Saturday 11th November 2006 - U's 3-0 Gravesend: Fleet sunk with all hands

The feelgood factor is on the rise again at the Abbey, and it was helped in no small measure by the youth team's thrilling cup victory on Tuesday...

The young ones
Quinny, they're the young ones
These young ones shouldn't be afraid
To play ball
The way it should be done
For they won't be the young ones very long

John Fowler
Remember John Fowler
Got banged up for robbing with a gun
Beware, lads
That could well be you
If you don't knuckle down while you are young

Once in every lifetime
Comes a chance like this
You've been luckier than me
Junior Hunter, can't you see

Lenny Pack
Wound up in a garage
Jon Rattle disappeared from view
And some day when the years have flown
God help us, they'll produce young ones of their own

The young ones
Keep it up, the young ones
The young ones
Win the Cup, the young ones!

While most of the Conference sides continued to pursue their vain dreams of Wembley glory (or Cardiff, or at least a nice third round trip to White Hart Lane), United and Gravesend whiled away the empty hours by bringing forward a game originally due to be played on March 10th. A cool, windy November day greyer and more miserable than Arsene Wenger's hair, or indeed his face after West Ham scored that winner last week, attracted a crowd of just under 2,000 hardy souls, several of whom had already been driven to strong drink by witnessing Manchester City and Newcastle's wretchedly tedious goalless draw on t'telly at lunchtime. Surely anything must be better than that.

Last week's battling draw at Grays gave grounds for optimism, and the only changes from that side were forced on JQ by the absence through injury of Rob Gier and Jon Brady.

In came Andy Duncan, with Matt Bloomer moving to right-back, and new boy Danny Brown (left), whose central midfield presence necessitated David Bridges' deputisation for Brady wide right.

Remarkably, despite Brown being such a common name (in the nicest possible way), Danny was the first man with that surname to play for United's first team since future Man U assistant manager Mick Brown back in the late Sixties Southern League days. Curiously enough, we haven't had any Joneses since the Sixties either, although nine Smiths appeared in the Football League in black and amber.

JQ also showed boldness in his bench selection, eschewing the goalkeeper option in favour of naming three strikers and two midfielders, although the absence of a defender could be explained by the complete absence of any match-fit ones outside the starting eleven. It was good, though, to see the commanding figure of Mark Peters developing his player-coach role by taking the pre-match warm-up while Steve Castle worked with Paul Crichton.

Gravesend are managed by two Abbey legends in Liam Daish and Alan 'Twinny' Kimble, and it is always good to see such great players' faces back at their old stamping ground. They have also worked wonders with a thrown-together squad in the club's first year of full-time professionalism, none of whom could be said to be household names outside their own living rooms, although Charlie MacDonald has pushed himself to the fore by reaching the top of the Conference goalscoring charts.

It was the visitors who started the livelier, with an early warning marker supplied by a Stacy Long cross which curled onto the top of Crichton's crossbar. United seemed to take a little while to settle but a solid-looking defence held together comfortably, now led again by the redoubtable Duncan.

Then on 10 minutes, the U's suddenly burst into life. Michael Gash met a forward ball on the halfway line with a superb first-time flick to the left wing to send Courtney Pitt sprinting clear. As the little winger sped down the flank, Gash headed for the penalty area, and when the cross came in, he lost his marker and was presented with the simplest of tap-ins from five yards out... which he somehow shanked wide of an open goal because he failed to open his foot out. A miss of the season contender right up there with the very best of Robbie Cooke's works back in the 1980s; young people of today don't know what they're missing. The lucky beggars.

Next drama fell to Matt Bloomer, who sustained a head injury that necessitated the winding of a white bandage around his head that made him look like another icon of the Eighties, that grinning berk from Tight Fit. The match settled into a to-and-fro pattern full of sweat and toil but lacking in any real quality. United's front two of Simpson and Gash roamed willingly, Hanlon looked in control behind them and was well complemented by Brown, a steely but unshowy character who got on with his job as if he'd been here all his life. Pitt showed flashes of life on the left while Bridges came and went on the opposite flank.

Pitt had sight of goal on 23 when United were awarded a free-kick outside the box through a handball by fiery Frenchman Sasha Opinel, but although his effort cleared the wall, it did not have the pace to trouble keeper Lance Cronin. Both teams continued to slug out an evenly fought contest, but thrills and spills were few and far between.

