Quick match report

[bartman]

Had an hour to reflect since getting home and I still can't change from the view that I thought we played some excellant football today. Quick incisive passing in midfield. Quinny playing well in a free role behind the front two and plenty of chanced created.We were narrow at times and we had to rely on Hill to go beyond their defence

Their manager at the end of the game said we were a superb football side and couldn't believe his luck in getting a point. He agreed we should have been out of sight before they scored

We desperately need Cresswell or Porter in their as Cofe and Blackman have difficulty holding the ball up. We can stretch the defence with them in the side but sometimes it needs to stick up there so we could support from midfield.

Couldn't see Colchester scoring today and it was a shock when they did we were that dominant. Morrison ran the full length of the pitch to make his point but I suppose you can't blame him in view of the stick he was gwtting. Although I am surprised the ref took no action against him when he was trying to get Blackman sent off near the end

Overall,good performance,excellant football,we need to be a lot more ruthless in front of goal

Ratings

Howard-6- nothing to do. Their goal was at the far end to us so I couldn't tell if it was his fault

McMahon- 6- defensively did OK but I feel he could give us so much more going forward with his pace and strenght. Great strike from 20 yards that just went over the bar

Hill-8- a scapegoat for some but his defending was excellant and was a danger going forward. Unlike McMahon,he had no one in front of him as Quinn played central and his positioning and willingness to get forward was great to see.

Collins-6- no where near the heights of last season. To me he is looking a little indecisive at the moment and is not getting to challenges he usually wins

Harry-7- solid,didn't let Morrison intimidate him and distributed well.Had strapping on his left leg so don't know if he is carrying an injury

McAllister-5- played well first half but looked sluggish aftet the break. Seemed slow to get forward although his lassin was good. Didn't seem to drive into the box as he normally does. I was surprised Flynn didn't come on for him.

Doyle-6- won ball,passed to KMac. Was involved more than he has been this season and looked more like the player we had last season

KMac-8- my MOM. Strength,passing,tackling and stamina. He needs to shoot more often but he was a class act today

Quinn-7- with him in a free role means we lack width but he gave them nightmares at times. His passing was sometimes overhit today and he had 2-3 opportunities to shoot in the box and laid off. If he leaves,we will miss him

Cofe,MIller and Blackman -5 each- work hard,try hard,great goal by Cofe but the ball doesn't stick up there which creates problems. I really think one of them needs to play with Cresswell our Porter up front as they could then play off a front man

Fans. In general OK,but to the few fans at the back who sang' stand up and support the team' just a couple of points

1. you don't have to stand up to support the team
2. singing 'die die piggy pigy die' doesn't support the team.

As for our fans in the corner,singing homophobic chants about Morrison doesn't constitute support either....and you wonder why he reacted like he did when he scored.Don't dish it out if you can't take it back.

Despite that,feeling very positive after watching that today,we just need to score from the chances we create.

The high speed water ski-ing on the A1 going home wasn't fun thou !!

 

[Foxy]

Agree with most of that, though I'd give Collo a bonus point for stopping Blackman flooring a few of them at the end with a well timed bear hug. As much as I'd have loved to have seen it, it wouldn't have been good for him getting sent off.

Thought the officials were weak, Bean should have walked as he committed a number of late, late challenges which should have been yellows long before he eventually got carded. Like you say, how they got away with the antics at the end I don't know.

The water ski-ing was an experience... though it was more blind water ski-ing.

 

[Hartley Hare]

Agreed the style of play and football at times this afternoon was very attractive, (it almost looked like we knew what we were doing) - but all to often there was no end product and over play. Quinn and Mcdonald should shoot at goal more often, but both played well today. Mcdonald must be one of the best midfield players in this division.

Blackman and Cofie also looked good. The later looked a bit like Balloteli. I hope with more games together they could be effective. With the chances we created they should get goals.

It is important to hang on to Maquire and Quinn and I am confident we can go up this year.

Like earlier this year, the support at Colchester was pathetic. The place was dead as a door nail and the home support weak. No noise or singing. Morrision provided the only entertainment, and was clearly rattled by the baiting. He enjoyed their goal running towards the away end goading the crowd.

The goal mouth fracas at the end brought matters to a climax, if only we could have scored from the last corner. I think the roof would have come, the like of which had never been seen at sleepy Colchester.

