The U's-letter: Issue 30
Your regular wrap-up of everything happening at United
As you might have heard on recent pods, I’ve (Jules) just come back from a short trip down under to tick off a big bucket list item in watching England in the Ashes in Australia. The trip down there might have been short, but the match itself was even shorter, lasting a measly two days – breaking a 137-year record for shortest Ashes test match. (And don’t worry, unlike Jordan’s jibes might suggest, no Coconut Tier funds were used in the trip.)
But, luckily, I had United to cheer me up on Saturday night with a rare away win. You know things are bad when that’s happening. Now that I’m back in England, and the U’s have a chance to register first back-to-back wins and round off a November that included progress in two cup competitions, unbeaten league form, and potentially not a single goal conceded, you just know which way the script is going to go.
The Preview Show is live now in all the usual places, featuring an opposition view from The Railwaymen Podcast. Coconut Tier members will also be getting an extra pod this week, a special episode where we react and reflect on the ground development news. Subscribe below to get that and other extra podcasts and articles.
What’s New? 📰
The big news in the past few weeks regards the Abbey, and the updates from both Paul Barry and Alex Tunbridge.
Both of those updates are worth reading/watching, but the top line is that right now plans to redevelop have been parked due to financial constraints. We should be “open-minded” to plans to relocate, and the board are looking for another minority shareholder to inject some funds.
Coconut Tier members can listen to our special pod reacting to the ground news now:
In other news, Mark Bonner is amongst a host of new Hall of Fame inductees - congratulations, Bonz!
At The Match ✍️
U’s 0-0 Barnet: Spoils shared (again)
The second goalless draw in a row was met with a predictably mixed response. While us and Barnet came into the game with identical records, a lot of the underlying numbers told us that they were in fact a better side than what the table suggested. They boasted high xG numbers and a brilliant away record. For the people who bought into this school of thought, holding them to a point was an underwhelming but decent point gained.
On the other side, when our own away form has been so startlingly bad, there is extra pressure on picking up maximum points from home games. Especially against mid-table opposition, which despite underlying figures, is what Barnet were going into the game. At this point, the table does tell some sort of truth, surely. And so to be outplayed and probably end up being the happier of the two sides to come out with a point was, for a lot of fans, immensely frustrating. To see our striker go off with a hamstring injury was the icing on the cake.
The game itself was of few chances. For United, Brophy’s curling effort drifted wide of the post in front of the NRE in the first half, which was followed by a dominant 10-minute spell from the visitors. When the whistle for the break went, it felt like a good time to regroup for United. We came out stronger in the second half and had our own spell of dominance which we couldn’t make count, and the game in truth drifted as neither team wanted to commit men forward and risk too much.
In my mind, like so many other results how you treat this all comes down to your outlook for the season, and if you’d expected us to be a top seven side or not. As far as I’m concerned, while we’re not blowing anyone away, we’re well positioned to make a good run at it, and being in touching distance to both play-offs and the automatics is the most important thing.
Barrow 0-2 U’s: Finally.
It’s been a long three months. Over three months, in fact, since the U’s last registered a league win away from home. For it to be a trip to Barrow that we did it in is just rewards for the hardy souls who made the longest trip of the season on a wet and windy November afternoon.
With Kouassi out, Appéré was the only option to lead the line up front. The wider question surrounding strikers is a worrying one with so much football to be played until January, but what we really needed was someone in the squad to step up and take on the goalscoring mantle. Something that, in truth, we’ve been needing all season.
Step forward: Pelly Ruddock Mpanzu. What a great moment to make your mark. His brace on Saturday could not have been better timed. The first goal capped a brilliant move that started with Smith and ended with a Pelly dummy, Nascimento parried shot, and the man of the hour on hand to tuck home the rebound. The second to seal it included some brilliant work from Kaikai down the left who beats multiple Barrow defenders before finding Kachunga whose intelligent pass to Pelly is what we’ve been missing from him for so long.