Unfortunately the next spill, on the half hour, saw Robbie Simpson clash heads with Opinell while going for an aerial ball and it was the United forward who came off the worse, eventually stretchered from the field with a nasty head wound. The U's men were certainly in the wars on Remembrance Day.

Thankfully it wasn't quite as serious at it looked, and although Robbie needed stitches, he was back watching the match during the second half. As JQ no doubt told him, it's all part of being a centre-forward, so it is.

Marcus Richardson came on in his place. Jon Keeling blasted well over for the visitors on 36, United's defensive efficiency reducing them to hopeful and sometimes hopeless long shots, and three minutes later Bridges' cross set up Gash for a first-time half-volley that soared just over the top.

Getting dropped a couple of weeks ago seemed to produce a new determination in Pitt at Grays, and now Richardson demonstrated the same spirit as he ran the Fleet defence ragged, always ready to chase any ball beyond the halfway line. Four minutes of added time were indicated and Long blasted another shot high, wide and not so handsome. But the first 45 still held some drama at the other end.

Richardson climbed to nod a Hanlon ball down to Gash 25 yards out, and his first-time snap shot took everyone by surprise and as it flew low past two defenders and sneaked gloriously inside the far post with Cronin a helpless spectator. All was forgiven for that miss: 1-0!

There was still time for Gravesend's Robert Quinn to be booked for a clumsy foul on Brown, then the half-time whistle heralded a warm ovation for United's hard-working toilers from the amber hordes. Now could they build on it?

On far too many occasions these last few seasons, United have emerged from the dressing rooms ready in body but not in mind and have been caught on the back foot. Not today. They positively roared from the interval break like Saddam Hussein in a particularly feisty mood, and within two minutes of the restart, they had doubled their lead in glorious style.

The move started down the United right, Bridges slipping it inside to Hanlon, who narrowly evaded a scything tackle to find Pitt arriving undetected down the left channel. Advancing to just inside the area, he responded to our cries of "Hit it!!" by doing just that, spanking it past Cronin and into the far corner of the net before the keeper could react. What a stonker: 2-0!

Now United were rampant, and there was a menace in their attacks that has been missing for oh so long. On 50 Tommy Jaszczun dug out a quite superb curling cross from deep on the left, and there was Bridges, stealing in unmarked as is his wont, but he didn't get quite enough purchase on his diving header and glanced it wide of the far post.

Bridgo became the first home bookee on 53 for a petulant kick at the back of Keeling's legs after being dispossessed, and Duncan joined him in the book two minutes later for fouling MacDonald. Before the free-kick just outside the United box, Daishy made a bold move in making a triple substitution, introducing Mark DeBolla, Danny Ekoku and George Purcell for Long, Onome Sodje and Danny Slatter. Despite the potential marking chaos that might have ensued from introducing three new players, however, DeBolla opted to shoot for goal and it sailed harmlessly over.

Fleet enjoyed a brief spell of pressure with a little bit of pinball in the area and Opinell firing over, but United responded well from the hour mark onward.

Jaszczun (left) found Richardson on 61 and the big man chested it down and scooped a shot goalward from the penalty spot, but Cronin was equal to it.

Pitt's corner three minutes later was half-cleared to Brown whose goalward shot from the D was blocked away by a desperate leg for another flag-kick, and all of a sudden it was now one-way traffic as the U's laid siege to the Fleet with all cannons blazing.

Their pressure almost told on 69 as Peter Hawkins tried a feeble header back to Cronin, who had advanced to the edge of his box, and the alert Gash intercepted to hoist a chip towards the empty goal; but Cronin's flailing left arm just got enough of a touch on it to send it spinning wide for a corner. Bloomer blocked a MacDonald shot on 71, but two minutes later it was all over.

Richardson had been a constant thorn in Gravesend's side with his tireless running and chasing, and fittingly it was the big man who created his side's clincher. He galloped from deep down the left channel, leaving opponents flailing in his wake, cut inside across the face of the penalty area, then found Bridges with an excellent square ball. Bridgo latched gratefully onto it and fizzed a skimmer low past Cronin and in at the far post. 3-0.