HH

 

[Ollessendro]

Agree with a lot of what is said above. I have mixed feelings about today. We completely dominated the game and played some very attractive football, yet we did noit win. We were wasteful in front of goal and switched off and let them into the game. It is encouraging that we are outplaying teams, but we really need to put them to bed. Disaster almost struck, when Colchester nearly robbed us late on (hitting the inside of the post). We didn't lose and 5 points from the first 3 games is reasonable. You can never scoff at an away point either. However, it has to be looked at as 2 points dropped. Colchester were poor and we should have easily beaten them.

The match: United got off to a positive start and were making all the early running. McDonald was the standout player and was pulling the strings. Quinn had a free role and was looking dangerous. You'll have to forgive me if I get things mixed up, as we were kicking towards the home end first half and we were fairly low down (just behind the goal) in our seats. We had a couple of early chances that lead to nothing. A couple of crosses that their keeper took. McDonald was at the heart of everything and Quinn was running them ragged. McDonald brought the ball forwarded half the length of the pitch and passed to COFIE. The youngster had time and space and was urged to shoot. When he hit it I thought good effort. I was sure the keeper had it covered, as it was straight down the goal. However the ball dipped over the keeper and flew into the net.

Another good move was almost finished off by Quinn. United carved open Colchester down the right hand side and Quinn was sent through. He was one on one with the keeper and should have scored. However the keeper man get his legs in the way and make the save. Unite then missed another great chance when McDonald boke through. The influential midfielder skinned several players and rounded the keeper. However he opted to pull the ball back and Cofie/Blackman (could not see which) spooned wide. I presume that the angle was tight and that is why he did not roll the ball into the empty net. United continued to dominate and their keeper was very busy. Colchester would have felt very lucky they were only 1 goal down at half time.

The second half continued in the same vein at the first, with the Blades dominating. Colchester were poor and created nothing. In fact, I do not remember Howard having to make a save. For all United's possession we did not create many clear cut chances. One criticism was we tried to walk the ball into the goal. Quinn and McDonald were guilty of not shooting when in promising positions (on several occasions). It is difficult to criticise our 2 best players, but they should really put their foot through the ball more often.

Disaster struck late on for United late on and who else but ex Wednesday player Clinton MORRISON. United switched off and Morrison stole in t score. I could not see exactly what happened, but is seemed to be a flick on header from a corner and Morrison volleyed in. He then ran the length of the field to taunt the United fans. I suppose this is fair enough, as he was taking a lot of stick, but thought he should have been booked. When you think Blackman got booked for taking his shirt off after scoring, it is daft that Morrison could have riot and did not even get a ticking off. In fact, he could have been sent off later for getting involved in a tussle and then continuing to wind United players up. I cannot believe the let Morris poor referee continually wind up United players in that 10 man hand bags late on.

United pushed forward trying to get ahead again and get a deserved winner. Maguire’s header from a corner was cleared off the line, However Colchester nearly stole it. They broke through and their striker hit a low shot that came off the inside of the post and the Blades cleared. I thought it was in and I was not only one! Whoever was operating the tannoy system briefly put on music as if they had scored a goal!? It would have been completely unjust for the home team to steal 3 points. United then pushed forward and almost won the game. A free kick from the right was delivered by Quinn and McMahon headed goalwards. The keeper somehow managed to tip it onto the bar and it went over. If it had been a foot either side it would have won the game. The spoils were shared as the ref blew for full time.

United: we completely controlled the game and looked impressive. McDonald was the best player on the pitch by a mile and Colchester had no answer to Quinn. We passed the ball about really well and looked good. We looked solid and Colchester rarely troubled us. They were a poor side though and we should have buried them. We simply have to start being more ruthless in front of goal. We had very little up top and I was not impressed by Blackman and Cofie. McAllister was anonymous and I would be looking to bring someone else into his position (one of the young lads or maybe Flynn?).

I think the back 4 and Howard look solid. Maguire was excellent, McMahon is a good defender, so is Hill and Collins was solid (he started slowly, but got better as the game went on). Doyle did a job, McDonald was awesome and Quinn looked very dangerous. However, up tip we had little movement, no threat and little options. I think we need to bring either Porter or Cresswell to play with either Cofie or Blackman (or Millar).

