U's 0-1 Exeter: Home sweat home
Tuesday 29th January 2008 - U's 0-1 Exeter: Home sweat home
"Football tactics are rapidly becoming as complicated as the chemical formula for splitting the atom" - Jimmy Greaves
"Players lose you games, not tactics. There's so much crap talked about tactics by people who barely know how to win at dominoes" - Brian Clough
"Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat" - Sun Tzu
"I prefer Mintoes myself" - Rob Newman
"Has anybody seen my truck?" - Andy Townsend
Tactics were never much of an issue at the Abbey until John Beck came along with his Quality signs and statistical analyses. Now, with the globalisation of the English game due to the relentless spread of foreign coaches and players, every manager down to the Conference and below is experimenting with men in the hole, Christmas trees, wing-backs, sweepers and playmakers. 4-4-2? Come on, Grandad, get sophisticated!
United's success at home this season had caused many opposing managers to consult their UEFA-approved manuals or back issues of 'Roy Of The Rovers' and amend their formations to try to counteract JQ's fluid 3-5-2. Exeter City's Paul Tisdale, a bright, thoughtful young coach, was no exception, and he selected a team designed to counteract the hosts' width and movement in midfield and press the ball from the front to the back while being able to break quickly down both flanks when the opportunity arose.
The Grecians' line-up could best described as a 4-1-4-1, with player-coach Rob Edwards stationed deep to protect his back four, a lone striker in Adam Stansfield, and two speedy wide men in Wayne Carlisle and Dean Moxey who were ever ready to get forward in support.
JQ gambled in changing a winning team, dropping Courtney Pitt and Mark Convery from that which defeated Altrincham at the weekend and replacing them with Paul Carden, back from suspension, and new boy Mark Beesley, throw in at the deep end just behind the front two only hours after signing from Forest Green.
There were several familiar(ish) faces in the visitors' line-up, Carlisle having appeared for United in pre-season in 2006 and Matt Gill an Abbey youth product who was tempted to the fleshpots of Peterborough while still very young. We all do daft things at that age. Moxey was a U's target not so long ago, while sub Richard Logan scored one goal in five appearances for United seven years ago while on loan from Ipswich Town.
Unlike last Tuesday against Droylsden there was a decent away support in attendance, Exeter always one of the best supported clubs at this level with a strong 'exile' presence in the London area, and on a mild, dry night (for the time being) the contest got off to a lively start as United set about continuing the last unbeaten home record in the BSP. Exeter were only seven points behind them with a game in hand, having lost just four times this season like the U's but having drawn far too many to yet threaten the playoff positions.
Lee McEvilly and Scott Rendell are already showing signs of building up a good partnership and they combined within the first minute to set up Dan Gleeson for the game's first shot, well gathered by keeper Andy Marriott. The visitors responded swiftly and found Danny Potter on something of an off-night kicking-wise, presenting Stansfield with a speculative effort that he managed to contain fairly comfortably.
The pattern of play was soon set. United attempted to build from the back and Exeter defended from the front, closing the hosts down on the halfway line and defying them to invent a way through. And should a home move break down, they were all too eager to catch them on the counter.
It took United fifteen minutes to gain the game's first corner, via a typical bulldozing run by McEvilly, but Exeter were to have the beating of the hosts all evening in the air and it was cleared by Dan Seabourne.
Despite the presence of their two wing-backs, the U's began to find most joy through the middle where Carden and Beesley were passing and linking thoughtfully and Rendell and McEvilly were a constant menace with their movement and aggression. The latter two combined on 18 to set up Rendell with a shot from the left channel which was deflected off for a second corner, but the way through remained resolutely blocked.
Other United players were not coping so well with the visitors' suffocating blanket, Rob Wolleaston and Stephen Reed particularly anonymous, but the latter managed a low cross on 20 that Beesley sneaked his way onto, although the new boy could only poke his first-time shot wide.
McEvilly won his side another corner seven minutes later which was semi-cleared to Mark Albrighton wide on the right, and his cross back in found the big Irish Scouser's head for him to nod just wide. Chances were still few and far between as the two sides continued to battle each other to a standstill like two men in giant inflatable sumo wrestler's outfits. Or John Hartson and Jon Parkin.
Beesley combined well with McEvilly on 33 and the former got a low shot away, but Marriott again gathered safely. Two minutes later Carlisle escaped down the right, looking distinctly offside, and was stopped by Michael Morrison at the expense of a corner. From the flag-kick, however, Moxey swung a deep inswinger into the six-yard box, Potter was blocked off and Seabourne rose criminally unchallenged to power a header home from close range for a soft sucker punch of a goal: 1-0.
