The U's-letter: Issue 31
Your regular wrap-up of everything happening at United
On the face of it, it’s been a win and three draws since we last came to you with a U’s-letter. But that doesn’t tell anything like the full story.
The win in that run came first, a brilliant late winner tucked home from the spot by Ben Knight. Then the two cup draws ended exactly how you’d want them to: a penalty shootout defeat after a spirited comeback against Bristol Rovers – sending us out of the Vertu which no one is more happy about than Neil Harris – and then an impressive shutout against high-flying League One Stockport taking us through to the FA Cup Third Round. And then finally, if it wasn’t for conceding a last-minute equaliser to Chesterfield, we’d have bookended the week with really solid home league wins.
But despite missing out on those three points, it’s still been a really positive period for the U’s. Hear all about it on the latest pods, out now in all the usual places. Coconut Tier members also got an extra pod this week, a special episode where we caught up with co-owner Mark Green about his story and why he invested in the club. Subscribe below to get that and other extra podcasts and articles.
What’s New? 📰
A pretty dull FA Cup Third Round draw for United, drawing Birmingham City at home. A tough tie, without the glamour you’d want to match it, and all-in-all it’s the sort of tie that excites neither us nor them. But at least we’re at home.
Shaggy is leading a team of United players out to Germany for a 5-a-side tournament. There are limited tickets if you want to go, and we’ll have a special pod out with the man himself soon to talk about it.
Coconut Tier members can listen to our special pod with Mark Green now:
At The Match ✍️
U’s 1-1 Chesterfield: So close, yet so far
Up until the 93rd minute of Tuesday, it looked like it would be the perfect night for the U’s. One sliced clearance and a controlled chest and volley into the bottom corner from a nearly 40-year-old centre half changed that in an instant. And if you look up the word ‘sickener’ in the football dictionary, that feeling is what comes up.
For so much of the evening, the U’s had arguably put in one of their best performances of the season. Kell Watts put United ahead from – you guessed it – a set piece on the 13th minute, capping off a bright start and setting the tone for a first half that we utterly dominated. Chesterfield in truth looked miles off the pace; you wouldn’t have guessed it was us not them who played the extra half an hour only three days before.
The only real issue with the first half is we didn’t make our dominance count. In a throwback to the Harrogate game from earlier in the season, it was the tale of another first half where we couldn’t find our killer instinct. The difference with this game compared to that one was the dominance didn’t end with the half-time whistle. Chesterfield grew into the game and started creating openings of their own, but it was as late as the 80th minute that Smith had a shot cleared off the line, showing how we were still posing a threat so late into the game.
When it’s 1-0, it always feels like you’ve left the door open for the opposition. And they will always get one chance. This time, it was barely a chance – Appèrè completely shanked a clearance, but it took their centre half bringing it down and volleying it home to salvage a point. It’s an evening where you are right to feel annoyed, but in the cold light of day, if we can repeat that level of performance, there are more points around the corner for us.
View From The Away End 🧐
Stockport - By The Scarf Bergara Wore
I have to agree with our manager’s withering assessment that it was a dire game of football, with very little, if any quality on either side. However, if I were a U’s fan, I would take exception with Chally’s assertion that neither side deserved to win the game. We certainly didn’t deserve to win it, however you had some decent chances and worked our goalkeeper, who was our PotM for me. This was backed up when I finally forced myself to watch the “highlights” on Sunday. We did not feature in any of the passages of play the Beeb packaged up, whereas they showed 3 or 4 U’s attacks during normal and extra time, plus the decisive penalties. Possibly media cupset bias but it reinforced my opinion that if any team deserved it, it was you.
It was clear to see why you had only conceded one goal in November because you were well organised at the back and difficult to break down. We had our three most creative (available) players in the starting XI for the first time this season (including Mr Mothersille who appears to be very popular with your fans) yet struggled to create anything of note. After the game it occurred to me how this reflects on Harris teams overall - with his last three games against County resulting in defeats to nil for us (Saturday, his first game back in charge of U’s in March and a 1-0 defeat on the opening day of our League 2 title season when he was with Gillingham). Standout players for me were Mpanzu and Gibbons, partially because he was your only penalty taker who chose not to goad the home end.
Chesterfield - By Dave the Chesterfield Fan
It’s fair to say that the Chesterfield contingent travelled back north knowing that the point we took back home was not a deserved one.
The first half performance was as bad as we have seen for a few years. The management blamed the wind but in truth they just weren’t switched on. The Cambridge goal was one that we’ve seen all too often recently with Chey Dunkley losing his marker from a set piece. I was quite glad that it was just one at the break.
The second half saw an improvement but we still relied on the goalkeeping of Zach Hemming and a brilliant goal line clearance from Liam Mandeville to keep it at one.
We’ve been stung at the end of games plenty of times since coming back into League Two so it was pleasing to be on the right end of it this time, with our near 40yr old centre half finishing with aplomb.
Cambridge were very much what I expected from a Neil Harris team, a very organised side that restricts the space to attack into and are full of character. Always dangerous from set pieces and balls into the box. Stick a Michael Cheek into that side and you would have been walking away with all three points and gaining on the top three.
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Opposition Preview 🔮
MK Dons (A) - 5th place - Saturday 13th December (3pm kick off)
Last 5 (all comps): LWWDW - Maybe not blowing teams away as many predicted, but definitely getting going.
Last time out: MK Dons 1-0 U’s, 11th March 2023. Remember the Jack Lankester ruled out goal, just before the Great Escape, that the officials apologised for getting wrong afterwards?
Our H2H: P6, W1, D0, L5. That winner being opening day with a Harvey Knibbs goal.
Manager: Paul Warne. Fair to say he shouldn’t really be managing in League Two, considering the amount of League One promotions he has on his record.
One to watch: Nathaniel Mendez-Laing. Ex-U’s player, who like his boss shouldn’t really be anywhere near League Two, and is really getting into his goalscoring stride now.
Former U’s players: Mendez-Laing, Rushian Hepburn-Murphy, and Sam Sherring.
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Under The Other Stands 🏟️
Let’s start with our upcoming opponents Milton Keynes FC, they lost 3-2 at Notts County in what looked like an absolute thriller. It took an 88th minute winner from Tom Iorpenda to settle the points, after Mendez-Laing scored two within 15 minutes.
Walsall go four points clear at the top with a 1-0 away win at Oldham. Check out the Stats section below for a remarkable similarity to this time last season.
At the bottom of the table, both Bristol Rovers and Harrogate continue to slide down the table. Rovers are now on a streak of 9 losses, whereas Harrogate are 9 games without a win. Both look in serious trouble.
There’s genuinely over half the league within reach of the play-offs, so pick any team at random and they’re probably in the hunt.
Stats Corner 🔢
Newport have gone 18 games without a win at home. And as mentioned, Bristol Rovers have lost 9 in a row, Harrogate haven’t won in 9. Lots of depressing streaks for the teams down the bottom of the Football League.
The U’s along with another eight League 2 sides have made around 130K in prize money in the FA Cup so far. That rises to 250k if we win in the third round.
There’s also more League 2 sides in the third round than League One. But that means a high likelihood of a game being moved for TV: last year, only 9 of 40 third round ties were 3pm Saturday kick off.
Walsall were four points clear after 19 games last season. On Wednesday they went four points clear after 19 games this season. They’ll be hoping this season finishes better than last.
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