A
poor performance by United allowed Colchester to ensure their Division
Two survival despite being bottom of the table earlier this season, but
means the U's will have to sweat it out for a while longer to know if
we can do the same. United were denied an early penalty, never got going
on a heavy surface under Colchester's aerial bombardment, and were only
briefly in the game thanks to Trevor Benjamin's ninth goal in ten games.
Roy
McFarland made two changes for today's match, bringing in fit-again left-back
Clive Wilson in place of the suspended Scott Eustace and allowing Marc
Joseph to switch to his more accustomed central defensive duties, and
recalling Tom Youngs from the bench at the expense of Danish winger John
Hansen.
The Layer
Road pitch was very, very wet and passed a late inspection by referee
Mr Leach, but the game kicked off in sunshine. Attacking the away end,
United started brightly and had by far the best of the play without really
threatening Colchester's goal, while the home side relied heavily on the
long hoof forward before scoring twice against the run of play.
In the
16th minute Neil Mustoe won a tremendous 50/50 challenge just inside their
half and the ball spun toward Tom Youngs who robbed a defender and won
a throw-in. Colchester struggled to clear the ball and Marc Joseph's second
cross was met by a glancing header from John Taylor, but the flag was
up for offside. The free-kick from inside the Colchester penalty area
was hoofed upfield by goalkeeper Simon Brown , flicked on by the unmarked
Jason Dozzell to Karl Duguid, who beat the defence and planted a shot
past Lionel Perez.
The gap
widened five minutes later just after Cambridge had good claims for a
penalty ignored by referee Ken Leach. Tom Youngs' cross from the left
looked suspiciously as though it bounced off the arm of Dozzell in the
area, but the former Ipswich man hoofed the ball upfield again, Martin
McNeil's backpass fell short of Perez and Steve McGavin nipped in to convert
the chance. The home fans delighted in a chorus of "Going down, going
down".
With United
going through a nervous spell, in the 31st minute Leach sprung the disintegrating
offside trap but Perez advanced well and forced him wide, allowing the
defence to re-group. Then after United countered in the 38th minute Joseph's
cross was flicked on by Trevor Benjamin to Taylor who mis-hit a poor volley
wide. Two minutes later we should have been back in it after Wilson's
cross was nodded back by Benjamin to Youngs ten yards out and in a central
position, but with the Colchester defence all over the place the youngster
put the ball wide.
In the
42nd minute a Colchester corner was flicked on by Johnson to McGavin who
hooked a shot forward which was smuggled off the line by John Taylor.
Then a minute later Dozzell's 20 yard snap shot was well held low down
by Perez. Ominously United had never really looked like scoring and both
Benjamin and Taylor took heavy knocks late in the half, so Zema Abbey
warmed up during the break. (Half-time 2-0)
Chris Keeble
replaced Karl Duguid after the interval as United had to attack the damp
half of the pitch, and in the 53rd minute he slipped the offside trap
and sliced a shot wide from the edge of the area. A minute later Cambridge
wasted a corner, Colchester broke away and McGavin out-witted McNeil before
looking for Keeble, but Jason Kavanagh stepped in with a vital interception.
Then
in the 53rd minute United scored and had the golden opportunity to get
back into the match. A U's corner looked to have been wasted but Neil
Mustoe fired the ball back in and Trevor Benjamin placed a perfect
header past the 'keeper from eight yards out. It
was his ninth goal in ten games and his 21st of the season.
However
the increasingly nervous-looking defence, struggling to cope with the
aerial barrage without Scott Eustace, barely looked like resisting Colchester's
pressure and four minutes later that good work was undone. Lock found
Keith out wide on the left, his cross was met by Keeble with a stooping
header from about eight yards. It was possibly the only quality move of
the game so far and gave Perez no chance.
