Cambs to the slaughter

A welcome win, if not quite a return to tip top form. After four games without a victory I was happy to take any sort of win to pop the train back on the tracks.

A messy week for the Town with contradicting statements coming from Money and Tom Craddock about TC’s departure, further contradicted I think by Gary Sweet’s comments in the programme today. All I know is what a player told me about the conversation between Money and Craddock after the Altrincham game. RM said to Craddock, and I quote: “If that’s how you feel you can f**k off”. This whole episode has given me the impression that Mr Money is not necessarily the world’s finest touchy-feely man-manager. Craddock didn’t want to go – he just wanted some assurance as to his role in the team. Completely understandable for someone who got 24 goals last year, but who had been deliberately marginalised this year. Money wasn’t going to pander to the player especially when he had three other strikers who he had to keep on board. And so TC felt unloved and moved on. One to add to the catalogue of great management decisions under ‘H’ for Huge cock up. Black mark for Richard. Right, ‘nuf said – time to move on. Hopefully we can welcome him back with Oxford next season in the division above.

And so onto today. We had to win today, it’s a little melodramatic to say that this early on in the season but I think RM might have been strung up after the game if we hadn’t won. As it happens it was a good game with, for once, a good ref who didn’t decide that we had come to watch him.

Not that we can hear anything where we sit so we had no idea until the players appeared, but the team was: Tyler, Gleeson (against his old club) Blackett in the centre of defence, back to where he was last year and where he plays much better, Krocha and the bearded Murray back at left back. Murray was followed around all afternoon by a small boy carrying a brown towel. The lad kindly proferred him the towel before every throw, even short ones. Murray’s throwing was a revelation. Just like Adam Newton who last week unfurled Delap-esque long throws, Murray has gone from performing foul throws each time he picked up the ball to hearty attempts to hurl it across the face of the goal. Some worked some didn’t – it’d be nice to have the players alert enough in the box to make something of them. However, perhaps I’m a bit of a snob, but I’d much rather our players aped Arsenal’s tactics than Stoke’s.

In midfield, Drury returned and started on the left, in the middle were Adam Murray and George Pilkington reprising his role in the middle of the park first seen against Grays last year. (How must Besta feel? What about Godfrey ‘on fire’ Poku?) and on the right was the mercurial Claude le Goal.

Up top were MBH and Atieno making his home debut and first start. Again – how must Crow feel? I know Atieno gave us a different outlet against some big defenders, and had a good start, but it strikes me that RM doing a good job of pissing off his strikers one by one.

The first chance of the game came when MBH put Claude through down the right and he crossed it for Atieno, but the keeper nabbed it first, the cad.

Adam Drury had the first shot of the afternoon after an excellent cross by Claude missed everyone – but drilled his shot over.

A minute later MBH had a one on one with the keeper having been put through by Gleeson (I think) when he sprung the off-side trap. I’m afraid to say I didn’t feel he would score at any point – I hoped he would of course, but I didn’t think he would, and he didn’t: drilling it at the keeper, even though he seemed to have lots of time.

Next jotting on the note pad was that sometimes dear Krocha has the gentle touch of a hod carrier after six pints. His heavy clomp back to Tyler was fortunately off target and went out for a corner. The corner was a curious affair, Drury I think it was pointing out to the ref that the two players taking the corner hadn’t managed to get the ball the quarter circle bit by the corner flag bit he was made to come back as if he were encroaching, but fortunately then the players contrived to somehow be offside.

After 15 mins it was Atieno’s turn to have a one on one with the keeper and unfortunately didn’t manage to score either, he went very close but hit his shot into the side netting.

Three minutes later Pilks, who had a good game in the middle hooked the ball back as Platt broke out of it from defence, it was a perfectly good tackle, though he felled him and as it happened hurt him too. Off Platt went on a stretcher, and disappeared down the tunnel of doom with some words of encouragement from our fans. The good men and women from the St John Ambulance bursting into action, dusting the cobwebs off the club’s gurney. I hope they didn’t take him to Luton and Dunstable hospital, as he may never be seen again.

I was slightly distracted for the next few minutes after Cleo Rocos jnr took her seat in the stand below. I was not the only one who noticed her, in fact I turned around and watched about a hundred men following her progress through the Kenny End. The good Lord himself could have parachuted naked into the centre circle and we would have missed it because we were appreciating the shapely and frankly hard to miss thruppennies the young lady was only too happy to flaunt. Dirty old men.

