It’s a matchday U’s-letter today, and as I write this I’m steeling myself for another afternoon down the Abbey watching us toil against Wycombe Wanderers. Even when they’re not second in the league and boasting the league’s top scorer up front, they’re a particularly frustrating team to come up against. As our record against them points out, we’ve only beaten them 6 times in our history, whereas they’ve beaten us 17 times. Bad omens.
But there is a bit of renewed hope around the place it seems. Mainly due to that huge three points against Mansfield, following on from that battling point at Bolton. Tuesday night might have quelled a bit of that buoyancy, but hope lingers in the air, however faint. With three new arrivals in the door, and still time to bolster early next week, it feels like we all know only a couple of results can change everything.
Here’s to hoping.
📰 News From The U’s 📰
United have been active in the window the last week, bringing in central midfielder Ben Stevenson from Pompey, and two strikers on loan from Premier League clubs: Dom Ballard and Esapa Osong.
The Posh home game has been moved to a 12:30 kick off, understandably.
And just before that, our trip to Blackpool has been rearranged for Tuesday 11th of March. What a brave Tuesday night journey that is.
Our very own Jack Swindlehurst has been papped at the first Footnotes event, and there’s a second on the horizon.
✍️ At The Match ✍️
U’s 3-2 Mansfield: Victory from the Jaws of Victory
Written by Owen Kiernan. Subscribe to The Antler to read the report in full and receive regular match reports in your inbox.
Can we begin to dream yet? A third great escape in a row? Probably not but three points is three points, and the U’s dug in to secure them in what was a nervy ending to the game.
Talking of dreams, it was a dream start from the U’s as Captain Morrison put United ahead in the first minute. A Danny Andrew throw was half-cleared as far as Brophy, who played it back to Andrew to cross back in, another not-quite clearance found Cousins who nodded forward to Josh Stokes who crossed for Morrison to put it across the line from close range.
The dream got even better six minutes later when Stokes was fouled in the box, and the Bristol City loanee put the ball beyond Christy Pym and the U’s into a not-fully-comfortable lead.
The only other event of note in the first half was the sad loss of Marco Marosi on 40 mins, the keeper pulling his hamstring stretching to collect a short pass back from Danny Andrew after a what was beginning to look like a reassuring performance in goal. A devastated Marosi left the field to be replaced by Jack Stevens, and a collective groan was heard around the Abbey - could Stevens get over the yips and put in a confident performance of his own?
Just after the break it started to look like that question might not have needed answering, as Ryan Loft - yep, Ryan Loft, hit a belter into the top corner from a corner. One of the best goals we’ll see at the Abbey this season, and from a player who’s come in for a fair amount of criticism from the fans this season. Could this be what he needs to crack on?
Mansfield pulled one back on the hour from ex-U George Maris, and Mansfield started to impose themselves on the game a little more. In the 90th minute Zeno Rossi slid in late on Mansfield’s Ben Raine, injuring his shoulder in the process. After he left the field - leaving United with ten men due to the fact we’d already used all our subs - the penalty was despatched by who else but Lee Gregory. Rotten luck for Rossi after his own goal at Bolton last week, and now he joins our lengthly injury list for what looks like a good few weeks.
Luckily the U’s saw the game out for some important points, that lifted us up to 22nd. The next few days and any incomings are going to be hugely important for how the rest of the season pans out. With only Marosi coming in so far (and now being out for probably the rest of the season) United desperately need bodies in almost all areas of the pitch. A striker (or two), defender and goalkeeper at minimum need to come through the door, and we’re hoping that some of those on the injury list might be able to contribute too. There’s not much confidence in the recruitment department as it stands, and you suspect that this window will be make or break for Ben Strang and his position at the club.
It’s a tight bottom of the table, and I don’t think anyone would be surprised if the bottom four are still in that position at the bottom of the season. But, Northampton and B*ro (after a 5-1 tonking by Lincoln) are only six points ahead, and we’ve got to play them both before the season is out… Maybe dreams can come true?
Rotherham 2-1 U’s: Hobbling and limping
Written by Julian Roberts
For a brief moment, it looked like we were steaming our way to within touching distance of safety. When Loft himself steamed through a couple of defenders and then lashed the ball into the roof of the net, we found ourselves just 3 points off Northampton and the promised land of safety. How quickly things can change, we all said.
About 15 minutes later, the picture had changed drastically. Following a first half that everyone will happily forget, where Loft again had the best chance throwing a leg at Cousins’ attempt and diverting it wide, we’d started the second half in good nick. But from the moment Lofty put us one up, we were second best.
