Cod Almighty | Match Stats
Saturday 15 October 2016
Division 4
Cambridge United 0
Grimsby Town 1 Berrett (26)
Attendance: 5121 (1149 away fans)
It wasn't one of those games. Everyone was sort of all right in their own way, while showcasing little glimpses of their footballing mortality. Berrett was effective, as he wasn't required to get stuck in too much, but if you insist on a name to garnish with garlands: Zak! Mills. We didn't miss Davies, which answers your next query.
"Very pleased today. It's not very often that I am, but I have to say that I thought the performance was excellent... We defended their changes well, and still probably had two good chances to put the game to bed."
"I think when you're looking at the key parts of the game, we've had three (chances), they've had two. I'd say Grimsby were smarter in their play than we were, but we had the better opportunities."
Well, Town beat what was in front of them. And Cambridge were docile, flaccid opponents who mostly just stood in front of Town's fashionable twisted Christmas tree 4-2-3-1 formation. Which was nice.
Mills's crosses were rotten, but his barrel-chested defending was excellent, while the central defenders proved they could head the ball. Omar was largely annoying, in one of his Mr Big-Time moods, while Vose flattered and flickered. Jackson ran down the wing for an hour, without doing anything but occupying their time and space. Perhaps this was simply a pawn sacrificed by the Short One. Berrett was at ease with his freedom to roam.
The only danger occurred when the ball was flung to the far post where Andrew, especially, and Mills, occasionally, were outjumped. But McKeown had clean hands and clean knees and Town have a clean conscience. A simple tactical victory by fair means, not foul.
Should they shout, should they scream, what happened to their play-off dreams? Oh Derry, Derry what have you done? They had absolutely nothing of note or interest anywhere. Some of their players didn't look like professional athletes, and their tactics weren't even bog-standard Conference.
They really had no personality, style or substance; they were simply on the pitch in the requisite number of shirts. Deserved amber boos for the amber boots. On this showing, lower 12th if they are lucky.
Ninety-four-minute party people.
Mr C Breakspear (Surrey)
What a fine fellow he was, barely a squeak to pip here. All decisions present and correct, nothing mad, bad or dangerous to know. He once got in the way of Tombola. There you are – an imperfection found using an electron miscroscope and a ouija board. This pope of the peep gets a solid gold 8.899.
Mundane muddlers muffled by a conga line of competence.
In a word: chess
Cambridge United: Gregory, Halliday, Legge, Roberts, Taylor (Clark h/t), Mingoia, Berry, Dunne (Newton 58), Dunk, Williamson (Pigott 64), McGurk
Subs not used: Coulson, Gosling, Iron, Long
Booked: Clark, Dunne, Roberts
Town: McKeown; Mills, Gowling, Collins, Andrew; Jackson (Bolarinwa 69), Comley (Disley 70), Summerfield, Berrett, Vose (Tuton 90+1); Bogle
Subs not used: Browne, Henderson, Pearson, Vernon
Booked: Tuton