Pathetic fallacy strikes The Abbey as Cambridge United’s mistakes are punished by Gillingham

Do you remember your GCSE English lessons? If so, you’ll likely remember being taught about pathetic fallacy.

For those of you who’ve forgotten, pathetic fallacy is a literary term for attributing human emotions to aspects of nature, usually the weather. For example, a sad or depressed mood being reflected in torrential rain or a thunderstorm.

This was exactly what happened at The Abbey on Tuesday night, where Cambridge United fell to a self-inflicted 2-0 defeat against Gillingham.

Although pre-match optimism was high due to the U’s impressive results in recent weeks, this was somewhat dampened by the heavy rain and blustery wind that struck East Anglia shortly before kick-off. As the game progressed, the weather worsened, as did Cambridge’s performance.

Possibly for the first time this season, there was a unanimous expectation that Mark Bonner’s side should be winning a League One football match. Gillingham, who were sat in 19th before the game, were labelled as the division’s draw specialists after recording three 1-1 draws in their last four games.

An injury crisis saw them field a makeshift defence and an unfilled bench, with star-man Jack Tucker also unavailable after picking up his fifth yellow card of the season away at Oxford United last weekend. As a result, the hosts shifted to a more attack-minded approach. Gone was the 4-3-3 that had proven so successful in the absence of Wes Hoolahan as the U’s lined up in a 4-4-2 formation.

This has generally been a system that Cambridge has avoided. After all, the last time they played with two strikers in a league game, they were beaten 5-1 in their own backyard. There would need to be a huge improvement from that performance. Avoiding conceding a goal within the opening two minutes of the game, as they had done in their last two home fixtures, would go a long way towards doing that.

Despite an early scare, the U’s managed to keep the scores level for longer than 120 seconds. This time, it took them 26 minutes to fall 1-0 behind.

Robbie McKenzie’s long ball was flicked on by the head of John Akinde, with neither George Williams, Lloyd Jones or Dimitar Mitov moving to clear it. Instead, Vadaine Oliver capitalised in their statuesque defending, running across goal to latch onto the ball and slide it through the legs of Mitov.

While the early goals conceded at the hands of Lincoln City and Fleetwood Town may have been more humiliating, this was a far more avoidable moment of madness and one that comes as a surprise from one of the stronger defensive outfits in the division.

While Cambridge’s frailty at the back was being exploited, their attacking efforts were shown as lacklustre at best. Despite playing two strikers, both Joe Ironside and Sam Smith were left detached from the midfield four and devoid of service upfront.

Shilow Tracey and James Brophy, usually so effective at threatening in wide areas, looked unsure of where to make their runs. Both were forced to play much more narrowly than they would like due to Gillingham’s rigid shape when out of possession. To contrast that of the hosts, their defending was immense.

Perhaps the most important aspect of the game came in central midfield. Bonner opted to drop in-form Adam May, fresh off his goal and Man of the Match performance against Fleetwood on Saturday afternoon. Instead, Liam O’Neil partnered captain Paul Digby in the centre of the park, where they were completely overrun by Gillingham’s midfield trio of Daniel Adshead, Alex MacDonald and Kyle Dempsey.

In fact, it was the U’s skipper who was at fault for the second goal. Digby took possession in midfield, noticing Williams making a run up the flank from right-back. His pass was undercooked and easily intercepted by Danny Lloyd, who powered his way through on goal before striking a powerful shot into the top left corner of the net.

At 2-0 down after an hour, it already felt like the game was over.

It never felt like Cambridge were going to break down Gillingham’s unyielding shape. The visitors nullified the hosts’ threat in wide areas and gave them little space to progress into the final third of the pitch.

It’s hard to argue that Bonner’s side deserved anything from the game, but the U’s head coach was left furious that Brophy wasn’t awarded a penalty for what he believed to be a clear foul in the penalty area. His frustration over refereeing decisions has become more noticeable, having claimed that Cambridge deserved a penalty in each of their last two games, neither of which were given.

However, Bonner made it clear that he didn’t believe his side did enough to take anything from the game. Perhaps if Hoolahan was fit, the result would’ve been different. It felt as if the hosts needed much more creative impetus through the middle, someone who could split Gillingham’s defence with a single pass and provide service to Ironside and Smith up top.

It also creates concern about their attacking output. Before Tuesday’s game, Cambridge were one of just six sides in the entirety of the Football League to score in every league game this season. With that streak now having ended, attention may turn to their woeful expected goals (xG) ratio, although the U’s head coach has claimed he isn’t concerned about the statistic.

Many fans were left frustrated at the decision to play a 4-4-2 and at Bonner’s decision to persevere with the system rather than make a change earlier in the game. Speaking to Prost International, he explained whether or not he had any regrets about his side’s formation.

“Everyone will say it’s the wrong option because we lost. In this job, you’re right if you win and you’re wrong if you lose. We can play that system and we know it works for us. If we defend properly and don’t give them the chance, we create plenty of opportunities from that.

“I don’t think across the board we had enough good performances. I don’t think any of us hit the levels that we perhaps did on Saturday, and therefore that’s the reason that we lost it.

“But you can pin it on one thing or you can pin it on lots of things, and for me there’s a whole host of reasons as to why the game didn’t go for us tonight. That might be one of them, but it wouldn’t be the only one.”

Ultimately, Cambridge did revert to their usual 4-3-3 formation midway through the second half, but the damage had already been done by this point. Jack Lankester was introduced in place of Brophy but was pressed so far back when in possession that often he ended up inside his own half.

May and Jensen Weir were both brought on in midfield, however, they didn’t have enough time to change the balance of the game. It left many scratching their heads as to why the former was dropped from the lineup after his stellar performances in recent matches.

Bonner has been criticised by some fans for his late, or lack of, substitutions, but the U’s head coach told Prost International that he wasn’t tempted to make a change at half-time. The intention was always to introduce Lankester after the hour mark, but at that point, his side had just fallen two goals behind.

The defeat provides a steep learning curve for Cambridge, who now have three days to prepare for their next game away at Crewe Alexandra after their League One reality check.

Bonner is keen for his side to follow a similar path to that of the Railwaymen, who secured a 12th place finish in League One last season after winning promotion from the fourth tier in the previous campaign. Their performances so far this season have been considerably less impressive following a high turnover in players over the summer, with David Artell’s side still sat in the relegation zone.

However, their 1-1 draw away at in-form Plymouth Argyle has shown that they’re an incredibly resilient side who won’t go down without a fight. Their upcoming game against Cambridge may not be one of the more glamorous fixtures in League One but will be crucial in both sides’ efforts to stay up.

Crewe will see the tie as a winnable one, especially being at home, and will know that three points could take them nearer to escaping the bottom four. They’ll be a confident side after taking points off the high-flying Pilgrims, and will believe they can do the same on Saturday.

Cambridge, on the other side, are in a much more positive position. The U’s sit in 15th, four points above the drop zone and five off the play-offs with a game in hand against rock-bottom Doncaster Rovers. However, with a nightmarish run of games coming up, they’ll need to start picking up points now or face getting dragged towards the bottom end of the table.

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