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It's a tame Trophy exit as usual - 3/11/07

A much changed United side failed to provide the desired response to the midweek mauling by Ramsgate, as a gift-wrapped first half goal allowed Uxbridge to end the visitors' FA Trophy interest at a typically early stage. Despite having the majority of the possession and goalscoring chances, United simply failed to show sufficient quality in the final third of the pitch to break down their obdurate hosts, and Dan Williams costly error helped set up Mark Nicholls for the decisive goal in the twenty-sixth minute.

United manager Nigel Kane had promised wholesale changes in the wake of Tuesday's soporific performance, and made five amendments to his starting line-up, one enforced by Tom Poole's hamstring injury. Ade took his place back alongside Sam Adams in attack, with Danny Ellis keeping his place and starting in his free role just off the front two, which had been so effective at Edgware in the previous round. There was no place in midfield for Tim Olorunda or Scott Kirkwood, the latter omitted from the sixteen man squad, as John Bradley returned to partner Lee Carey in the centre, while the defence was completely overhauled, with Jimmy Elford returning from Futsal duty, Kevin Rose included, and Dan back from an ankle injury that had kept him out for five matches. Rhys Whyborne dropped to the bench, where he was joined by young Matt Darby, but there was surprisingly no place for skipper Sean Ray, keeper Lee Worgan deputising as captain. Going into the game lying fifth in the BGB Southern League South & West Division, Uxbridge were far from a one man team, although the majority of their creative work was channeled through eventual matchwinner Nicholls, an ex-professional who started his playing career by making thirty-six appearances for Chelsea in the mid-1990s, but had long since drifted into the non-league game. Whilst undeniably talented, Nicholls was also rather too eager to display the temperamental and graceless sides to his character throughout the contest, although his understanding with nine goal leading scorer and lone striker Lee Tunnell was more than enough to keep United honest at the back.

After playing out four consecutive matches without a caution to either side, it took barely ninety seconds for the first glimpse of yellow at Honeycroft, Uxbridge midfielder Wayne Carter booked for a late tackle on Lee Carey. United were quickly in the ascendancy, with Danny Ellis cutting in from the left and forcing the first save out of giant keeper Rob Bullivant, while Sam sliced a shot high and wide after running onto Ade's flick from Lee Worgan's long clearance. At the other end, the home side's first sight of goal came from a break by the lively Tunnell, but Kevin was well placed to clear ahead of Danny Yeoman at the far post, but it was United who were doing most of the attacking, and Ian Dickens, Jorden Oldham and Mark Dennison all bravely threw themselves in front of close range shots in an effort to protect Bullivant's goal from the clear threat posed by Sam and Ade. By contrast, United's defending looked somewhat less secure, while their attempts to knock the ball about from deep positions, although entirely praiseworthy, became increasingly fraught with danger, as Uxbridge gradually started to commit men forward from the congested midfield area to put pressure on the ball. It was a tactic that would ultimately win them the game, as Yeoman intercepted Dan's pass to Russell by the left hand corner of the United area, and crossing at the second attempt for the unmarked Nicholls to sweep a low shot past Lee Worgan from near the penalty spot, Lee getting a strong hand to the ball, but only able to push it into the corner of the net. It was the home side's only genuine attempt on goal in the entire first half, although Yeoman forced Lee to awkwardly tip over a misdirected cross from the right a few minutes later, while the same player also missed his kick after a dangerous cross from Nicholls found him in space in the area. In between those two incidents, United had strong penalty appeals waved away, when Sam beat Bullivant to Kevin's long ball and was felled by the keeper's thigh-high challenge with studs raised, and Bullivant was then lucky to escape after fumbling a well struck Danny Ellis shot, with Dennison quickest to react to the loose ball. The keeper did redeem himself with a fine save with his legs after Ade had broken clear down the left, ensuring that United would remain a goal down against the run of play at the interval.

