U's 1-2 Stevenage: Total Steve Evans

@vinylperez makes it to the Abbey for the first time this season, but he's not bought any luck with him as United get a lesson in "Total Steve Evans" from the master himself.

First things first: What an atmosphere that was eh? Theres few sights in football better than an absolutely packed Abbey Stadium under the floodlights. U's fans bought the noise, the flags and the atmosphere, and we can only hope we see more of the same this season. To give them credit Stevenage fans played their part too, armed with a seemingly limitless bag of smoke bombs and plenty of noise themselves. Our attendances have grown incredibly since the return of football post-Covid, and despite some bad times on the pitch we're still packing them in with over 7500 there last night. A few years ago that would have been the kind of crowd we'd expect against Prem or Championship opposition in the cup, unthinkable for a Tuesday League game against Stevenage. Atmospheres like last night will only keep fans coming back and growing the club, so massive hand for everyone there last night.

Anyway, the game itself... Bonner named an unchanged side for the third game in a row, but United were forced into an early change with Saikou Janneh going down clutching his hamstring after riding a robust challenge. On came our man Elias Kachunga, but it was clear that Janneh's trickery and general keenness to get forward was going to be missed.

You know what you're getting with Stevenage, or any Steve Evans side really. There's no surprise in the fact that they've played about 25 minutes of added time in their previous two games this season. Say whay you want about Evans (and many did), but the wily old bastard knows how to set a team up to frustrate their opposition and they'll be tough to beat this year, despite not being blessed with top quality footballers. They fought for everything, got in our space, let us know they were there and just generally irritated any of our attempts to play football. They reminded me a little bit of us in 2021/22 in a way - well drilled, riding a wave from the previous season, and difficult to beat when the everything goes to plan.

The breakthrough came just before the half hour mark, a long goal kick was nodded on into the space in front of the impressive Jordan Roberts, who - after giving Danny Andrew a little nudge in the back - chipped the ball over Jack Stevens.

Fast forward to ten minutes before the end and substitute Fejiri combined well with Brophy to put a daisy-cutter cross into the box where Kachunga couldn't miss. 1-1 and United are back in the game... for all of sixty seconds. Jamie Reid picking up the ball in midfield, creating a bit of space and hammering it into the bottom corner beyond Stevens and that was that.

Let's wind back a bit though - you might think that this makes it sound like United were well outplayed and soundly beaten, and in a way they were. We didn't have much answer for Stevenages gameplan but we still made them work hard for their win. They were the better side, but we didn't play badly, and on another day we could have taken a point or all three. At the back Ryan Bennett had another exemplary game, whilst Morrison lead by example. Stevens, despite the goals made some great saves and his distribution and decision making looks better than Mitov's already. Liam Bennett did Liam Bennett things all game, but Danny Andrew had a game to forget.

In the middle it was the George Thomas show, if only we'd had him earlier last season it wouldn't have been quite so nail-biting. Diggers was quietly effective, and Jack Lankester was busy but frustrating with nothing really quite working out for him. Brophy seemed to get fouled every time he touched the ball and Kachunga adds to this seasons tally of goalscorers, probably playing a bit more than intended so early in the season. Up top Ahadme did what he needed to do, coming close a couple of times and providing a threat and some decent hold-up play.

So, nothing to worry about then, just an off day? Kind of, yeah. Stevenage were decent, and we just lacked a bit of cutting edge. However, there's still question marks over the size of our squad, especially in the attacking areas, and Bonner really needs to consider addressing these. KaiKai is currently injured, and now Janneh is out for a period of time, it only left Fejiri as our attacking option on the bench. Another striker and attacking midfielder are definitely needed, and depending on how long Cousins is out for maybe another body in the centre of the park too. The loan market exists for this reason, and I get Bonner would rather give chances to youth players, but if they're not ready to make an impact then we need experience there instead.

Anyway, it's still early days, and there's still a couple weeks left of the transfer window to change things if needed. Although it's always disappointing to lose, and even more disappointing to lose to Stevenage who it feels like we haven't beat for years, there were plenty of positives on and off the pitch last night.

Strap in, the season's just getting started.

Man of the Match: Not much between Thomas and Brophy for this one, both stood out with brilliant performances, controlling and creating plenty. We'll give it to Thomas on this occassion.

Soundtrack of the Match: Newtown Neurotics - Get Up And Fight

Unsung Hero: Steve Evans shirtmaker, using 40m2 of fabric for each one.