the centre circle, skimming past two opponents, then lashed a stunning shot into the top left corner from the best part of forty yards. Breathtaking stuff.
The hosts discovered a new-found positivity, and within four minutes Pitt's Exocet of a free-kick had been powered home by the head of Brian Saah to level the scores, and double Saah's career goals total to boot. Four days, two comebacks from 2-0 down.
United began to relax, Rushden began to find their second wind, and the game gradually blew itself out with honour satisfied all round. The comeback had been impressive, but the first half had been horrific. Which was the real U's?
Ling's verdict: "I'm pleased with our comeback, but if I'm going to speak honestly, the first half was nowhere near good enough. The second half was a completely different kettle of fish, but you can't just not play for half the game and I've told them that. We didn't pass the ball properly, and they were getting to the ball first and winning every challenge. We didn't compete well enough.
"We've got some proper footballers here, they show me all the time in training and when we're playing well, but in some matches they seem to think that it's OK to take their foot off the pedal. We fire them up before the games, but once they cross the line it's up to the players to show everyone how good they are.
"People talk about brave players being the ones who make a crunching tackle, or clear a ball off the line, but for me a brave player is someone who is prepared to get on the ball, take responsibility, and show some passion. That's the kind of bravery I showed in my career, and I expect my players to show the same qualities. That first half was not good enough, but I'll take the second half and a point."
Carden agreed: "I have to say that was possibly the worst opening half we have played since I've been here and we fully deserved to go two down. The wind can be used as mitigating circumstances, but to honest we were second best in every position expect one, and that was Daryl Coakley who was excellent throughout the game.
"As for my goal, well, I try and do one once a year as everyone here knows! The ball broke to me in the centre circle and despite Jefferson Louis raking his boot down my Achilles I broke away. Seeing their defence stand off me I thought 'I'll have a go' and it provided the spark for us to really have a go at them."
On the Thursday the club's new retail outlet opened in the Grafton Centre, opposite the new Primark, and it would be open seven days a week up until Christmas.
Saturday 28th November 2009: U's 1-2 York City (FA Cup 2nd Round - Att. 3,505, away 799)
Goals: Tonkin 83 / Rankine 37, Brodie 40 (pen)
In the absence of the suspended central midfield, CRC pairing Ives and McAuley formed a youthful engine room, and Willmott and Tonkin were restored to the starting line-up in place of Parkinson and the unfortunate Coakley. With a depleted squad, Marriott and Patrick were joined on the bench by forgotten man Ben Farrell. York were another set of in-form visitors, having won their last five games and running third in the league table.
An even, hard-fought contest ensued, although both teams were better in the build-up than in the final third and the visitors' strikers, Brodie and Rankine, seemed to have the utmost trouble in keeping on their feet for some reason. But there were no slips in Rankine's opening goal as he lost Gleeson, cut inside and beat Potter all ends up with a tremendous power strike to open the scoring.
Three minutes later the scoreline was even harsher on the hosts as Willmott felled Brodie with a clumsy attacker's tackle for a stone cold penalty and Brodie himself stepped up to send Potter the wrong way. A third consecutive two-goal comeback was now required.
United enjoyed much the better of possession after the break and gradually pinned York down in their own half, but still they could not find a way through. Visiting keeper Michael Ingham put in his entry for Bad Guy of the Year by bawling out a ballboy who returned the ball to him too quickly, leaving the poor little lad to be comforted in floods of tears by a kindly steward.
Brodie almost finished the tie off with a breakaway on 79, but he trundled his shot millimetres wide of the post, the Marriott was introduced to play 'in the hole' behind the front two. And the amber army was offered some hope when Tonkin, now playing in a more advanced position, latched onto a half-clearance to half-volley home off the inside of the post from 25 yards for his first-ever goal for the club.
Now United laid siege to the York goal, but they were held at bay by some heroic last-ditch defending from the doughty visitors, and even when Ingham seemed to fall behind the line with the ball, he was awarded a free-kick despite no U's player having come near him. The final match stats were interesting (United won 16-3 on shots and 16-1 on corners) but of no comfort as the Cup run came to an honourable end for another year.
Ling had only praise for his charges: "I talked about a 90-minute performance and apart from a two-minute mad period we were the better side by far…we had energy and movement about us, but in a mad two minutes we had a wonder strike go in against us and a soft penalty. I've laid into the players a couple of times before but today's not one of those occasions. They can walk off with their heads held high and it's just disappointing that we're not in the third round of the FA Cup and we won't be able to get a nice draw and some nice money."
A disappointed Tonkin said "To be fair, other than the spell around their goals we dominated the game and a replay was the least that we deserved. The referee hasn't had the best of games and their tactic of hitting the deck after every contact worked for them. It's just so gutting after putting them under so much pressure and getting nothing from the match - it takes the gloss off my goal."
Ah yes, the goal… "For once their lad didn't get much distance on his header out, and in training we work on half-volleys from clearances so I just hit it. I didn't think it had gone in at first, with it hitting the post and then the other post. If it had stayed out it would have summed up our day. The last goal I scored was back playing for Yeovil against Leigh RMI and Mark Beesley reminds me of it in training. Every time I have a shot he shouts 'Leigh RMI' at me…I suppose that changes to York from now on!"
York boss Martin Foyle conceded that United had deserved a draw and said fulsomely "Along with Rushden, Cambridge are the best side we have come up against this season and they can take a lot from how they played today. I'm sure they will be challenging come the shake-up at the end of the season; as for us, we are as you could see from the fans' reaction ecstatic to be in the third round."
York's reward was a tie at Premier League Stoke City, and the plucky non-Leaguers even took the lead at the Britannia Stadium before going down 3-1.
End of month position: 11th
Andrew Bennett
Cambridge United: YOUR CITY - YOUR CLUB
Make Your Click Count For The U's - talk about it on the Message Board!
You are respectfully reminded that any article, as with all content on this website, unless otherwise stated, is subject to copyright © and the Official Cambridge United Website must be acknowledged as the original source including all quotes.
WJ090610 web@cambridge-united.co.uk
