U's 0-1 Crawley: Game Of Two Thirds
After the high of Tuesday night came one of the all-too familiar lows as Crawley left CB5 with all three points.
That stung a bit, didn’t it? I know there’s still 44 games left to play this season, but there’s a part of me that thinks we might be rueing the three points gifted to Crawley at the end of the season.
United lined up differently, with a back four of Gibbons, Andrew, O’Riordan and Ibsen Rossi, meaning no room for Liam Bennett again. Ahead of them Digby and Smith held the centre of midfield whilst Kaikai, Barton and Brophy were entrusted with creating chances for lone man Shane Lavery up top. Between the sticks, Reyes replaced Stevens.
United looked pretty decent again, although Crawley didn’t look like everyone’s relegation favourites either (of if they did, it’s going to be a REALLY strong league this year). Both teams had good chances, Crawley utilising the speed of former U’s loanee Rushian Hepburn-Murphy, whilst United relied on the the energetic Dan Barton to break through the defence.
For two-thirds of the game the best chances were United’s, Barton, Lavery and Brophy all coming close (although not all that close in Brophy’s case - it was an absolute sitter he decided to try and pass across the box, but who really expected a goal anyway?). We can’t be too hard on Barton, making his first Football League start and only his third appearance, but he needs to work on his composure in front of goal - that kind of thing only comes with experience and there’s nothing I’ve seen that makes me think that it won’t come. Brophy we know all about his lack of goal contributions, and the arguments will continue in circles as to whether or not he’s a help or a hinderance. Lavery is having a challenging start to the season, but his record speaks for itself and I think the goals will come, especially once we bring in a suitable strike partner (of Loft eventually gets fit)
We got our subs exactly right on Tuesday, which makes it all the more annoying we got them so wrong on Saturday. Contrast that to Crawley, who’s subs all had a decent impact on the game (former U Jack Roles with the assist for the winner). Kachunga came on first, replacing Brophy, and had about as much impact on the game as I would have - it later transpired he’d injured his hamstring which would be funny if it wasn’t so serious. Next on came Liam Bennett, playing on the right wing, but I think it took him almost fifteen minutes to get a touch of the ball, and he had a quiet remainder of the game. The final sub was Taylor Richards on for Dan Barton, I can’t remember him doing anything of note other than amble around the pitch and make one shocking misplaced pass.
Our missed chances came to punish us four minutes from time, as Roles ball found Adeyemo who drew Reyes miles out of position before slotting past him. Five goals conceded already this season, four of them from entirely preventable goalkeeper errors from both first team keepers.
Lesson learned, and like I said this could be a vital three points dropped come the end of the season. We’re not playing badly, and you can see that Monk is having an impact on how we’re attacking and creating chances. We had something like five shots on target Saturday, I can remember games last season where we didn’t have five shots on goal, let alone ones on target. The league table looks bad right now (although we actually moved up a place despite defeat), but it’s not panic stations just yet. There’s still a little while left in the transfer window, and lets not forget we’ve got players out injured who are due to return soon. The goalkeeping can appear scary at the time, and better teams will punish us if we try playing out from the back like we did against Crawley but I’m sure Monk will adapt the tactics to not play that way against the more dangerous sides.
The pressure now is on Ben Strang and the board to back Monk with the players we need to complement what we have already. They’re more likely to be Premier League or Championship U23s on loan rather than anyone we’ve heard of, but these players can have an impact despite their inexperience. Blackpool visit next, and they’ve had a worse start to the season than us, so it will be another tough game. It’s unusual to have two potential six-pointers in August, but the points we get on the table now will make things easier at the end of the season.
Man of the Match: The forwards were all busy but didn’t cover themselves in glory in front of goal. It’s between O’Riordan and Ibsen Rossi for me - coping well with an attacking intent from Crawley until almost the last minute.
Soundtrack of the Match: Soft Cell - Frustration