Saah hacked down MBH to give us a free kick on the edge of the box – I say edge – it was probably much further out – difficult to tell sometimes from the other end. Anyway without Gallen’s thunderbolts Drury was the only real option to take the shot and his effort sailed harmlessly over the bar.

Then, as is so often the way, after a good chance for one team, the other team goes down and scores. Fortunately lady luck smiled on us time and time again today (about bloody time too, she’s been noticeably absent recently, presumably Money’s pissed her off as well) and the first instalment came at 32 minutes when Wright had an excellent effort only to scoop it wide. He should have scored and is probably still kicking himself if Martin Ling hasn’t had a go first. Then shortly after Freddie Murray put Drury in with a header, Drury showed the class player that he is and showed the bumbling fools around him how it is done with a deft turn and shimmy and a cracking finish. The house erupted with relief.

Shortly after it could have been two – Gnapka with another cross in from the right gave MBH a fine chance and his snap shot hit the post.

The ref only added a minute of extra time which was slightly odd bearing in mind it had taken a good few minutes to get Platt off the pitch. Long enough for me to dash down and nip to the gents and back – either I can do that in a minute or the ref forgot to stop his watch. However, the minute was long enough. Drury’s corner found Pilks whose header failed to be cleared and we were two up.

Remembering that we were 2-0 up against Cambridge last year, we were not safe. And after the break it was lastditch.com for about 15 minutes. We failed to get out of our half and the fans got increasingly frustrated. Gleeson was substitued after about 10 minutes of the second half after he blocked a shot. He limped around for a couple of minutes but was soon replaced by Adam Newton at right back. Newton played soundly for the remainder of the second half.

Howells replaced Atieno after an hour. Pleased to see Jake re-included so soon. Atieno had played well in the game – B+, good start. He showed one touch of brilliance in the second half where the ball came to him from a punt out of defence and he trapped the ball dead, span and ran in one movement, a dazzling skill rarely seen at this level and much appreciated by the Hatters fans. Howells was not quite back to his sublime best of last year, but looked good and sparky and the game transformed somewhat with his introduction, in the same way Gallen’s led our revival against Hayes. With Atieno gone Claude moved up front a la Johnstone’s Paint Trophy final and was a target if nothing else. Whilst the first half of the second period was all Cambridge’s largely due to us conceding the midfield because Pilks and Murray played too deeply, the second half of the half was largely Luton. Suddenly – and this bodes well for the Don’s game on Friday we remembered how we play again.

With 20 minutes to go dear Claude had his shirt nearly ripped off at a corner – but the ref didn’t manage to spot it. It looked as if he’d been wrestling with a rabid rhino so I’d love to know how the ref thought it got like that.

Claude was taken off shortly after that presumably so that the seamstress could get an early go at putting his shirt back together. On came ‘Big Hips’ Danny Crow – eager to get his first goal, eager to get a starting place and eager to put one over his former club. He looked lively and keen. And should start against Wimbledon. He had two chances, and was only denied by two excellent saves by the keeper Brown the second after being played in well by a fine ball from Adam Murray.

My man of the match today was without doubt Shane Blackett (or Sean Blacklett if you watch Premier Sports) oddly enough I’ve not mentioned him in the report so far. He was dominant at the back and made two clearances off the line to keep us in the game as well as a fantastic block. As has been recorded on these pages – Blackett regularly plays well at centre-half, but you do have to watch out for a couple of game-losing howlers he will make at some point in the season. But today he was brilliant and it is no coincidence that it was only our second clean sheet today with him there.

One last moment of comedy genius – Wilmott (I think) played the ball back to Brown in the Cambridge goal who managed to let it get past him and had to race back to prevent it from crossing the line a goalie’s nightmare.

2-0 then and, as I say a good game of football. Cambridge had one of those days when they wouldn’t have scored if they played for another two hours, despite dominating for significant periods. If Keano comes back on Friday then Money will have a bit of a headache. Blackett played well enough to be retained today so who would you leave out?

The win leaves still 6th with a record of 4-2-2. With the majority of the teams above us recording a win – a defeat today would have meant we were 9th.

The scores on the doors:

Tyler – 7 – kicked long again, but accurately, had little to do other than a few punches and saves low down. 7

Gleeson – 7 – before he went off he was having a good game.

Blackett – 9 – sound as a pound

Krocha – 7 – pest up front, rock at the back, apart from the clumpy pass back which rattled the hoardings at the Kenny End

F Murray – 7 – good defending and overlapped well without ever managing to be given the ball.

Gnapka – 7.5 – or rather 9 in some places 6 in others.

