U's 0-1 P*sh: Not Our Day

United fell short in the derby on Saturday to cap off a week like no other. Our report from the Abbey.

It has been quite the week in CB5. To recap: on the back of a 4-0 win up at relegation rivals Carlisle, the U’s go into a tough home game against Bolton. 8 minutes in, we lead. At half time in that game, we were 13th and eight points clear of the drop. Come full time, we were on the wrong end of a 2-1 defeat and, even worse, had managed to have our best player and focal point in attack, Lyle Taylor, sent off. Three games suspended, including the derby. Can’t get much worse though, can it? Neil Harris sounds bang up for the derby in his post-match quotes, doesn’t he? He’s exactly the sort of person that’ll get this squad up for it, right?

Well, maybe, but we never got the chance to find out. By 11am the next day, The Telegraph had reported that Harris was about to rejoin Millwall. By midday, it was basically a done deal. He’d said his goodbyes the evening before, his short chapter at the U’s was over. The sense of shock amongst the fanbase was palpable. The squad would need to do something significant to get past it themselves.

So, managerless and strikerless, we headed into the derby at the Abbey, still hurt and reeling from the first fixture at London Road. You could not have imagined a worse preparation for what was a game of immense proportions; not just because it’s a derby, but because we still need to pick up quite a few points to be safe, and Peterborough came here having lost four league games on the bounce. It was an opportunity, and the events of the week needn’t harm that - we had to channel the emotion in the right way to give us the edge.

The game started in the right way for the U’s. The first 20 minutes had the intensity and high energy that the defeat at their place never had. A few players putting in some heavy but fair challenges which were met by a roar as load as any goal. Classic derby day stuff, but it’s what we needed. The emotion and extra fight was clearly our best route to winning the game.

But, unfortunately for us, you do also need to have some sort of game plan. At points Elias Kachunga, preferred to start ahead of Macauley Bonne, cut a lonely figure up front. Without an obvious link in midfield, or one that wouldn’t make itself available often enough, far too frequently balls were being pumped up to Kacha who was doing his very best to not let them simply be gobbled up by Edwards or Knight. In these phases of play you could tell our preparation was desperately lacking given the events of the week.

In the latter period of the first half, P*sh started to capitalise on it. They were a constant menace down our right hand side, Kaikai struggling to deal with anything defensively and gassing himself out for moments when we had the ball. There was a really worrying 5-10 minute spell in here where we could not get control of the ball at all, and every time we got possession we somehow confounded to lose it instantly, submitting to wave after wave of attack. Somehow, we got away with it. On another day, they quite easily score two or three and tie the game up before half time. But luck was shining on us.

At least for a bit. The second half started much the same, without the U’s managing to get a proper foothold in the game and P*sh comfortably stroking the ball around. That pressure told, even though the goal itself is as frustrating as anything else that day. Mason-Clark drifts infield, and floats a ball through the ‘corridor of uncertainty’ towards the back stick, touching no one and beating Stevens’ desperate dive after being wrong-footed on the way to glancing off the post and in. A goal that was very much deserved, in a manner that you can’t help but feel frustrated by.

No matter, still over 35 minutes left to play. We’ve shown flashes of ability, little sparks of creativity, and some spells with enough fight to be able to get back into it. But I think it’s this part of the game that will frustrate most. From here on out, there was just a basic lack of pressure. The subs came 10/15 minutes later than it felt they should, Kacha didn’t feel the player to take off, and then we still never managed to pile the pressure on. It just all looked so comfortable for P*sh. This isn’t even about a derby, it’s a constant problem that this team doesn’t seem to really put it on teams late on in games, like others can do to us. All too often it just feels… pedestrian.

So, P*sh took the three points they ultimately deserved. And we’re left reeling after a week like no other. There was flashes of fight, moments of emotion, enough pride to feel okay with - but nothing more. We were never going to win this game on quality, but we didn’t quite use the opportunity we had to win it on emotion either. More importantly than anything, we need points on the board, and the next two are very very tough trips which do nothing to help that. Corr and Betsy have been confirmed as looking after these two games, and it’ll take some job to lift these players, get them organised, and figure out how to get something out of them. Because God knows we need it.

Soundtrack of the Match: The Libertines - What A Waster