The U's-letter: Issue 20

Someone get Jekyll and his mate Hyde on the phone again

In this little intro bit last week, I wrote about the U’s having a Jekyll and Hyde type of week. After a frustrating loss at Swindon and then a hopeful victory against Bristol Rovers in the cup, that’s exactly what it felt like. And not that I am unimaginative, lazy, or lacking in creative spark, but it’s hard not to just rinse and repeat that same cliché.

United’s draw against Harrogate was incredibly frustrating. Watching the chances back after the game, it’s unbelievable we didn’t put the game to bed in the first half. The second half display was a different story, and the frustration was palpable at the end. Everyone was desperate to see us romp to a comfortable victory against a relative minnow in the division and set the bullishness meters rising off the charts. Instead, as it was, we had to wait until Tuesday night to do that.

It still feels like we haven’t quite figured out what this team will be. But it’s certainly been a steady start, and our next three games have to be looked on as an opportunity: get something at a winless Rovers, and our season can really kick off in style if we make the most of Newport and Oldham in back-to-back home games.

But you never know with United…

If you haven’t already, consider being a total legend and signing up to the Coconut Tier, our paid subscription that gets you access to at least one feature article a week, extra pod content every month and first dibs on merch (more on that coming soon…). This week that’s an amazing League Two stats round up from Ben Griffis (linked below) and a Mailbag pod episode.

What’s New? 📰

• The main thing you’ll have probably heard already: we’re delighted to now be sponsored by The Old Spring! They’ve got some amazing deals on including a Matchday Meal for £15 incl. a pint, Happy Hour from 6-7pm every Saturday (half price beers), and 10% anytime when you present a United ticket. Don’t miss out!

• The U’s have signed Kylian Kouassi on loan from Blackpool. The quick review from our Tangerine friend Jack is: “You know when you buy a player and you just know he’s never going to make it for you… Yeah, that. But he’ll be decent in League Two. He’s f*cking massive, like he’s a muscly lad.” Make of that what you will.

• Check out the next home matchday poster in our series, made by Ben Phillips. More details to come on this series in due course, but what a beauty this one is. If you want to contribute your design for an upcoming home game, email us at hello@undertheabbeystand.com.

At The Match ✍️

U’s 1-1 Harrogate: Frustration Reigns - By Freddie Owers

It was a frustrating afternoon at the Abbey for the U's as Neil Harris’ side played out a 1-1 draw against a resolute Harrogate Town.

A trademark (too soon?) Louis Appéré opener made it seem as though it were to be an easy afternoon for the U’s, but a lack of clinical play in the final third, accompanied by an impressive Stephen Duke-McKenna volley in the second half meant the spoils were shared in CB5.

I don’t need to say much about the last time we turned out against the Yorkshire outfit, but I am sure we were all looking forward to hopefully exacting a stern revenge. On paper, with all due respect to our opponents, it seemed that was going to be the case.

United started the opening half the much stronger side, and were rewarded for their efforts just before the 20th minute when a Kell Watts header was rebounded into the path of Appéré who managed to slot home inside the six yard box. Fast becoming a fan-favourite, it’s becoming very clear that signing the Scotsman was a very nifty bit of business from the recruitment team.

A player we were perhaps waiting to see more from in Shane McLoughlin hit a couple of early range testers, the pick of the bunch being a half-volley from the edge of the box midway through the half which was tipped over the bar by Town stopper James Belshaw.

A series of threatening but ultimately unsuccessful attacks later met the half-time whistle, and that ominous feeling crept in; ahead at the break but having left the opposition with far too much to play for in the second half.

So, despite a strong display in the match so far, it didn’t come as much of a shock to me when Harrogate scored with their first attack of the game. Duke-McKenna met a Lewis Cass cross on 52 minutes to steer an acrobatic volley past Jake Eastwood and level the game.

The goal was a scourge on what the Abbey faithful was hoping would be a routine victory. From thereon out, a combination of resolute defending from the visitors and lacklustre attacking play from United saw the game end level.

Frustrations aside, the way we started the game makes me trust that Harris has a strong tactical hold on his side. Interplay in the final third seems coherent with a good combination of direct but considered approach play. If we can sort out the small issue of confidence to stick the round thing in the net, we will be able to breeze past many in this division, I’m sure.

Definitely one of those draws that feels like two points dropped, but by no means a disaster.

Colchester Unite 1-2 U’s: Comfortably Done - By The Antler

30 years ago, almost to the day, I attended my first Cambridge United match. The opponents were Colchester United, it was a Tuesday night at the Abbey. The thing I remember most? The smell of chips. The next thing? Probably the language. But I also remember a thrilling 3-1 victory to the (real) U’s, and Colchester’s Peter Cawley getting sent off right in front of our seat in the Main Stand. United’s goals that night came from Lee Palmer, Matty Joseph and Carlo Corrazin, who quickly became one of my favourite players. Although the attendance that night was less than 3,500 I was hooked, and 30 years and some 450 odd games later I found myself on a Tuesday night watching Cambridge play Colchester in the bottom division. Talk about things coming full circle…

1500 United fans made the trip to Colchester, and 1400 of them are probably still stuck in the car park trying to get out, or navigating the endless diversions on the way home caused by a closure of the A14 near Newmarket and the M11 at Birchanger. Our own route took us to Baldock and up the A1, many other U’s fans will have had a similarly convoluted journey home.