In the
61st minute Marc Joseph, once again raiding forward in search of his first
senior goal, saw his 25 yard drive held low down by the 'keeper, and a
minute later Lock beat Kavanagh and Perez advanced well to save at his
feet. Moments later Keith waltzed around Kavanagh but panicked and blazed
a shot wide of goal. Roy McFarland tried to shake things up with a double
change in the 71st minute. Neil Mustoe was replaced by Jon Hunt - possibly
before he was sent off, after a 68th minute caution for unsporting behaviour
- and Zema Abbey entered the fray in place of Tom Youngs.
From then
on it became a question of how many more chances Colchester could create
and squander - which was luckily all of them. In the 78th minute Lock
broke from the half-way line after being released by McGavin, but Perez
saved with his feet. Seconds later Lock was presented with the ball to
his feet by the United defence but again Perez saved well.
John Hansen
replaced Ian Ashbee in the 81st minute as McFarland went for goals and
a minute later Jon Hunt placed a free-kick onto the head of Taylor, but
his looping header was comfortably clutched under the bar by Simon Brown.
United's final chance came in the 91st minute when Benjamin fired a 16
yard effort straight at the 'keeper.
Man
of the Match: Reporter Mark Johnson chose captain Paul Wanless
(left): "One of the few to make no conspicuous errors."
Ref
watch: (K A Leach, Codsall) "Potentially turned the match immediately
before their first goal, missing a handball by Dozzell who then launched
the attack from which they scored. Other than that he made decent allowance
for the soggy conditions and didn't get much wrong." 6/10
Interestingly,
the United party left the dressing room within a few minutes of the final
whistle and boarded the team bus without changing, obviously eager to
get away from Layer Road and re-group for Monday's visit of leaders and
champions-elect Preston North End.
Results
elsewhere were mixed from a U's point of view. Chesterfield were beaten
3-0 at home by Wrexham and are relegated, while Blackpool lost 3-2 at
Bury after a last minute goal by Bury. Scunthorpe lost 1-0 at Preston,
who visit the Abbey on Monday in search of the points to ensure promotion,
Oxford drew at home to Brentford, while Cardiff bounced back from last
weekend's defeat to win 2-1 at Oldham.
Cambridge
United are still on 45 points, four points clear of both Cardiff and Oxford
and with a vastly superior goal difference, although Cardiff have their
game at Gillingham in hand.
Watford boss Graham Taylor was reportedly in the stand to watch Trevor Benjamin.
Results and attendances on Saturday 22nd April 2000
Bristol Rovers 2-0 Bristol City 10,805
Burnley 4-3 Millwall 14,890
Bury 3-2 Blackpool 3,857
Chesterfield 0-3 Wrexham 2,550
Colchester United 3-1 Cambridge United 4,902
Gillingham 2-0 Luton Town 8,667
Oldham Athletic 1-2 Cardiff City 4,549
Oxford United 1-1 Brentford 5,342
Preston North End 1-0 Scunthorpe United 15,518
Stoke City 1-0 AFC Bournemouth 15,022
Wigan Athletic 1-0 Reading 5,855
Bottom of Division Two table
17 Brentford 43 13 12 18 45 56 -11 51
18 Colchester United 43 14 9 20 56 77 -21 51
19 Cambridge United 43 11 12 20 61 61 0 45
20 Cardiff City 42 8 17 17 42 59 -17 41
------------------------------------------------------
21 Oxford United 43 11 8 24 39 70 -31 41
22 Scunthorpe United 43 9 12 22 39 68 -29 39
23 Blackpool 43 7 15 21 44 73 -29 36
24 Chesterfield 43 6 13 24 29 59 -30 31
Colchester finally made absolutely certain of avoiding relegation with only their second win in eight games when they disposed of local rivals Cambridge United.
It was a cut and thrust local derby which hinged on Cambridge's defensive errors in a crucial first half at Layer Road. In 17 minutes Cambridge failed to deal effectively with a long clearance by goalkeeper Simon Brown and Karl Duguid scored at close range.
Five minutes later a poor back pass from Martin McNeil exposed goalkeeper Lionel Perez and Steve McGavin nipped in to score in an empty net - his 16th goal of the season. Cambridge gave themselves some hope when Trevor Benjamin got his 21st goal of the season with a close range header from a Neil Mustoe cross in the 53rd minute.
