United line-up: Barrett, Matt Joseph, Granville, Preece, Craddock, Ashbee, Hayes, Hyde, Kyd (Richards 67), Barnwell, Beall (Thompson 82).
Sub Not Used: Turner.

The Abbey Rabbit's match report:
Not many U's fans braved the trip and those who did spent most of the time trying to keep warm! What we got was a real Jeckell and Hyde(!) "game of two halves, Brian" performance from the U's.

First-half we totally dominated, dictated the tempo and style of the game and created one or two half chances. However (stop me if you've heard this before), we lack a cutting edge. As it was we owed much to our lead thanks to Jamie's quick reactions (overhead kick whilst on the ground!) and an excellent save from Barrett.

Second-half... horrible. It took over half an hour for us to mount a worthwhile attack and any side with a half-decent striker would have surely punished us. As it was only a superb reaction save from Scotty ensured we took all three points. Midfield was non-existant and Ashbee, appearing for the suspended Raynor, faded badly. He looks overweight and is certainly not match fit! Having said that, Hayes played well second-half and made a number of important tackles. However, once again Kyddie and Barnwell became isolated and even the introduction of Richards for Kyd made little difference as Richards is still patently not fully fit (he seems to be a yard short of pace). However in the final ten minutes we created three half decent openings - but once again there was no one to finish them off.

Still three points and we didn't let in a last minute goal. However if we are to have serious promotion aspitrations we should really see off teams like Torquay. If they had of scored it could have turned into another Doncaster. Bizarrely McFarland was "well pleased" I can only assume this was for the result as the performance left a lot to be desired.

MoM? Well I thought Matt Joseph was an inspiration, although Granville, Craddock and Scotty all played well...

Now do I go to Scarborough (assuming it doesn't get called off)?

SteveJ@AbbeyRabbit

With grateful thanks to Steve Jillings at The Abbey Rabbit for his match report.

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