Rotherham continually exploited our right hand side, where a combination of Kachunga, Gibbons and Bennett did little to stop a bit of an onslaught down there. With each sub we got worse, we lost control and shape, and lacked any sort of potency when we were chasing the game for the last 20 minutes.
While Rotherham are a team in decent form, they looked nothing special. It feels like we don’t have the luxury to be throwing away points as easily as we did, and with a deeper, fresher squad we might not have left points out there on Tuesday night. But the freshness is the key point, and maybe the key worry - so much of the squad looked beaten by fitness more than the Millers, having put in so much against Mansfield.
But the schedule isn’t easing up any time soon, so we will need to find ways to manage our squad better to turn these 0s into 1s. Because God knows we need them.
🧐 View From The Away End 🧐
Mansfield
Mansfield Matters Podcast
From a Stags POV Saturday showed what a false positive we’re in and why those who’ve tipped us for a playoff run are imo wrong. Missing two key defenders in Cargill and Bowery (the former striker!) we were leggy and clumsy at the back which showed in conceded two inside ten minutes. Throw in Lee Gregory being unfit and we’ve no outlet upfront.
You should have been out of sight by at least 6 at the break and deserved the win. 3-2 makes it look close, it was far from it.
You’ll stay up if you can get some momentum going and be a little tighter at the back.
Rotherham
New York Talk
I think we should all agree to forget the first 45 minutes of the game ever happened, which shouldn’t be to hard as nothing happened. We are better when teams come at us so Cambridge did a really good job at stopping us getting any momentum in the game. The goal from Ryan Loft was a great finish, and oddly it seemed to get us into the game and kick us into gear.
After that it felt like we were then in control and two decent goals got the points. It’s not a game that will last long in the memory but it we hope it’s an important win to get us back on a winning path again.
Good luck for the season, it’ll be hard but hope you guys manage to make it to safety.
FANCY BEATING US AT EFL FANTASY? LINK BELOW 👇
🔢 Stats Corner 🔢
When Wycombe played Mansfield away a few weeks ago, it was the club's first since 2003 that didn’t involve Matt Bloomfield or Gareth Ainsworth.
At Exeter’s trip to Birmingham, the Grecians managed 0 shots and 0 touches in the opposition box.
🔮 Opposition Preview 🔮
Wycombe (H) - 2nd place - Saturday 1st February
Last 5 (all comps): WDWWL - An amazing season for Wycombe, and despite losing Bloomfield they keep managing to win games. Especially away from home.
Last time out: Wycombe 2-1 U’s, 21st September 2024. Nlundulu’s first goal, but a poor performance after our early season decent showings.
Our H2H: P27, W6, L17, D4. Not good!
Manager: Sam Grace. Caretaker manager looking after things while they look for a permanent option to replace Bloomfield.
One to watch: Richard Kone. The league’s top scorer on 16 goals, unless he’s made a multi-million pound move to Luton in the next 24 hours. A remarkable story after signing for Wycombe from the 18th tier of football or something.
Former U’s players: Not that I can see.
🏟️ Under The Other Stands 🏟️
The relegation battle has come to life. Aside from ourselves getting a good point at Bolton and beating Mansfield, Burton have won 3 out of 3 and are now only 3 points behind Northampton, Crawley managed to win on Tuesday night at Mansfield, and Shrewsbury are still in touch with Ainsworth making themselves really hard to beat.
Add into that that Northampton and Bristol Rovers not in any sort of form, Peterborough too, and even Exeter whose injury list is almost as terrible as their recent form (they’ve only picked up one point in January).
On Tuesday, Burton scored a last minute winner to beat Reading, Exeter were 3-0 down to Orient inside 14 minutes, and at the top Stevenage beat Wrexham away to make it a six-point gap between 2nd and 3rd. Birmingham, of course, won, thanks to a screamer from Anderson you can see below.
💻 On The Web 💻
A pretty ironic mistake from Middlesbrough’s socials.
Great angle from the away end of this Notts County goal.
I mean, what a goal down at the Jersey Bulls. Remember the name, Adam Trotter.
Nearly as good as this one from Keshi Anderson. What a hit, son.
🕺 What’s Spinning? 🕺
Daryl Johns, a classically trained jazz musician who played with Mac DeMarco, has a debut album out that’s well worth a go:
Thanks for reading this week’s U’s-letter. Send us any comments or suggestions to include in next week’s issue to: hello@undertheabbeystand.com