There was a moment during the first half of United’s opening game against Cheltenham where Ben Knight went on one of his mazy, jinking runs. The sort of run that we’re all begging we get used to seeing from him, his head always a step ahead of the defender and his foot velcro’ed to the ball. He ended up winning a free kick right on the edge of the box. As he was brought down, a friend of the pod who will remain nameless was stood next to me, and he simply said: “well obviously give him an 8 year deal now".
It’s the sort of perfect quip you only really get at the football. I’m sure we can all recount stories of some of the best insults we’ve ever heard being bellowed from terraces, but on Saturday, as we kicked off our season with all three points and a clean sheet, it was thankfully more of the opposite type of exaggeration being wailed into the Abbey. And long may that continue, starting with matchday 2 at Swindon.
And, of course, welcome back to the U’s-letter! If you’re new here, this is our totally free weekly (well, normally weekly) newsletter, summarising all the goings-on at United and around the league. It features a little match report, view from the opposition, preview of the next game, and some stats, links and news from across the division.
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What’s New? 📰
We’ve had a busy week at UTAS. Right now you can listen to our interview with Mark Bonner and Alex Tunbridge, with a bonus Q&A episode for paid subscribers, a Season Preview show, a Review Show of the Cheltenham game and the preview of Swindon will be live tomorrow morning. Wow!
And if you like reading you can also read an interview with Dom Ball, a statistical look at some potential strikers, and 8 things we learned after Opening Weekend. So much stuff.
At the Abbey, Superstylin’ by Groove Armada was made the team’s new walk out song, and the programme features a nice interview with the half of the band that is a U’s fan (not Max Rushden).
And a practical one you might have missed is Bromley at home has been moved to a 12:30pm kick off.
At The Match ✍️
U’s 1-0 Cheltenham: A Positive Reality Check? - By Freddie Owers
League football was back with a bang (of sorts) as the U's hosted Cheltenham last Saturday in a season opener that the United faithful was hoping would act as the answer to the uncertainty of relegation.
A second half Louis Appere goal was enough to give Harris' side a 1-0 win in a game that will probably be remembered more for sentimentality reasons than any decent football. But the result still leaves us with numerous reasons to feel confident going into the season.
The U's started the faster of the two teams, with new faces in Appere, Dom Ball, Ben Purrington, Ben Knight, Jake Eastwood and Shane McLoughlin all making their first competitive starts for the team.
15 minutes of composed build-up play led to the first real chance of the game, when Ball got his head on the end of a Sullay Kaikai freekick. His header crept just wide of what would - and should - have been a debut goal for our new #4, nonetheless it was a positive first impact on the game for a player filling such big boots.
If you could monitor the average heart rate of the Abbey faithful, I am confident in saying that it would have peaked around the 24 minute mark when a high ball was mis-controlled by Kell Watts on the edge of the U's box, leaving Town striker George Miller with the ball and acres of space to calculate an effort at goal. Thankfully, it took an impressive stop by Eastwood down to his left to deny Miller an equaliser.
Again, it was a set piece that almost gave United the lead five minutes before the break when a Ben Knight free-kick from close range whistled just past the post in what would have been a just reward for the young debutant's first half performance.
One evidently impactful team talk later, and the U's came out for the second half another gear stronger. A flurry of attacks almost saw Kaikai give us the lead twice, one curling effort dropping just the wrong side of the post, and the other being impressively cleared off the line by Darragh Power. Both chances acting perhaps as a glimpse of what is to come this season, with Knight and Kaikai linking up well.
On that note, it may not have come as much of a surprise to analysts and reporters alike when some neat interplay between Kaikai and Knight lead to a Liam Bennett cutback being met by Kaikai, whose effort was parried into the path of Appéré to slot home a poachers dream inside the six yard box just before 60 minutes to give the U's a deserved lead.
Harris' side held on until full-time, via the use of an effective switch to a 5-3-2 formation to see out the game - or something similarly defensive anyway.