A deserved three points, and the opportunity now to register our first back-to-back league wins of the season and cap off an under-the-radar but near-perfect November.
View From The Away End 🧐
Barnet - By The Bee Brief
From a Barnet perspective, we came into the game without a win in our last three league matches, with our only victory in the previous five coming in the Vertu Cup against Cambridge. Despite the lack of results, our performances had been strong, so we still felt confident going into this one.
What followed was very much the unstoppable force against the immovable object: you with one of the best home records in the league, and us with the second-best away record. In hindsight, maybe the draw shouldn’t have been a surprise.
We controlled the game in terms of possession, though not much happened in the first 35 minutes. But from 35 to 45, we really got on top—several corners, a few good chances, but again we couldn’t convert, which has been the story of our season so far. Going into half-time, we felt we should have been ahead.
The second half followed a similar pattern. Chances were limited, but we remained in control and looked the more likely to score. Credit to you, though—you defended well and we couldn’t find a breakthrough. On balance, a draw was probably fair, but we left feeling frustrated not to take all three points. We felt we were the side pushing harder for the win and creating the better openings in a game that ultimately lacked a real cutting edge.
Barrow - Courtesy of the NTT20 League Two Chat
Back to cowardly defending and spineless performances. Can get away with playing 3-4-3 or 5-4-1 away from home. However at home, it’s slow, passive and sh*te. We don’t look like breaking any teams down. Just come and defend like a competent unit and you’ll be fine.
FANCY BEATING US AT EFL FANTASY? CLICK BELOW TO JOIN 👇
Opposition Preview 🔮
Crewe (H) - 8th place - Saturday 29th November (3pm kick off)
Last 5 (all comps): DDWWL - In the league we have identical 5-game form.
Last time out: U’s 1-0 Crewe, 22nd January 2022. This was in that spell just after beating Newcastle in the cup where we won 3 league games on the trot and climbed into midtable in League One. Dreamland, really.
Our H2H: P33, W16, D9, L8. Historically a very favourable fixture it seems.
Manager: Lee Bell. A Crewe lad and now three years into his first job with his boyhood team. Took them into the play-off final in his first season but hasn’t managed to replicate it since.
One to watch: Emre Tezgel. On loan from Stoke and feels like he’s about to catch fire. Also Max Sanders, as pointed out by Ben Griffis in the latest Get Your Stats Right - read that in full here.
Former U’s players: Shilow Tracey and Jack Lankester. Although both are injured at the moment.
Subscribe to The Coconut Tier to get:
📚At least one article like this every week
🎧Bonus podcast content every month
👕First dibs on upcoming merch drops
And you can show off to your mates that you support UTAS and you’re not a round dodger.
Under The Other Stands 🏟️
This league is just ridiculously tight. There’s now just six points between 1st and 12th. Salford were 3rd when we went up there to play them a few weeks ago, now they’re beneath us in 12th. It really does just need a little run to get yourselves in the mix.
Bromley are the standout conversation, two wins in two weeks at home and they’re up to third now. That’s one win of ours that is aging really well.
At the other end, the main story is Bristol Rovers, who last week lost at Cheltenham to make it seven league defeats in a row. They are sliding backwards at the wrong end of the table.
Last night (Thursday 27th) Tranmere scored a last-minute winner at Grimsby, meaning that a win on Saturday should see us creep into the play-offs.
Stats Corner 🔢
Before the Barnet game, Eastwood had conceded 5 of the last 7 shots on target that he’s faced.
On the same weekend, away at Notts County, Harrogate only named 3 subs on the bench. They conceded a last-minute equaliser to devastatingly not come away with all three points.
We’ve played 13 of the 14 teams below us in the table, but only 4 of the 9 above us. A few tests to come over the next month.
The win at Barrow was our 7th straight away win there, including 16 goals scored, 3 conceded & 4 clean sheets. Remarkable record.
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