Colchester sealed the points and a deserved win with a third goal scored by substitute Chris Keeble making a home debut for the injured Duguid. Keeble flung himself full length to head home in great style from a Joey Keith cross.
Colchester United wiped away all their relegation worries by claiming a deserved victory over East Anglian rivals Cambridge in an entertaining encounter at Layer Road. The three points guaranteed Colchester's Division Two status for another season, a notable achievement after being a bottom of the league in November.
Cambridge never got going on a heavy pitch and they gave themselves too much to do after conceding two soft goals inside the first 22 minutes. It left Roy McFarland's men still embroiled in the relegation scrap.
Karl Duguid broke the deadlock in the 17th minute to put Colchester on course for only their second win in the last eight matches. Keeper Simon Brown pumped a huge free-kick from deep inside his penalty area. The ball was flicked on and an unmarked Duguid calmly slotted past keeper Lionel Perez. It was Duguid's 11th goal of the campaign.
Cambridge were ruing their luck on 21 minutes when they were denied a penalty after midfielder Jason Dozzell appeared to handle in the box. Seconds later they were two down following a quick breakaway. It was a terrible mix-up between keeper Perez and defender Martin McNeil which allowed Steve McGavin to nip in and sweep into a gaping net for his 16th of the season.
Cambridge struggled for the remainder of the first half, unable to register any efforts on target, but they were given hope when Trevor Benjamin headed home his 21st of the season in the 53rd minute.
Their joy was short-lived and they were left facing a two-goal deficit again four minutes later when Chris Keeble scored his first league goal. Midfielder Keeble, the son of former Colchester legend Vic Keeble, had appeared as a substitute for Duguid at the start of the second half. The former Ipswich Town reserve player celebrated his home debut by diving at full stretch to head home Joe Keith's superb cross from the left flank.
Cambridge never recovered and Colchester could have added to their tally during the later stages of an absorbing match. Striker Tony Lock twice burst through in the last 20 minutes, but each time was denied by excellent saves from Perez.
Colchester manager Steve Whitton said: afterwards: "It's great to be safe. I'm extremely pleased with the performance and the result."
McFarland said: "We left ourselves with too much to do by being two down at half-time. If we continue to defend like that then we'll have a problem. We've got to pick ourselves up."
THREE mistakes in two minutes decided Cambridge United's fate with three-quarters of this East Anglian derby still to go.
Two were in the United defence where a gift goal gave Colchester a 2-0 lead Roy McFarland's completely off-colour team were never going to get back. The other was in the home (non) penalty area, referee Ken Leach just 10 yards from the incident, somehow ignoring a blatant handball by Jason Dozzell.
John Taylor, the nearest player to the Colchester midfielder as the ball rolled down his arm, appealed loud and long, but in vain. A spot kick then for Taylor might well have levelled the scores after 20 minutes in which United were doing most of the attacking, and altered the course of the game.
But play was allowed to continue, swinging to the other end where goalkeeper Lionel Perez and centre-half Martin McNeil left a harmless cross for each other to deal with. Steve McGavin, who must have thought he had no real chance of getting to the ball, galloped through and took full advantage of the gift horse in the goalmouth.
United were knocked out of their stride, and anyone who had forgotten during the revival of the last couple of months why this campaign has been a relegation battle, was quickly reminded.
The supporters did their duty and came up with a United man of the match, no doubt after considerable discussion. In truth there was no-one worthy of the description.
In the absence of suspended Scott Eustace the defence had neither strength nor cohesion, midfield where Ian Ashbee was hampered by flu-like affects wallowed in the swampy conditions, while the attack was unable to maintain the promising start.
Tom Youngs failed to justify his inclusion in preference to the more natural left-sided midfielder John Hansen, and Trevor Benjamin would not have given Watford watcher Graham Taylor much food for thought. The big striker did however give his side their one chance later in the game to salvage something. But this was developing into a dismal day when they lacked the grit and determination to make the most of it.
