Around 700 spectators left the stadium prior to Tranmere’s fifth goal and didn’t return last night. Hence, merely 2,367 saw the U’s make a mockery of Yeovil’s unbeaten in 2013 promotion chasing status. It is a shame that a town approaching a 200,000 population can’t muster more support for its local club, given that the U’s still have so much to play for, and on this evidence are far from doomed.
Joe Dunne should take credit for some bold selection and tactical decisions. However, Tom Eastman coming in for the rather unfortunate Josh Thompson was an expected shoe-in. Tom performed magnificently and his own calamitous performance at MK Dons is long forgotten. His pairing with Okuonghae introduced a solidity that has sadly been lacking in recent games, and that encouraged Magnus to have his best game for a while. One hopes that Josh will similarly regain confidence and bounce back. He is perhaps the future, once he gains a little more experience, but I don’t think we can better last night’s central defence pairing given that mutual confidence and understanding is vital. If you count our few clean sheets, it is this, TE/MO combination, that has brought us most success.
More surprising was the absence of John White and David Wright from our previous starting XI. Both were in the squad, but didn’t even make the bench. Instead Brian Wilson returned and he too had his best game for many months. Garmstone was preferred at left back and didn’t disappoint in either defence or attack, particularly when he made Freddie Sears fine second half goal. This perhaps lays down a marker for Joe Dunne’s selection policy. That nobody should ever be complacent. Few would have predicted John White’s absence, as most fans felt he was one of the few to emerge with any credit on Saturday. However, Joe is a deep thinker and I think should here take credit for some selection and tactical brilliance.
This may surprise many, but I feel the principle Joe Dunne genius (IMHO) was the selection of Andy Bond. Andy has looked like a lost child in a car park in recent times, and I must confess that I winced at his selection. But last night Bond put in an inspiring performance within a team that had both a midfield heartbeat and guts when required. The U’s adopted a far more direct, if in danger hoof it out, and if in attack get the ball forward faster, approach. This perhaps recognises that we don’t have quite the midfield passing and ball retention skills that we once thought we had to counter a side with the fluidity of a Yeovil or Swindon, but we do have pace in Massey, Sears, Porter and Garmstone, and the sheer muscle power of Jabo Ibrehe. Andy Bond comfortably found his role within this tactical change, but he perhaps won’t get the credit that he deserves (except from me) given the excellence of so many others on the night. He linked well with both Billy Clifford and with our pace men, he ran after and harassed the Yeovil Midfield and this looked like a distinctly different U's team, including a revitalised Andy Bond. As I said, he was overshadowed in glory by some eye catching peformances, notably from our two goal scorers. But credit where it is due.
Quite evidently, the skill in management is to decide when to select ‘playmakers’ like Garmstone, Bean or Drey Wright, when to select ‘spoilers’ like White, Izzet and David Wright, and/or the right combination of each to meet the challenge faced. But there are also times when we simply need to get back to basics, and select players in the Andy Bond, Brian Wilson or Karl Duiguid mould, where honest work rate and endeavour can prevail over skill, which to be fair to Yeovil, they had in abundance. This is not to say that we saw ‘hoofroydball’ as it was far more about the speed of ball transfer from defence to attack. However, it wouldn’t surprise me to see a slightly different team selection against the ruffians of Stevenage where with more guile we might possibly succeed by a different route. I can’t wait for Saturday to come.
For once we also didn’t seem to want to walk the ball into the net. On Sunday, Messrs Hanson and Shearer were drooling after a wonder strike by Gareth Bale. It’s a shame that Billy Clifford’s amazing run and precise shot won’t ever feature on Match of the Day. Not since the days of a Greg Halford thunderbolt have we seen anything like it. More generally, we seemed prepared to shoot from further out and Yeovil keeper Stech was frequently tested. To be fair, no more so than Sam Walker, who made some equally outstanding saves as Yeovil contributed to an enthralling night’s entertainment. Those who stayed away missed a treat. Please come back soon. We can do this!