The one-way traffic continued at the start of the second half, with United having switched to a 4-4-2 formation, to which Uxbridge offered a token response in kind by pushing the largely immobile Nicholls into a more advanced position. Lee Carey curled an early free kick onto the roof of the net, before Ade was denied by Dave Thomas' excellent block after turning past Oldham in the area. From the ensuing corner, Kevin looped a shot over the bar, and then Sam saw a shot deflected across the face of goal and just out of Ade's reach. The home side enjoyed a good five minute spell around the hour mark, with Lee Worgan having to race out of his area to prevent Tunnell from reaching Nicholls' astute through ball, while the striker then almost took advantage of Kevin's indecision over a Thomas long ball, and followed up by dragging a shot just wide after Nicholls headed on Oldham's free kick. Full back Ian Dickens collected the game's second caution for a disgraceful challenge on John that might easily have earned him a red card from a stronger referee, while Tim was later rightly booked for lunging in at Thomas, and Tommy Howe for a foul on Tim in the closing stages. One of United's better moves saw Russell Eldridge and Lee Carey combine to set up Sam for a powerful volley that was painfully blocked by Dennison, whereas Tunnell was again more wasteful, dragging another shot across the face of goal and wide after being released by Carter's long ball. As United pushed forward in the final ten minutes, Uxbridge curiously reacted by bringing on an extra striker and committing more men to attack than at any other time in the game, but it almost paid dividends, as Lee Worgan carelessly conceded possession outside his own area, bit managed to recover his ground to brilliantly paw away Yeoman's twenty yard shot. Lee Carey moved onto the left flank for the final fifteen minutes and at last provided some quality crosses, with United having previously served up a series of hanging deliveries that had been confidently plucked out of the air by Bullivant. The keeper did well to smother a close range shot from Ade, before producing his save of the match deep in added time, scrambling away Ade's glancing header for a corner, then watching on as Ade and Lee Worgan got in each other's way from Russell's inswinging delivery. Lee was back between the posts to block Tunnell's angled shot with virtually the last kick of the game, although his largely outstanding display had once again been unable to inspire United to greater things on the day.

This week has perhaps seen two instances of history repeating itself, it being easy to draw comparisons between early season defeats at Tonbridge and Billericay in today's reverse and Tuesday's at Ramsgate. The obvious difference was that United won their two home games between those August setbacks, a luxury not afforded them in their present six match run of away matches, which finally concludes at Lewes in the Sussex Senior Cup on Wednesday evening, before Leyton visit the Pilot Field next weekend, the day of the "Get Your Kits Out For The Lads" promotion.

Match facts	Efforts on target	Efforts off target	Free kicks conceded	Corners won	Offsides against
Uxbridge	4	4	13	4	6
Hastings United	12	4	18	7	3

Uxbridge (4-5-1)							Hastings United (3-5-2)
1 Rob Bullivant							1 Lee Worgan (c)
2 Ian Dickens							2 Danny Spice
3 Dave Thomas							3 Jimmy Elford
4 Jim Pritchard							4 Dan Williams
5 Jorden Oldham							5 Kevin Rose
6 Mark Dennison							6 John Bradley
7 Tommy Howe							7 Danny Ellis
8 Wayne Carter							8 Lee Carey
9 Lee Tunnell							9 Ade Olorunda
10 Mark Nicholls (c)							10 Sam Adams
11 Danny Yeoman							11 Russell Eldridge
Substitutes
12 Chris Drake (for Pritchard 74)							12 Matt Maclean (for Bradley 81)
14 Jake Parsons (for Nicholls 90)							14 Tim Olorunda (for Spice 73)
15 Nathan Stamp (for Yeoman 90)							15 Rhys Whyborne
16 Mark Weedon							16 Matt Darby
17 Scott Tarr							GK Jani Seitsonen

Attendance 142

Referee Mr A Parker

Assistants Messrs P Georgiou & P Stevens