What a start to Valentines day! For a change I got a pie with gravy from the Pie Guyz at the front of the ground to eat in between selling programmes. First bite was great, unfortunately I then spilt the whole lot on the floor! It is surprising how many tissues are required to clean up gravy. I bought a second one and made sure I tightly held the cardboard dish while eating to ensure no more food was wasted. Apparently Steve Evans doesn’t eat all the pies since being on a healthy eating diet, I hardly recognised him. Paul Raynor makes up for him though.
Starting line up:
Eastwood in goal, a back 4 of Gibbons, Watts, Jobe and Purrington. McLoughlin, Ball Knight, Brophy in the middle, Kaikai behind Appere.
U’s attacked the NRE in the first half but it was Rovers who had the first chance on the break after early U’s pressure, a shot saved by Eastwood. U’s settled into the game and looked the more likely to score, Knight having a shot from just inside the penalty area blocked by the keeper.
The first goal came on 32 minutes, good play on our left allowed kaikai to take the ball into the area, he was crowded out and lost the ball but it ran to Knight to who was able to shoot home from around 12 yards. 1-0.
Kaikai had a shot across goal just as 2 minutes of added time was announced. A Rovers long throw was not cleared, the ball falling to Quigley and as he turned he fell over with Ball (I think, or maybe Purrington) close by. Referee gave a penalty, from which Quigley scored. 1-1.
Half time: 1-1. 50/50 ticket 12679 won £516.
Second half and U’s were straight into attack mode, Knight having a shot blocked for a corner from which Appere somehow managed to put the ball wide from a tap in position in front of goal!
Having given Rovers a soft penalty in the first half the referee evened things up when Jobe was pulled back at a corner. Knight as expected stepped up to take it, and put the ball high into the roof of the net, well out of the reach of the keeper. 2-1 on 54 minutes.
Ball who got injured, and Knight were replaced by Mpanzu and Raggett on 66 minutes, Appere and McLoughlin were replaces by Smith and Nevitt 10 minutes later.
Gibbons had a curling shot go just over the bar, then Brophy cut out a defenders pass for a run at goal but instead of shooting he tried to set up Nevitt but a defender cleared for a throw in from which we scored the third goal, Raggett flicking on the throw and Watts rose high to flick the ball into the corner of the net from 6 yards. 3-1 after 78 minutes.
Lavery came on for Kaikai on 83 minutes.
Rovers did have a shot straight at Eastwood, and in a final flourish a cross in our 6 yard box was cleared by Jobe as a forward looked to tap the ball in, then a cross headed over in the 10 (yes, 10!) minutes of added time.
Final score: 3-1.
Another win, not pretty for much of the match but then it was against a Steve Evans team, and you have to win the battles.
6424 in the crowd, with 453 Gas fans. Having had the Manager of the Month, and Player of the month in Neil Harris and Ben Knight I half expected a defeat! I remember years ago Malcolm Webster getting an award for a number of consecutive clean sheets….then he conceded 6 I think in one game!
As in other matches at the Abbey we seemed to give the ball away far too easily in the first half, second was much better. Neil Harris said he was annoyed at not being ahead at the break, but didn’t throw teacups around. Perhaps it is something he puts in the tea to make us play better!
Nice to see Corey Smith back, and a first sight of Raggett, who looks like a no-nonsense defender. Good to be able to bring him on when the opposition look to throw everything forward including the kitchen sink towards the end of the match!
The referee had an “interesting” match. In the first half there were 3 late challenges (so late some were in a different time zone!) which he saw as fouls, but not a yellow card. Purrington was our only yellow, they had 4, all in the second half. No idea where 10 minutes of added time, I was guessing 6 minutes as there had been 2 injuries and a few substitutions.
Both penalties were “soft”, ours especially so when you see the holding at a corner go unpunished so many times in a match. But we’ll take whatever we are given. Knight’s penalties so far had been low to the right, left or centre, this one was high to his right and well out of reach of the keeper. Knight is now our top goal scorer this season, Kaikai second with Appere and Watts tied in 3rd place. Not bad for a central defender. I don’t recall Watts doing a “knee back” to annoy the visiting fans during the match either.
U’s remain in second place in the L2 table, 4 points behind Bromley. Swindon, Notts County and MK Dons are just behind, then a 5 point gap to Salford. There is a full programme on Tuesday evening, we could close the gap to the top with a win at the Abbey against Col U. All the other top side have what look like fairly easy games too, so we can’t afford any complacency.
Come on you U’s!