Benjamin pulled a goal back with a well-taken header nine minutes into the second half, a strike which must have sowed a seed or two of doubt in the minds of a home team with only one win in their previous seven matches.
United needed to play on that, by keeping things tight and at least holding that scoreline for a while. Instead they were caught pushing up just three minutes later, Colchester restored their two goal advantage from the best move of the match, and United's 1,000 fans were taunted until the final whistle by chants from the blue and white brigade of "you are going down."
It was no consolation that they had the best view of the game. The home side, ripping through a frail, faltering defence spent much of the remaining half an hour or so attacking the goal behind which the amber army were standing, for long spells in silent depression.
Richard Wilkins, an old United hero recently forced by injury into retirement at Layer Road, said he was surprised by the match, in view of the two teams' recent records.
"I expected more from Cambridge," he said. "It was Colchester who had the edge. It looked a bit as though Cambridge thought they were safe, and it affected their game. We (Colchester) could have won by more."
United might have had another goal themselves when Tom Youngs sliced his shot wide in front of goal five minutes before half time. But the Essex men would have doubled their score with a bit more luck and judgement. Taylor cleared a McGavin shot off the goal line two minutes after Youngs' miss, and within seconds Perez had to make a good save from Dozzell.
With Colchester running things during the final half-an- hour Perez made two more saves, in the 61st and 63rd minutes after over-lapping full-back Joe Keith bamboozled Jason Kavanagh. And in the 78th and 79th the French keeper had to be at his higher division best to keep the score down when Tony Lock twice had United's harassed defence in a spin.
Apart from Benjamin's goal, there was only one shot on target from United in the rest of the second half, against a Colchester defence with the second worst record in the Nationwide League, and missing both first choice centre-halves.
FORGET those nagging worries about relegation and those dreaded trips to Exeter, Rochdale and alike. Layer Road will again be blessed with Division Two football next season.
The U's achieved their ultimate goal with three games to spare, a tremendous achievement when considered that they were rock bottom of the table last November. Manager of the season awards usually go to those leading teams to triumphant promotion campaigns. Yet few deserve the Division Two accolade more than U's boss Steve Whitton.
While the likes of Preston and Wigan have big stadiums, big wage bills and big squads, everything at Colchester is scaled down. Avoiding relegation at Layer Road is almost the equivalent of gaining promotion at Deepdale.
The season began with Mick Wadsworth in charge. He stayed for just three more weeks, his own choice, ending up at Newcastle United via Crystal Palace. Wadsworth left the U's in a mess. Glancing at the Division Two table now, the Newcastle coach would no doubt be a little surprised to see his old club in such a healthy position.
Whitton's honeymoon period lasted precisely one game. A 3-2 victory over Reading was followed by a depressing run of 12 games without a win. Gradually, though, Whitton began to turn it around. The recruitment of Gavin Johnson and Steve McGavin were the two master-strokes. Without them, the U's would have been relegated.
Saturday's glorious win over Cambridge United, the result that finally put the U's out of reach of the bottom four, was an outstanding team effort. And it again proved the value of both Johnson and McGavin, the former for his defensive qualities and the latter for his goal-scoring prowess. The player-of-the-season contest at Layer Road will be the closest in years.
Cambridge, battling against relegation themselves, were brimming with confidence on the back of just one defeat from their previous seven away games. Yet that confidence soon began to drain away on a pudding of a pitch. Karl Duguid broke the deadlock with his 11th goal of the season in the 17th minute. The U's frontrunner, a good advert for the Layer Road youth system, pounced on McGavin's flick-on from Simon Brown's huge free-kick. Cambridge's defence was all at sea, but Duguid's finish was still top quality, planting the ball in the far corner of the net with the minimum of fuss.
The result was virtually decided by two incidents within a dramatic 60 seconds. First, the ball appeared to brush Jason Dozzell's arm as he endeavoured to clear a cross from inside the U’s penalty area. Some referees would have pointed to the spot. Referee Ken Leach, who had a good game, waved play on. The action switched to the other end and suddenly, thanks to a terrible mix-up between keeper Lionel Perez and defender Martin O'Neil, the U’s were two-up.