The long-suffering amber hordes were delirious, now cheering every United pass as though they were the Brazilian World Cup winners of 1970. The NRE even got the Habbin to sing the score to them, and the Main Stand tapped their knitting needles and hot water bottles contentedly. Gash was replaced by Danny Carey-Bertram on 77 to a thoroughly deserved ovation, having at last shown us exactly why he was signed in the first place.

DCB was almost immediately fouled for a free-kick from which Pitt floated a cross to Duncan to head over. Fleet now knew the game was up as the amber hordes bayed for a fourth. DCB made a good, lively impression (competition for places again) and a good run set up Bridges for a shot on 85 that was blocked by a tiring defence which also foiled Richardson's rebound effort.

Jaszczun was given a rest just before the end, Rob Wolleaston stepping into midfield with Brown behind as the U's continued to press. DCB was erroneously flagged offside as he broke clear on 91 - it was Richardson in the centre was off and he was trotting back towards the halfway line - and as Fleet sank beneath the waves of United attacks, Hanlon set up Pitt for one last slash that he drove just wide of the far post.

So ended a quite glorious second half for a U's side that at last seems to have found its feet, with every player finding something like his best form. Now they need to do it on a regular basis. Make no mistake, this was a decent Gravesend side which would have gone fourth in the table had they won. As it was, it was United's first win over the Fleet since 22nd April 1963 when two Matt McVittie goals gave them a 2-0 away win.

It was the first time United had scored three goals since the win at Aldershot in April, the first time they had scored three at home since they beat Canvey Island last New Year's Eve, and their biggest win since thrashing Altrincham 4-0 in September 2005. And who among us could not suppress a wry smile when they saw the fate of Northwich, our FA Cup conquerors, at Brighton? 8-0... with Alex Revell amongst the scorers! Strange days indeed...

Player Ratings
Crichton 7. Did what little he had to do with cool aplomb.
Bloomer 7. Not his best position, as evinced by positional uncertainty at times, but compensated with wholehearted determination.
Morrison 8. Never looked troubled by the Conference's top scorer.
Duncan 8. Commanding and decisive as ever.
Jaszczun 8. Masterly display of the left-back's art.
Bridges 7. He'll never be a Brady, but came into his own in the second half with some impressive forward foraging on the right.
Hanlon 8. Controlled the midfield in impressive style.
Brown 8. Excellent, unfussy debut which added some much-needed steel to the engine room. Looked as if he's been in the team for years.
Pitt 9. Confirmed last week's rollicking return to form with a superb performance of energy, skill and a corking goal.
Simpson 7. Was doing fine until forced from the fray after half an hour.
Gash 9. Proof positive that if a decent player is given a run in the side, he will deliver.

Richardson 9. Wonderfully dynamic hour in which he terrorised the Fleet defence every time he galloped forward.
Carey-Bertram 7. Encouraging cameo demonstrating United's strength in depth up front.
Wolleaston 6. Brief sojourn when the game was already long won.

Match Summary
This is more like it. A wonderful team performance, full of fire and skill, produced an emphatic win for an United side unrecognisable from so many underwhelming games this season. The standard has been set.

Man of the Match
Michael Gash. Jimmy Quinn understands what some more impatient supporters do not: young players need a good run in the team before they can start to deliver.

Well, Gashy sure delivered today, linking play with great skill and vision, magnificent finishing, and also showing great character by putting that dreadful early miss behind him. Could have had a hat-trick, and if he continues to learn and improve, he'll have one before long.

Ref Watch
Fletcher 7. A little whistle-happy at times, but no major errors and showed restraint in his usage of cards while maintaining control.

Soundtrack of the Day: Klaxons 'Magick'

Andrew Bennett

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Previous match reports:
Grays 1-1 U's
Northwich 2-0 U's (FA Cup Qual)
U's 0-3 Oxford
U's 1-2 Crawley
U's 2-2 Altrincham
Burton 2-1 U's
U's 1-0 Stevenage
U's 1-1 Kidderminster
Forest Green 1-1 U's
U's 1-3 Exeter
Dagenham 2-0 U's
U's 1-2 Halifax
St Albans 1-1 U's
U's 0-1 Northwich Victoria

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

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