It might have been worse for United a minute later when Wolleaston was caught dwelling on the ball on the edge of the centre circle, and Moxey raced clear down the left channel as United players gave desperate pursuit. He chose to shoot early, before he reached the box, and although his shot was well struck for the far corner, Potter dived across splendidly to palm away, and United eventually scrambled it clear.
The hosts continued to probe patiently, still more effective down the middle than down the flanks, and another move on 41 set up Wayne Hatswell of all people for a drive for the near post from wide left, Marriott smothering near his goal-line. Carlisle then got clear down the right after another home move broke down, but as reinforcements from both sides flooded into the area, it was Albrighton who slid towards his own goal to clear with an outstretched leg.
United finished the half with another corner, but still did not look like breaking through, and there was plenty for JQ to chew on during the half-time interval, Exeter retiring satisfied with a job well done... so far. They had asked all the questions and the U's were still searching for the answers. For instance, how come all the prehistoric creatures which come through the 'anomalies' on ITV's gay sci-fi romp 'Primeval' are nasty, bloodthirsty, man-eating things? Why doesn't a Cretacean gerbil or a Pleistocene squirrel come through to be cooed at or squashed by a clumsy 21st century human? Actually, that probably wasn't one of the questions that Exeter were asking.
The only change for part two was in the weather as a film of light drizzle droned steadily from the darkening heavens. United were almost caught on the hop within a minute as Stansfield burst past Morrison down the left channel, but the U's defender jostled back to block his shot for a corner. Exeter showed that their hosts had not learned from the first half when Andrew Taylor's ensuing flag-kick found Edwards rising unmarked at the near post, and his downward header looked a certain goal until it struck the waiting Potter and bounced off his face. Bet that brought colour to his cheeks.
United pulled themselves together and two minutes later Gleeson made a tremendous tackle-hurdling run down the right, but he ruined all his good build-up work with an atrocious cross straight at Edwards, the nearest defender, while three colleagues waited in vain in the middle. Even then he fought to get the ball back, ran to the byline, then disappointed again when his pull-back was straight into the waiting Marriott's arms. There in a nutshell was a summary of both U's wide men's lack of quality in delivery.
A McEvilly thumper caused Gill to concede another corner on 52 but still United could not win a header in the Exeter box, and three minutes later Carden's rare miscontrol error led him to commit a clumsy high foul on Moxey for which he saw yellow.
Reed, a subdued and unproductive disappointment on the left, was then replaced by Pitt, but the wee man's first couple of crosses were no more accurate than those of the man he had replaced. The pattern of the game remained unchanged, United huffing and puffing and Exeter rebuffing all their unsubtle probings like a girl on a blind date with the school geek.
A magnificent crossfield ball by Hatswell on 65 sent Gleeson on a promising run into the box from wide and as he cut inside he appeared to be clearly tripped, but he stumbled honestly on instead of going to ground to no interest from ref Sarginson, stopping McEvilly from getting in a shot in the process, and Beesley eventually saw his low poke smothered by Marriott.
The hosts were by now using the full width of the field to bring the wing-backs into play, but their delivery was underwhelming and United's best hope of a breakthrough looked to be McEvilly, leading the line with strength and authority and looking almost impossible to shake off once he started running with the ball. Unfortunately his supply line was as dry as an Alan Bennett one-liner.
Gleeson reached McEvilly with a cross on 68 but it was too far behind Big Mac for him to get any power on his header, while on 70 the visitors demonstrated that they could still threaten on the break when Stansfield found space but blazed over.
It was time for a change, and Ben Farrell was introduced for Beesley on 72, the new boy having given a decent account of himself in the circumstances but perhaps having needed time to at least learn his team-mates' names. It had been his second fruitless appearance against Exeter in four days. Lee Elam replaced George Friend for the Grecians at the same time.
Gleeson found McEvilly again on 74 but he could not keep his header down, and a minute later the big target man blasted a hopeful effort wide from the edge of the area. Wolleaston finally began to show belated signs of life and a characteristic run down the left on 79 culminated in a cross to Rendell who flashed a first-time volley wide from the 'D'.
A series of United corners soon followed as they kept up the pressure and on 81 Mark Convery was introduced in place of Carden. Exeter still had an eye for the counter and Stansfield set up Elam for a 20-yard curler wide on 85. Back at the other end a Convery blaster was palmed around the post by Marriott and the U's kept attacking, hoping that spirit would overcome a lack of quality where it counted.