While Perez and O’Neil dithered, the wily McGavin nipped in to sweep the loose ball into a gaping net. It was a predator's finish. McGavin, the king of predators at Layer Road, has now notched 16 goals this season, an outstanding record. Saturday’s effort was the 50th league goal of his career. It also makes him the U's highest league goalscorer in a season for 15 years (Tony Adcock netted 24 in the 1984-85 season).
Cambridge, so bright in the opening minutes, were stunned. Former Mildenhall schoolboy Tom Youngs, back in the side after injury, missed a sitter on 40 minutes when slicing a shot wide from 10 yards out. But that was Cambridge's only serious scoring chance of the first half.
Whitton's men, playing some attractive football, could have been out of sight before the interval. John Taylor cleared a McGavin overhead kick off his goal-line, while Perez was equal to Dozzell's low drive.
The visitors sensed a comeback when Trevor Benjamin headed home Neil Mustoe's cross in the 53rd minute. It was his 21st goal of the campaign. Their joy was short-lived. Chris Keeble, who had replaced Duguid (feeling ill) for the start of the second half, was crowned the unlikeliest of heroes just four minutes after Benjamin's strike.
Former Ipswich Town reserve midfielder Keeble dived to head home Joe Keith's exquisite cross from the left flank. It was the perfect way to celebrate his home debut.
It was a very, very disappointing performance. In the first half Colchester simply looked a class above us, they passed the ball quickly and well, their players had the confidence to do things with the ball while the U's simply lumped it forward very poorly. For all that, the second goal was a huge turning point as it was a blatant handball in the Colchester box right under the ref's nose (Col U fans at half-time were as staggered by it as I was) and they proceeded to score at our end when the ball was cleared. And what a terrible goal it was ... McNeil with the ball at his feet, Perez near him, a lack of effective communciation and it was left to the Colchester forward to nip in for the simplest goal he'll ever score. Hard to know who to blame, Perez is the experienced guy, but to my mind if you are a centre back with the ball at your feet on your own penalty spot, uncertain if your keeper can get there, then you are in the best position to deal with the situation by hammering the ball away.
The second half was much better in an attacking sense, a few moves were created and the goal was an excellent one - but we never looked like getting through the half without conceding further goals.
I felt Roy should have changed things very, very early in the game - Colchester appeared to have three up front for much of the first half, our wide players were not involved at all, and I would have switched to 4-3-3 after about 20 minutes, pulling the frustrated Mustoe in with Wanless and Ashbee, and pushing Youngs up front. Also, it appeared in the second half that Kavanagh was struggling for fitness and something should have been done about that as he was getting a total chasing down the right.
Player by player:
Perez: Some great moments again but his kicking was off the boil and you have to wonder about his role in the crucial second goal
Kavanagh: Struggled all afternoon. He and Mustoe didn't seem to know how to deal with their flank at all
Wilson: Okay for a first game back I suppose
Joseph: Displayed confidence on the ball on numerous occasions but I can't really judge his defensive contribution as we were in such a mess that it was hard to apportion blame.
McNeil: Seemed to do fairly well, but ouch ... that second goal
Wanless: An average Wanless day
Ashbee: Tireless but nothing seemed to really come off for a player capable of so much more
Youngs: Fairly anonymous
Mustoe: Struggled with the wide role, not surprisingly
Benjamin: I thought the effort was there, he scored a good goal and had a good turn and shot right at the final whistle. I felt he suffered a lot at the hands of one of those refs who has one rule for Benjamin and another for his markers
Taylor: Tried hard, had a few moments but also found himself in several situations where his 36 year old lack of pace showed up badly
SUBS: Abbey: Won a number of good headers
Hunt: The class is evident, the commitment questionable
Hansen: Some good touches, I want this man in the starting eleven. He gives us something different to any of our other players.
This game kicked off in very wet conditions, though the sun shone on the Essex side's ground. Dave Blacknall and his team worked wonders after an early morning deluge had left the game in doubt. Groundstaff estimate that 200 gallons of water was removed from the pitch during the morning but at kick-off certain areas were certainly more than damp!
