One can read Matt Hudson’s excellent and accurate blow by blow account of our encounter with the Cobblers on the U’s website - so once again, I propose to look at our evening at Sixfields from an entirely different “fans perspective”.
It’s easy to say that “we don’t care too much about the Paint Pot Trophy” and for the highly vocal U’s fans to be chanting “2-1 in your cup final” after the event. However, the loyal 164 in attendance that bleed blue and white did want to see a win, and we certainly deserved that on the first half performance. The U’s were totally dominant and perhaps should have scored at least three or more. How Doogie missed when it was far easier to score escapes me.
We again tried to play that slick passing out of defence style that is encouraged by the new managerial team, with Mark Cousins rolling the ball out to commence the threading of neat triangles through midfield. But in the absence of Rose, Wilson, Massey, Ibrehe and Watt, and in particular our new midfield general Eastmond, this lead to some nervous moments as the ball skimmed inches past an attacker’s feet all too frequently. Thankfully, the bloated Akinfenwa is no Ursain Bolt, but many other swifter number 9’s (or in his case any that have licked fewer 99’s) might have punished us. In particular, Woody and Doogie were each guilty of losing possession in dangerous areas that almost lead to calamity. Even so, the U’s fans enjoyed this attempt at ‘total football’ and responded to the U’s dominant possession with the “ooohs” and “ahhhs” typical when a side manages to keep the ball through multiple passes. At one goal up, life felt good as we slipped away for a Bovril; given that Sixfields has no spectators bar.
We looked a class above Northampton until the half time whistle, and fully deserved our lead. Sears, Woody, and Morrison all had further excellent chances to put the game out of reach, and the BBC reported we had an impressive 12 shots with 8 on target. Last ditch lunges and fingertip saves proving to be the Cobblers saviour. One muses though, had Ibrehe not been cup tied, might we have buried this game long before the interval? Admittedly, the Cobblers squandered some chances too, but these were largely following U’s defensive mistakes, rather than too much threat from genuine attacking play. Ben Coker had a decent game, but Matt Heath always looked stretched, and John White was almost anonymous. I have been Michael Rose’s biggest critic on occasion, but on this evidence, both he and Wilson are our best full back pairing, along with Magnus and Eastman in the centre, but I would have liked to have seen what Jackson Ramm could do in a competitive match, and that was perhaps a missed opportunity.
Then in the second half, the wheels quickly came off after Magnus gave way for Eastman, with Alex Gilbey on for Bean. Within minutes, Gilbey had clumsily felled Roofe and Akinfenwa showed no mercy with the resultant penalty. Then moments later, with the U’s much changed defence all over the shop, the Cobblers stole a lead. Frankly, I felt as if the U’s players had cheated me. How could they be so dominant and then screw up like this against second rate opposition? Sadly, it just went ever further downhill from there.
But all credit to Joe Dunne; he made seven initial changes; then three more highly ambitious substitutions; and openly invited a team that looked far more like a typical John Ward line up to prove that they can offer the highly entertaining style of football that we witnessed against Hartlepool and Swindon. The fact was, without our Arsenal loanees, we were just about good enough in the first half, and dire in the second. We distinctly lacked pace in midfield once Bean was withdrawn. I thought it very sad that a once great U’s hero, Karl Duiguid looked out of puff and was simply awful. He seemed to be constantly moaning at his colleagues too. I fear his time is up. Also, Woody, was Woody (lazy), and substitutes Gilbey and Wright tried hard, but each took the wrong options when in attack; trying to be the heros and impress; shooting wide from impossible angles; when a ball drilled low to Morrison would have been the better option. Morrison didn’t have a great game, but then he seemed starved of possession (unless he won it himself). Think he would play OK with Massey and Watt, but it didnt work with Sears and Henderson. He seemed too isolated, often by their pace.
Sears, Bean, Woody and Henderson all did show some good skills in attack, but it was all a bit disjointed in front of the defence, notably after the withdrawal of the excellent Bean. Once Boothroyd had his attackers pressing further forward, the roll out from defence tactic simply became boring, as after two passes, it simply went back to Cousins, then out again to a defender, two passes, then back to Cousins etc. There seemed to be too few forward outlets and no movement in the absence of Bean, (nor a Watt, Eastmond and/or Massey). At 2-1 down, the fans were screaming at Cousins to show more urgency and boot the ball up the pitch to a waiting Morrison. How things can change in the space of 90 minutes. To play the way we now favour evidently requires the right player combination.
Then the final act was shameful. Clinton Morrison had been fouled all night by defender Artell and as he leapt skyward to head a ball, and had his shirt pulled, which left him falling clumsily backwards. No way was it a deliberate elbow and no actual contact was made, but Artell fell holding his face as if smashed by Mike Tyson. Hence an undeserved red card for big Clinton and an unsatisfactory end to a somewhat disappointing game.
In summary, and at about 1.00am, plus after a few scotches back at home, I felt strangely very positive about the U’s performance, or at least what we (and Joe Dunne) had learned from it. There is a saying that the best thing about history is to learn from the mistakes of others and not your own. Sadly, it was a night where we made an abundance of mistakes, but we did learn an awful lot about our long standing squad of players and why Messrs Watt, Ibrehe and Eastmond have had such a huge immediate impact, whilst bringing the best out of other absentees such as Wilson, Rose, and Massey. Frankly, I would sooner Joe Dunne experiment in the Paint Pot Trophy than in League One, and like Cinderella, he probably did have to try a load of tired old boots to find the one that fits, and hence this visit to the Cobblers was most productive in that sense, at least as a process of elimination.
|  |
By continuing to use the site, you agree to our use of cookies and to abide by our Terms and Conditions.