Whilst not the prettiest of football matches, opening day often tends to simply be about starting the season as you mean to go on, and that is exactly what we got. Onto Swindon!
8 Things We Learned On Opening Day
Opening day! The most anticipated date on the footballing calendar finally rolled around last Saturday and it was everything we hoped it would be. A walk down Coldham's Common met the ever-stunning view of Ian Darler’s beautiful Abbey lawn, and ninety minutes of prime (maybe for the newer U’s fans, unfamiliar) League Two football ensued.
View From The Away End 🧐
Cheltenham - Hoppo from The Robins Report
Going into the game I was quietly optimistic, especially considering we had won our last 5 against Cambridge, with our last defeat coming in that awful 5-0 loss at Whaddon Road. The game started slow but the first real chance came to Jordon Thomas who cut inside and saw his effort fly just wide. George Miller had our best chance when he was put in behind the Cambridge back line and should have shot across Eastwood, but instead shot straight at him.
Second half, Cambridge started the better, and after a mistake from Bennett which was superbly cleared off the line by Darragh Power, the goal came from a poor bit of defending and Appéré had an easy tap in. My thinking is that Cambridge have two good players in Kaikai and Appere who will cause problems this season.
On the whole, I'm not sure how Cambridge will do this season because I don't think we turned up. I do think they will end up higher than my off-season prediction of 15th. Cambridge did a great job of nullifying our most dangerous players, Thomas and Archer, and had a big impact on how we wanted to play. I feel a draw would have been fair, but the first scorer was always going to win it.
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Opposition Preview 🔮
Swindon (A) - 18th place - Saturday 9th August
Last 5 (all comps): L/DDLW - The slash indicates the seasons changing, but ending the campaign with three without a win doesn’t tell you how well they performed for the second half of last season under Holloway.
Last time out: U’s 0-0 Swindon, 10th August 2021. Won on penalties. Slugs.
Our H2H: P23, W7, D3, L13
Manager: Ian Holloway. He needs no introduction, the guy is a walking quote and his interviews are always well worth a watch.
One to watch: Jake Tabor. Might not be the name you’d expect, or indeed a name you’ve heard of considering he has spent his career in the depths of non-league, from Crawley Green to Oxhey Jets to Rayners Lane, and then Amersham where Swindon signed him from. Without checking, his stats are something like 1000 goals in non-league, very interesting to see how and if he can transition. Botan Ameen is the other one, a bit of a young starlet for them.
Former U’s players: Not that I can see. But maybe a future one if the Smith deal resurrects itself miraculously…
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Under The Other Stands 🏟️
The headlines are highly fancied MK Dons being held to a 0-0 draw at home to Oldham, with fellow relegated sides Bristol Rovers losing 1-0 at home to Harrogate and Crawley 3-0 at Grimsby.
There’s a bit of chatter around the League Two heads that Accrington might be much better than people were predicting; the 1-1 draw with Gillingham in gameweek 1 might not hint at that, but then comfortably beating Oldham in the EFL Cup in midweek with a fully changed 11 does a bit more.
Grimsby aside, Crewe Alex were probably the standout performers, beating Salford 3-1 away and notching the highest xG in their current manager Lee Bell’s era to date.
Stats Corner 🔢
Our xG against Cheltenham (1.37) was the highest opening day xG for as far back as Fotmob records go. Which is only 2021, and you’d expect 2020’s 3-0 opening day win against Carlisle would easily surpass that – but still, it’s something to cheer about!
Something that was pointed out on UTAS Chats (which I strongly recommend you all join) is on Saturday we attempted 296 passes and completed 160, compared to last year’s opening day against Stockport where we attempted 380 of which 270 were accurate. The stark difference in how Harris and Monk want to play is probably all there in that stat: but we won one 1-0, and lost the other 2-0, so how’s that for a stat?
Milton Keynes’ 0-0 draw might not seem a good result on the surface, but Warne’s first five league games in charge of them going back to last season reads: 0-0, 1-0 win, 0-0, 0-0, 0-0. Still not conceded a goal.
In Case You Missed It 🧐
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