To the game itself, where Harris made a couple of changes to his preferred starting XI, some forced, some not. Mamadou Jobe came in for the injured Michael Morrison in defence, whilst Elias Kachunga and Pelly Ruddock Mpanzu replaced Ben Knight and Shane McLoughlin.

United started pretty well in what was a fairly even game, both teams having short periods of attacking dominance, with the U’s probably looking slightly better in the first fifteen minutes. Colchester’s nine-foot tall goalkeeper made some good saves to keep the U’s at bay, and at the other end their attackers Samson Tovide and Adrian Akande kept our defence busy. It was the Essex U’s that got the breakthrough, Arthur Read finding himself in a tonne of space on the edge of the area, his low shot ending up in the back of the net, but it was a soft goal to concede really.

Continue reading here

The Mailbag: What is a 'Neil Harris team'?

View From The Away End 🧐

Harrogate Town - Neil Hirst

The first half was totally dominated by Cambridge. Louis Appéré impressed and tactically there seemed to be a deliberate and repeated attempt for the left to right crossfield ball with the intention of Bennett exposing our 35 year old left back, Burrell. Critically for Cambridge, you were often wasteful through inaccurate shooting or perhaps more often, opting to pass rather than have a pop at goal.

There was a mindset change in the second half. Harrogate were still in the game and felt they could still walk away with something. If I'm being honest, I thought with a little more effort, the assist from Cass could have been cut out and the lack of defensive awareness for the goal was criminal.

Happy with the point, Harrogate sat deeper and deeper with O'Connor and Bradbury dominating the aerial battles. The subs for Cambridge weren't particularly impactful and may reflect somewhat on your offensive options available.

In summary, a decent team with some cracking players (I liked Watts and Appéré) and a manager with a high ceiling. Just not ruthless enough when so clearly dominant.

Colchester United - Beyond The Barside

Colchester’s midweek clash with Cambridge was a disappointing performance from our perspective and one that I hope will be rectified ahead of the Barrow clash. That bizarre Col U kick-off routine summed up the night; gifting Cambridge the ball ultimately starting the passage of play that led their 2nd goal.

Cambridge pressed brilliantly, dominated the game, and made our long-ball tactic look toothless. Dom Ball ran the show in midfield (lucky not to get a second booking, but quality all night), while Purrington & Bennett shut down our wingers completely.

I did feel that the officials left a lot to be desired but that was the case for both sides. The free kick by the laws of the game (albeit a ridiculous one) should have been chalked off but no doubt Cambridge would’ve found another way through.

Tucker and Flanagan handled Appéré OK, but Cambridge had threats all over. Tactically, we got it wrong. Cambridge were positive, aggressive & on the front foot; promotion contenders in my book.

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Opposition Preview 🔮

Bristol Rovers (A) - 21st place - Saturday 23rd August

• Last 5 (all comps): DLLLL - A nightmare start for our fellow relegated side, as we saw all too well only a few weeks ago. They are, however, due a win, and Ben G pointed out in his article their underlying numbers are better than you’d expect for a team with such a poor start.

• Last time out: Rovers 0-2 U’s, 12 August 2024. Just the other week! Despite Rovers’ poor showing, first half especially, this was a great response from our disappointing game at Swindon. Same again please.

• Our H2H: P42, W9, D8, L25

• Manager: Darrell Clarke. A bit of a returning legend, after winning promotion twice with Rovers.

• One to watch: Fabrizio Cavegn. Great story being signed by Liechtenstein’s premier club FC Vaduz, I’ve only picked him out because going from there to Bristol Rovers is so Championship Manager you have to love it.

• Former U’s players: Not that I can see.

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Under The Other Stands 🏟️

• Crewe are the only team with a perfect record left, and they are flying after beating a fairly fancied Fleetwood side 4-1 away from home in midweek. They’re a surprise front runner at this stage of the season, and they’ve still got ex-U’s Lankester and Tracey to come back. Whether they can keep it up or not we’ll have to see.

• Cheltenham and Shrewsbury, on the other hand, are in all sorts of bother. Cheltenham are stuck on 0 points and Shrews are also yet to win, and seem in some sort of meltdown from the outside looking in. Just above them are Crawley and Rovers, so we’re doing markedly better than every other side that came down with us last season, so far.

• Gillingham stole headlines Tuesday night, scoring more than 2 goals for something like the first time since February 2024 (don’t quote me on that, but it’s a long time ago). Ainsworth is still yet to lose a game there, which is ominous, despite them not being sparkling going forward - until Tuesday when they smashed one of the favourites Chesterfield 4-1. League Two football, I think we can conclude, is weird.

Stats Corner 🔢

• Against Harrogate, we had: 21 shots, 34 touches in the box, and 30 crosses.

• On Tuesday night MK Dons conceded their first goal under Paul Warne, in their 8th game.

• Michael Appleton at Shrewsbury is now 1 win in 24 league games. A win rate of 4%.

• Crewe were very impressive on Tuesday, having 10 shots inside the first 23 minutes. Basically a shot every 2 minutes, if you can do the maths quick enough.

• Grimsby are averaging 133 touches in the opposition box - a whole 21 more than next best Bromley, and 42 more than us in 9th. Impressive.

In Case You Missed It 🧐

• Matt Ramsay bringing out the goods - Darling and Jobe are a mirror image.

• Colchester’s repeated kick off tactic raised some eyebrows.

• This is an outrageous finish from Salford’s Adebola Oluwo.

• A nod to this excellent cheering of every block in the dying minutes of Crewe’s win at home to Crawley. Proper stuff.

• Kekking your mate will always be hilarious.

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