Hatswell's cross on 89 was nodded over his own bar by Seabourne and with three added minutes announced, Potter hared from his goal to join the fray at the corner. Shades of Le Dieu Lionel. The flag-kick was cleared to the right wing, but the United keeper gave chase and showed his wing-backs how to do it with a tremendous dipping cross into the danger zone to Hatswell, whose header was blocked behind for another corner.
This time it was McEvilly who got in the header, and it looked goalbound until scooped around the post by a diving Marriott almost off his own line; if Big Mac hadn't had to lean back to get his header in, the extra power he could have generated would probably have been sufficient to score.
But it was not to be. Last chance fell to Convery, but his spectacular volley from a clearance sailed forlornly into the car park and the unbeaten home record was no more.
All credit to Exeter, a well-organised footballing team who got exactly what they came for in the way they came to get it. JQ now has ten days in which to put right all the things that were wrong with United tonight, and particularly the woeful lack of quality in crosses from all three wing-backs, and the general dearth of creativity in the final third. They had by no means been awful, but for all the potential that this side undoubtedly has, it really needs all eleven players to be at or near the top of their game to overcome stern opposition such as this. Tonight Wolleaston, Pitt, Reed and Gleeson did not deliver to the standard of which they are capable, and Beesley could not be expected to be at his best in a team of strangers.
It's not all doom and gloom, of course; McEvilly and Rendell look like such a potentially powerful front pair that even Peter Andre would be jealous, Carden is a vital cog in the middle and in Hatswell and Albrighton we have defenders as good as any ever seen at the Abbey. Theirs is the standard to which the others must aspire; if they can achieve it, the dream is still alive. Bring on the Stevenage.
Statto Corner
Tonight saw the end of United's unbeaten run of 14 home league games since the start of the season. This was their best opening home run since they went 15 home games unbeaten from the start of the United Counties League season of 1949-50, eventually succumbing to the mighty Symington's on 25th March 1950.
New boy Mark Beesley has played against the U's twice, both times for Forest Green last year, in their 1-1 draw at the Abbey in February and Rovers' 3-1 victory back in September earlier this term. He did not score on either occasion.
Wayne Carlisle should be a familiar face to United fans. He played for the U's twice as a substitute trialist in July 2006, in a 2-0 win at Cambridge City and a 4-4 Abbey draw with Ipswich, and has played against them once for Swindon, twice for Bristol Rovers, three times for Leyton Orient and now twice for Exeter. He has won four, drawn two and lost two.
Player Ratings
Potter 7. His kicking might have gone to pot but there was nothing wrong with his reflexes.
Albrighton 7. Decent effort from Mr Consistent.
Morrison 7. Defensively solid, although distribution could improve.
Hatswell 8. Pure class again.
Gleeson 7. A strange curate's egg of a performance in which he make the difficult look easy, and the easy look difficult.
Carden 8. Welcome return for United's best passer.
Wolleaston 6. Disappeared off the face of the pitch for the first hour, finally got going once Beesley went off. Some work on team structure needed, methinks.
Reed 5. Dismal slump in form continued; contributed almost nothing of note. Where has that early season form gone?
Beesley 7. Difficult to make a debut with team-mates you have only just met, but looked tidy, skilful and committed.
Rendell 7. Never stopped running and chasing and put in some fine work.
McEvilly 8. Tremendous power, pace and skill.
Pitt 5. A few decent crosses, too many poor ones. So much talent, so little end result.
Farrell 6. Slotted into the team without any fuss.
Convery 6. Spirited late cameo.
Match Summary
After two wins in the last week, United's new-look team had its finger on the trigger but forgot the ammunition. Exeter came to do a job and they did it very well indeed in a fascinating tactical chess match decided by the softest of set-piece goals. JQ has ten days to oil his team's firing mechanism after being given plenty of food for thought tonight.
Man of the Match
Lee McEvilly. It might seem perverse to award a striker MoM when the team fails to score, but the Nil in the Goals For column wasn't his fault, but that of his underachieving colleagues. Lively, alert, and once he gets the ball, almost impossible to stop. When he regains full fitness he should be a sight to behold, and he is building a promising partnership with Rendell when United's erratic supply to its forwards allows.
Ref Watch
Sarginson 8. One of the best we've seen this season, he was sparing with the cards, willing to allow play to continue but quick to call it back if necessary, and remained in control at all times.
Non-League Player's Name of the Week
Erith Town's Marcus Cassius, who must surely have been a Roman centurion in a past life.
Soundtrack of the Day
The Duke Spirit 'The Step And The Walk'
Andrew Bennett
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