A Murray – 7 – diligent in the heart of midfield sat too deep at the start of the 2nd half

Pilkington – 7.5 – extra half point for playing so well out of position

Drury – 8 – classy goal and good efforts

MBH – 6 – chances a-plenty but no goals

Atieno – 7 – sound start – needs to get on some of those crosses.

Newton – 7.5 – coped really well – I think he looked better than Gleeson

Howells – 7.5 – bright, but didn’t quite get the run of the ball or the final touch – but looked fresh.

Crow – 7.5 – goals will come soon I’m sure

On Friday we take on Wimbledon under the lights and on the telly. I do hope that a) we continue to play proper football like we did in the second half of the second half b) rather than modifying our tactics to counter Wimbledon we stick to our guns and let them worry about us. I think MBH – who was lively in places but had a number of chances today – needs a rest and that Danny Crow should start. I would have Jake on the left and Drury on the right with Claude to come on as a beserker if need be. A win on Friday and we will be right back ‘in the mix’ and only 2 points behind Wimbledon. I think after Friday we will have a much better idea of our destiny this year.

Many thanks to all of you who read this blog, and especially to those ex-pat Hatters who log on from places as diverse as Oman, Chile Bermuda and Harpenden. As ever, all comments welcome.

Where did all the Ballboys Go?

A pleasant day out lead to a pleasant result against a niggly, unpleasant team.

The mighty Hatters did to Stevenage what they did to us back at the end of September, when all was not well in our camp. A tight 1-0 win away from home in a match which didn’t contain much football, but plenty of passion and a good opportunity to shout at the ref on a boggy old pitch.

2,800 official away fans made it an excellent atmosphere, plus the 1000 or so in the home end. Nice of us to help to more than treble Stevenage’s average attendance. Presumably the turnout at the Emirates Stadium was down a bit this afternoon as the Hertfordshire locals turned up to see a home game for a change.

We started with the same XI as against Salisbury, Blackett retaining his position ahead of Kovacs who was on the bench. Ironically, I would have thought that Kovacs would have been the choice against the lump-it and hump-it tactics of Westley and co, as what Kovacs does best is to nod away the headers. It is being run at by nippy defenders he has the problem with. Anyway, Blackett had an even better game than he had against Tubbs and co on Tuesday.

I had forgotten what Stevenage were like. You can see why they have been so successful. It is a team of big lumps and the nippy Yemi Obubade. They close down and then whack it down the middle, there’s not a great deal more to it than that. Oh yes, and they bully too. They are a nasty little side, they remind me of sides put out by Martin Allen or Martin Ling. Roberts their loon-haired lofty centre-half and captain was in the ref’s ear all the game. At one point he raced 50 yards to remonstrate with the ref over a minor incident in which he had no involvement at all. They were constantly trying to make an incident out of nothing. They are the equivalent of some bored unemployed and unemployable single mums stuck on a council high rise estate. All day with nothing to do other than to pick fights and make issues out of nothing.

Their attitude reminded me of another Hertfordshire team not so many miles away. In the first half they attempted to manage the game, with players going down injured when the ref’s back was turned, enabling them to break up the rhythm of the game, to take fluids on and more importantly all traipse over to the touchline for an impromptu ‘time out’ and some ‘wise’ words from Mr Westley. In the second half the ball boys all mysteriously disappeared which I am sure was part of some sort of ruse to break up play or slow things down. It is a tactic the other Hertfordshire team adopt. There must be something in the air.

So – to the game itself. Well, there’s not too much to report – it wasn’t a cracker. It was exciting and I’m damn glad we won, but it was a bit like two titans slugging it out at times.

It was fascinating to see how we would do against a ‘good’ side in form (they had won 8 on the bounce before today). I wanted to see if we had merely grown fat against the weaker sides in the division and just suddenly become good at putting mediocrity to the sword, or if we had made tangible progress. This game would put into context how far we had come since Heslop’s arrival and the turn around in formation, attitude, form and having a settled XI. It was a litmus test as to who would stand out against the sterner opposition.

Let’s remember that recently we have attempted to play a high tempo game, closing down from the front and nicking the ball and playing it quickly down the wings or to Gallen’s feet to spray to the wings or to bring others into the play.

At it happens, they gave Gallen and Craddock almost no room at all. They had done their homework again. They closed down our midfield, and forced us to play it long which was no good for Kevin and Tommy.

It was also good to see how Keane and Heslop would cope with their midfield, having snuffed out the creativity in the last few midfields we have played. Boy, they earned their money today. Neither of them was quite as effective as they have been, but that is not to say they didn’t have good games, just that they were not able to do to Stevenage what they had been doing to the likes of Salisbury, Hayes and Kidderminster. They still harried and hassled and got down and dirty, put the tackles in and worked incredibly hard. They both had to work the whole game at 100% to cope with Stevenage, but cope they did.