I can see there being a recurring theme this year. That is, us dominating teams, but not putting them to the sword. In one way it is impressive that we have lost Lowton, Williamson and Ched (and several others) but are dominating teams. But I cannot see where the goals will come from. Yesterday, I saw little to say that Cofie, Millar or Blackman will score regularly. For all their brilliance Quinn and McDonald are not big goalscorers and there we have a problem. I can see a lot of 1-0’s, 0-0 and 1-1’s this season.

I still think we are a top 6 team, but our squad looks fragile. If we lose Quinn it will be a big blow. If K Mac was to get injured or we lose one of the centre halves, then we are in big trouble. I hope that we can get Cresswell in the team or at least bring Porter in. I don’t think that we’ll have enough for automatic on the evidence so far. I realise the division is poor, b we’ll need a lot of luck and for something to click with the young lads.

Colchester: they were poor. I spoke to some of their fans after and they thought they had robbed us. Morrison is lively, their keeper was excellent and the black lad with dreds (their man of the match) was decent. However, they were poor. A mid table side. I thought they looked a lot better last season, but they had hit a bit of form at that point.

Officials: the ref was terrible. One of the things about this division is you get worse officiating and yesterday was evidence of that. The fat referee struggled to keep up with play and made some bizarre decisions. He lost control of the game at times and was very lenient. I am all for letting the game flow, but there are some times you have to stop play. You also need to get your cards out of your pockets at times.

 

[Ollessendro]

Ground/atmosphere: I had heard that we’d only sold 700 tickets, but it looked like we had brought more fans. I would have said closer to 900. The atmosphere was ok. We made a bit of noise, but it is difficult to get an atmosphere in that soleless stadium. It was far from a classic away day atmosphere. There were not many home fans! The ground looked really empty. The home fans were very quiet, but finally found their voice when they scored. A drummer seemed to appear from nowhere and their home end (opposite us) made a bit of noise.

Crimes against hoof: Kevin McDonald. What a player! He actually misplaced a few passes, but he was excellent yesterday. His ability to find space, always make himself an option and always find a pass is brilliant. He is so technically gifted and the gulf of class was embarrassing at times. He was more adventurous yesterday too and broke through on several occasions. He needs to be encouraged to shoot more often though, rather than playing that extra pass. It was frustrating that on 3 or 4 occasions yesterday, he should have shot but opted to pass/cross.

Crimes against football: difficult to pick anyone out really. Probably the two strikers. Cofie is a headless chicken and has an awful touch. However he did score. Blackman showed very little either.

Ale: had quite a few nice ales yesterday. Wolfe Brewery’s Golden Jackal was a nice, hoppy pale ale. I had a decent brown ale, that was nutty and quite strong (cannot remember the name, but it was a Colchester brewery). The best ale was Bishop Nick IPA. A medium strength, medium bitter that had quite a strong taste. It was a bit nutty and hoppy and was really well rounded.

 

[Foxy]

There were not many home fans! The ground looked really empty. The home fans were very quiet, but finally found their voice when they scored. A drummer seemed to appear from nowhere and their home end (opposite us) made a bit of noise.

Looked full to bursting from my seat...



Was thinking yesterday whilst stood outside the ground, how depressing would it be as a home fan? Having to travel from the other end of Colchester, to this "community" stadium. No pubs nearby, parking limited and £6, small away followings likely to turn up, no redeeming features?

 

[Princess Annes Dog]

Bit like Reading to be honest. Awful ground, nothing in the vicinity and a soulless stadium. If the moon landing was faked then they could have done it at the Madejski Stadium due to the lack of atmosphere.

Sunderland, Coventry, Donny etc etc... Modern football mate, eeh it's not like it used to be.

 

[PTBlade]

The ale you had Oli was Colchester Brewery Double Brown..... And you're right... Very yummy!
Was nice to meet you and the guys... But hope not to be seeing you next season!..

 

[super_pig]

thanks for the match report Olle, much appreciated..
Macdonald makes me laugh.. some of the stuff he does.. i wonder why he won't shoot though?? for a bloke that can put a ball on a sixpence from 70 yards it seems a bit weird.. we're not far off, although i'm worried about collins sudden 10-11 form.. someone is going to get a spanking sooner or later