Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Kenny Pogue grabbed his first goal since the opening week of the season, and Aaron Parris scored on his senior debut, as United brought an end to a six match winless sequence with a League Cup second round victory away to Division One South side Sittingbourne this evening.

Pogue struck in first half stoppage time, his twelve yard shot looping agonisingly into the back of the net via Brickies' keeper Tim Roberts flailing arm. Parris then sealed the win a minute into added time at the end of the ninety minutes, seizing upon Lee Carey's mishit shot and sliding home, despite Lee Paine's best efforts to steal his Youth Team colleague's glory and snatch the final touch.

On a typically chilly night at Bourne Park, the contest almost ended before it had even begun, with part of the pitch plunged into darkness by a floodlight failure after all of fifty-three seconds. Mercifully for the eighty-six hardy souls in attendance, the delay was kept to a minimum, with the home side making all the running after the resumption.

Aided by some hesitant defending, which at times bordered on the suicidal, Sittingbourne could have been out of sight inside twenty-five minutes, but new United keeper Matt Armstrong-Ford made a couple of fine saves, and was able to watch several other decent chances fly high and wide, on his way to a debut clean sheet.

In amongst the one-way traffic, Jamal Fenelon did get in two attempts at the other end, the second of which was blocked into the path of Ryan Thomson, whose first time shot rebounded to safety off an upright. Early in the second half, the hosts clipped the crossbar, but they generally continued to be waste the opportunities that came their way.

It wasn't until the final twenty minutes that the U's  managed to get in on the act, with Fenelon, Carey and Fred Foreman all missing the target from promising positions, but it was refreshing to see a greater directness in United's play, a change of emphasis that brought them their most dominant period of the game. Parris' late strike gave the scoreline a touch of gloss that the visitors scarcely deserved, but Sittingbourne only had themselves to blame, their own profligate finishing essentially gifting United their passage into the third round.

Under 18s right back Charlie Elgar impressed on his First Team debut, while former Exeter City keeper Armstrong-Ford looked suitably composed on his first appearance for the Club, albeit that he had a huge helping hand from his opponents and their wayward finishing. But the U's got their week of cup ties off to a successful start nonetheless, good preparation for Saturday's rather more financially important FA Trophy trip to Bedfont Town.

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Attendance: 86

Referee: Keith Yeo (Aveley)

Assistants: Chris Myatt (Dartford) & Adam Miller (Southend)