U's v Crawley

[Habbinalan]

Probably doesn't need it's own thread but we can crawl off into a corner and talk among ourselves whilst the big boys sort out the serious issues of relegation, play-offs, away ticket allocations and managerial moves - although we might get back to that.

With coming of spring, the grass is growing and our ground staff team (especially Ian Darler and Mick Brown) have been getting a bit full of themselves since they saw off Snowmageddon and The Beast from the East. I think they're after an award but here's some inspiration for those that will soon be getting the lawn mower out for the first time this year.

The volunteers (especially Alan Burge and Mick Radford) have had the amber and black (and white) paint pots out as well.

Anyway back to the match - according to the press talk, we have a full squad (including Piero Mingoia and BBB Corr) and are unlikely to see the usual diamond and regular personnel deployed this weekend. However, that might be all bluff and part of the extended Joe Dunne interview for the coach's job next season. I hope that any major use of fringe players is delayed until Morecambe on Monday as I don't want to see it fall apart this afternoon and I don't begrudge Morecambe a few points towards their survival.

What I'd like to see (and there is a chance) would be something like:

Mitov
Taylor, Legge, Taft
Halliday, Deegan, Lewis, Dunk
Waters, Ibhere, Ikpeazu

Subs: Forde, Davies, Carroll, Mingoia, Amoo, Corr, O'Neil

He might go with a flat 442 as I'm sure he'd like to give Amoo/Mingoia a go down the right but perhaps keep that up his sleeve for Morecambe.

I'm not sure what to expect from Creepy after they got turned over by Cheltenham - except there should be a chance they'll go back into their shells and we'll attack all the first half without scoring then concede early in the second before fighting back for a 2-1. My forecast 4-2 to the U's

 

[Casey]

After conceeding goals for fun recently I'm hoping for a zero next to our name. I wouldn't be too downhearted if it was a 0-0 scoreline. I can't see it though.
We do have our first choice centre half's available and I hope that Kewell has learned a lesson about putting square pegs in round holes after Cheltenham demolished us.
I'm hoping Camara will keep his place. He's young and raw but talented and in the absence of a proper forward he is the best we have. He has also scored in the last two games so, unless we have another Harry brain fart, he should be.
I personally would drop Mark Randall. He does have the ability to pick a lovely pass but, as the saying goes, when the going gets tough, he's gone. When teams pressurise us he starts giving the ball away and getting himself out of trouble by playing other people into it. A luxury we can't really afford.

I will be missing the cows today as family commitments keep me away. A shame as I always quite enjoy my visits even if the results don't always go for us.

Casey

 

[Habbinalan]

A
I will be missing the cows today as family commitments keep me away. A shame as I always quite enjoy my visits even if the results don't always go for us.

Casey

I don't think they put the cows on the Common until after Easter.......but just for you

 

[Casey]

An improvement. We only let in three goals today!

Randall and Smith subbed at half time tells you who Kewell thought was to blame but as I said Randall should be dropped and Camara should play (and Harry had it the other way round) I'm going with the person who picked the side as the main culprit.

From having a good defence and a weak attack we now have a weak defence but at least the attack is still rubbish. We need some consistency.

Casey

 

[Habbinalan]

I think Ahearne-Grant would get in our squad and possibly starting 11. Otherwise I was surprised how poor the rest looked for a play-off pushing side.......until I remembered who you were playing all season and where the coach/manager came from..

It looked/played like an U-23 side in the Broadhall Way Stadium Trophy but without the bright sparks up front - just A-G and that c*nt Roberts.

Quite entertaining but largely meaningless.

The weather forecast will keep me off the A1 or M6 on monday. In fact, I'll be surprised if it's on unless Morecambe's beach/pitch has improved since my last visit.

 

[Laker]

I was impressed that Crawley tried to play out from the back but they overplayed far too much in the first half and caused themselves more problems than it was worth. Still refreshing to see a side attempt it. Otherwise, Crawley came across as very lightweight and I can see exactly why some of their fans are on Kewell’s back.

We did a good job today against out of form opposition. Thought Deegan, Maris, Brown and Jabo all looked decent, as well as all of the back 4 (Carroll included!). Was a bit disappointed that O’Neil came on in the second half - was tailor made for Lewis to have half an hour.

Nice to play with the pressure off and it’s a win but difficult to take much more from it.

 

[Habbinalan]

Having seen Harry Kewell's near tearful post-match interview, I now realise that the key to our victory was when the referee confiscated his supply of sandpaper before kick off.