The U's kicked off towards the shallow end (Clock End) and the first fifteen minutes were pretty nondescript and certainly showed nothing of the excitement to come. Jason Dozzell returned to the side in place of Efe Sodje who was away with the Nigerian International squad. KK Opara replaced Jamie Moralee on the bench. Cambridge had former U's player John Taylor (now aged 102) up front alongside the prolific Trevor Benjamin while Lionel Perez played in goal whilst on loan from Newcastle.
It was Cambridge who had the first serious effort on goal, Taylor's header well saved by Brown. Minutes later the U's, with the first real chance, opened the scoring thanks to Karl Duguid who sidefooted past Perez. Controversy reigned five minutes later when Jason Dozzell clearly handballed in the Cambridge area. While the Cambridge fans howled for a penalty (and it was), the U's broke quickly via Tony Lock. The move seemed to have come to end with the ball heading for Perez but McGavin stole in between the French keeper who had his hair done by Lionel Buffoon especially for today's game, and the hesitant Cambridge defender.
The U's were now rampant, and it was all Colchester after that. Karl Duguid whip a cross-cum-shot across the box, whilst even David Gregory managed a half-hearted shot. Once again, indecision at the back let in Tony Lock who attempted to round Perez, but the former Sunderland man just got a hand to the ball, Joe Dunne's resultant shot well saved shortly after. It was a confident U's who went into the break 2 nil up. The defence was looking secure with Gavin Johnson marking Taylor well, while McGavin, Lock and Duguid were causing the Cambridge back line all sorts of problems with snazzy passing, intricate footwork and clever running off the ball. For a change - the U's fully deserved their 2-0 half-time lead.
The second half saw a change by the U's - Chris Keeble coming on for Karl Duguid who had presumably picked up a knock in the first half. Again the U's started well. Tony Lock firing over from wide whilst Chris Keeble also showed his attacking intentions with a shot wide. Then a goal from Cambridge - Benjamin losing his marker to head home Mustoe's pinpoint cross. How would the U's react? Well, in the best possible way. Keeble met Joe Keith's delightful cross to power a head past Perez. It was the best move of the match without doubt, and will I'm sure look good on the telly!
Again, could the U's hold on. Despite the boggy conditions this was a terrific game and you always felt that there were more goals in it. The U's were almost going through the Cambridge defence at random, Lock and Keeble both guilty of missing good chances, though Perez did save from Lock's best opportunity. The introduction of Keeble led to that rare sight at Layer Road this season - a midfielder who was prepared to get into positions in advance of the front men, and it was proving difficult for Cambridge to get to grips with a player who scored his first professional goal. Meanwhile, at the other end, there were a few scary moments for the U's, John Taylor heading over and Marc Joseph having a long range shot smothered by the confident Brown. There was a final scare in the last minute for Colchester as Benjamin got through but Brown saved Benjamin's weak shot that was straight at him.
There was a tremendous sigh of relief over the ground when referee Leach blew for full-time to signal that the U's will be playing 2nd Division football in the next season. A terrific achievement after the first 3 months of the campaign!
Conclusion
Three goals, good entertainment and survival in this division. What more could you ask for in an Easter break. Who in October would have thought that the U's would secure 2nd Division football with 3 games to go. I'll admit, I didn't but it's full praise to Steve Whitton, the players and his coaching staff that we can look forward to stuffing Wycombe again next season. Here's to another trip to Adams Park.
MOTM - Gavin Johnson
(c) Copyright colchesterunited.com 2000 and reproduced by permission
Then
in the 53rd minute United scored and had the golden opportunity to get
back into the match. A U's corner looked to have been wasted but Neil
Mustoe fired the ball back in and Trevor Benjamin placed a perfect
header past the 'keeper from eight yards out. It
was his ninth goal in ten games and his 21st of the season.
Man
of the Match: Reporter Mark Johnson chose captain Paul Wanless
(left): "One of the few to make no conspicuous errors."