At the other end Pilkington and Blackett were absolutely outstanding. Time and time again they needed to get a last-ditch tackle in, or get a foot in or a block in, as well as the barrage of long balls they had to head away. Pilks was absolute class today, wonderful to see how high he can raise his game when needed to. When the game became extra-scappy in the last 20 minutes they picked up the bits and pieces exceedingly well. In the first 20 minutes they actually tidied up and controlled things in a very professional way. Never being too elaborate, but always doing the simple things well. That is one thing I have noticed about Money’s defensive tactics. No full back or centre half is encouraged to bugger-about with the ball. If it needs to go out, it goes out. If the straightforward thing is to hoof it into row Z for a corner then that’s what we do, quite rightly.

So with the first half characterised with us squeezed into playing it long, Roberts and Ashton (I think) spent most of the time heading it away as they are paid to do. I recall us getting a corner after Craddock had beaten their right back to the ball and forced a save. I thought Keane had fluffed the corner seemingly grubbing it to the near post but Pilks did get it into play for it to be cleared.

Stevenage did settle into their game plan quicker, and came at us repeatedly, relying on Obubade to run onto the knock-downs and then to try to score from set pieces. Eventually this relentless pressure paid off, and Obubade ran on passed it to Sills (I think, I really must concentrate on who is who in the opposition) who popped it past Mark Tyler. Fortunately – for once – lady luck came down on the side of truth and justice and lino raised his flag for offside, much to our relief. Tyler wasn’t really tested after that in the first half, for all of Stevenage’s domination; a couple more knock downs and shots, but both well outside the area, and I always think that if outside the area is the nearest you are letting teams shoot, then you must be doing something right, if you see what I mean.

As they all trooped off down the tunnel at half time, including the subs (apart from Gore and Kovacs) Hatch reappeared momentariy to retrieve his jersey from the away bench. Things were about to change.

And change they did. Gallen came off and Hatch started the second half. A canny move by Money. They were allowing nothing to go to feet – so stick someone who could win it in the air. Simple game, football, if you don’t over elaborate. The only danger, of course, of having Hatch is that we tend to then only try and play it long up to him rather than having him as an outlet if necessary. Perhaps that is one to work on for another day, but today it was excused as Stevenage gave us no choice frankly.

Stevenage had a couple of early chances but Tyler saved effectively. Then came the turning point. Matthew Barnes-Homer came on as sub, replacing the Tom Craddock who had been less effective than usual (but still with a high work-rate) for the reasons discussed previously. MBH scored with only his second touch, his first touch setting up the phase of play (I hate ‘phase’ being used – it is a rugby term) for him to score in the first place.

Murray took a throw down the line (hurrah, it stayed in play!) Hatch nodded it on to MBH who surprised the lump Roberts and their right back and took it and sprinted down the left, Roberts caught up with him and stuck it out for a throw level with the edge of the box. Cue Murray again – could he make it two decent throws on the trot? Well, yes he could. He found Jakey Howells in the box who lost out to Bostwick who didn’t clear the ball straight away and Hatch got in and tackled him on the penalty spot, Barnes-Homer pounced on the loose ball in the blink of an eye and slotted it into the back of the net with his left foot: less than a minute after coming on. Cue mass celebrations and relief and delight. So pleased for him.

But blimey, there was still 35 mins to go. I thought Stevenage would come back at us stronger than even they had in the first half, but actually the goal took the wind out of their sails, certainly for the next 10 minutes. Almost as if they were resigned to it. The edge definitely went from their game.

At this point it might be appropriate to have a go at the ref. He was a strange fellow, always trying to keep a smile on his face, but allowing himself to be hoodwinked by Stevenage’s tactics of falling over or making a meal of an innocuous challenge. He missed countless pushes by the Stevenage players but was happy to blow up at the slightest touch from Luton. Why does that happen? That’s how well we contained them today – we had much more work to do because the ref gave them everything and gave us so very little. Hatch was booked for a catching one of their players, so much less than we had been experiencing at their hands but Roberts ensured the ref knew it was the worst challenge in the history of the game and the ref got his card out. Countless times he failed to spot them backing into our players or little pushes and nudges off the ball. Good though, as it makes us all shout and raises the atmosphere and the volume which suits us much better.

