After a frustrating few weeks, United are ready to reset — and Saturday’s home clash against Chelmsford City would be an ideal time to do it. We sat down with defender Ed Palmer to preview Saturday’s match.
Looking ahead to the challenge posed by Chelmsford City, Palmer expects a demanding afternoon at Plainmoor. “It will be a tough, physical game on Saturday,” he says, pointing to the qualities of the visitors. “They’ve got some good individual players.”
United have been on the end of numerous away trips and have most recently suffered injuries to key members of the squad. Tuesday night’s performance against Worthing looked to be setting the team up for three points before incident and injury handed the impetus to their promotion rivals. “The performance levels haven’t really been there — bar Tuesday night at Worthing, where we were much better,” Palmer admits. “We’ve had a few injuries now, so I think it’s time for individuals to step up — myself included.”
Palmer has come into the starting eleven recently and, with games coming thick and fast, will play an important role in what United can achieve this season. A graduate of United’s youth system, Palmer has a special place in the Yellow Army’s affections, something that manifests itself in a song dedicated to United’s number 16. What does Ed make of the song the Yellow Army have made for him? “It’s bang on, really. I love it, I love hearing that. Hopefully it will be nice and loud on Saturday.” He adds: “The Yellow Army’s support is massive, especially at home. It’s down to us to get them going, but once they get going it helps massively. We have the best fans in the league.”
With injuries to Jordan Dyer and Sam Dreyer, Ed is well aware of his role within the squad. “I know my role, and part of that is backing the lads up, keeping them on their toes, and doing whatever I can to help — and obviously keeping myself ready for times like these.”
Palmer will most likely have a new centre-back partner on Saturday in the shape of new loan signing Will Tizzard from Sutton United. “I’ll chat to him to make him feel welcome and let him know what he can expect from the crowd. I’m sure we’ll sit down as a defensive group and go over things.”
Looking at the bigger picture, Palmer remains positive about what lies ahead. “We’ve shown we’ve got one of the best squads in the league,” he says. “There are 13 games left over not a long period of time. We’re a tight group, we all get on really well, and we know what we’ve got to do. Together with the fans, we can still achieve something special. It’s one game at a time. Saturday’s really important, and every game just gets more important from here.”
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