With us in the lead we sensibly bottled up the midfield by going to a 4-5-1 with Hatch up front on his own, MBH on the left and Howells at inside left. When it was last ditch time for the last 20 minutes we sank deeper and deeper into our own half. But for all of their chances I was quietly confident that we would keep them out. This wasn’t the Luton team of old who can’t hold a lead or who buckle at the first sign of trouble. They were resolute. They were fantastic.

Despite being barged in the back Jake Howells headed off the line from a knock on from a long throw.

Then one of their players (Drury I think) ran into Ed, but surprise surprise, according to the ref it was actually Ed’s fault. The free kick found our friend Roberts at the far post but he headed it wide.

Dear Claude who had some good knock downs in the first half, didn’t get much of a sniff in the second. He didn’t have a poor game at all, just wasn’t given the chance to have a good one. He didn’t drift off or fall over his feet or do any of the old Claude things. Towards the end a Tyler kick found him rather than Hatch for a change and Hatch bustled into the box to collect the nod on, but their keeper collected.

Newton came on for Howells near the end and went onto the left. He surprised Stevenage (and us) with his pace at the end and got a ball into the box around the right back, but to no avail. He might have been better off to perhaps keep the ball in play near the corner flag and would have been shot I dare say if the resulting open play led to an equaliser.

So that was that – what I have missed out in this report is the succession of balls pumped into our box for us to chase down or clear, lots of last ditch tackles and putting your balls on the line type of tackles. We really did defend well at the end. It wasn’t pretty, it was dogged and determined, and kept us on the edge of our seats. Very small seats by the way, the smallest and most cramped seats I have ever sat in. It was like they had taken a normal size ground and put it on a boil wash and then shrunk it in the tumble drier, leading to the seats being perfect for anyone 4’2 but not 6’2. However to compensate, the jumbo-sausage-bacon-baguettes were a tasty meat-fest.

We took all that the top club had to throw at us: long balls, cheating tactics, dodgy ref and all, and yet still managed to come away with a cheeky win. We had to be at our defensive-best to survive the onslaught, but we managed it. Team work, resilience and a high workrate contributed to our success.

If you didn’t get to the game and wondered what Luton were like – well….we were fab. You would have been proud of the lads. They battled and fought and worked hard, just like you always hoped a Luton team would.

Some ratings:

Tyler – 7.5 – surprisingly didn’t have too much to do. Made a number of key saves when called upon. Kicking accuracy slightly down.

Ed – 8 – tidy enough, a couple of slips under pressure, but a whole host of excellent tackles.
Pilks – 10 – what more could a centre half do in a game?
Blackett – 9.5 – sound as a pound, committed and efficient.
Murray – 7.5 – caught out on the left by their pacy winger chap on a few occasions, but again some excellent cover work in the first half and important challenges.

Claude Le Crosse – 7.5 – not his usual self, but some good touches, including one crunching tackle.
Heslop – 9 – less able to dominate but still a tireless workhorse in midfield
Keane – 9 – only two bad passes at the start in this game, again full effort, committment and concentration
Howells – 8 – less chance to shine in attack, but worked hard both halves

Gallen – 6 – didn’t get much of a sniff, one nice turn in the first half.
Craddock – 7 – high work rate, but not many scraps to feed off

Subs:

Hatch – 8.5 – tons of effort in defence as well as attack, his tackle enabled the goal
MBH – 8.5 – super sub, worked hard in midfield and down the left after THAT goal
Newton – not on long enough

Good result Hatters. That leaves us only 2 points behind Stevenage, but they have a game in hand still.

Let’s compare the run-ins:

We have:

Grays (H) 24th – down and nothing to play for
Tamworth (A) 17th – battling for safety
Histon (H) 15th – more or less safe
Altrincham (H) 10th – nothing to play for
Rushden (A) 4th – play off certainty and jockeying for position

Stevenage have:

Wimbledon (A) – 6th – trying to catch York for the last play off place
Forest Green (H) 21st – battling to avoid joining Grays
Altrincham (A) – see above
Kidderminster (A) – 11th and licking their wounds after their 5-1 drubbing in the cup
Gateshead (A) 19th – battling for survival
York (H) 5th – trying to ensure 5th spot, surely will have already secured play off spot by the last game.

I’ll not jinx anything by trying to make potential point predicitons.

All we can hope for is that Stevenage will now lose a bit of confidence and belief having lost at last. As before, if we continue on our present run then we give ourselves the best shot at the title.

Grays on Monday then. From the sublime to the ridiculous. Some will be predicting double figures (the famous Bristol Rovers game was on an Easter Monday) but 1-0 and a good performance will do fine for me.

Thanks for reading. Happy Easter.