Cambridge United: A «Bridge» Too Far?

Hello friends and I’m happy to bring you my season finale report  which continues with the race for an automatic spot for promotion and our journey in the FA Cup.

April 2014

Before we get into the action here’s a quick look at our finances which have improved vastly from the beginning of the season aided by some excellent attendances at The Abbey Stadium as well as our fabulous cup run.

Transfer News

I have two new players to tell you about which I didn’t in the last update. The first is DMC Pierre Ducasse who we picked up on a free from Bordeaux and was highly recommended by two of my scouts. He actually played in the final game of last month against QPR.

The other is a Youth to Gold prospect, Rui Ferreira, who has spent some time with FC Porto at a salary of £5.00, yes five pounds a week I could hardly say no and was immediately valued at £325,000 after we got him on a free.

The first game of April was a crucial encounter with second place Bolton who got two shots off in the first 30 seconds. It was a taste of things to come as they took the lead after just eleven minutes working the ball into the goal around our statue like defence. Baston though worked his magic and just like that conjured up an equalizer 5 minutes later and the score remained unchanged until half time. Straight from the kick off Walcott races down the left flank and crosses to an unmarked Lopez and it’s 2-1. Poor marking again allowed Bolton to draw level and as they searched for the winner we caught them twice on the counter with goals from Gorman and Gibson before Bolton got another in a frantic end to the game.

The next two league games didn’t go very well at all and effectively killed off any chance of automatic promotion.

FA Cup Semi Final: April 20th 2014

Cambridge United v Stoke City

After two back to back defeats things were looking downright miserable as we headed south for our FA Cup semi-final against Stoke Cityat Wembley. The travelling “U’s” faithful however were in good voice as the biggest game in the clubs history got underway.

Two minutes in and our first attack of the game gave something for the fans to cheer about as Howard Webb produced a red card as Gorius is brought down outside the box and Stoke are down to ten men. The free kick came to nothing but two minutes later Scott Wootten heads in from a corner to give us a dramatic lead. Stoke seem unconcerned at being down to ten men and came up with an equalizer in quick fashion and managed to keep us on the back foot until the half time whistle.

After the break Walcott dashed down the left flank straight from the kick off crosses the ball and there’s Newton to slide it into the back of the net and it’s 2-1. As so often happens the lead is squandered almost immediately as Stoke produce yet another goal soon afterwards as my two CB’s wander off up field even with “stick to position” instructions.

Stoke challenged our defence for the next twenty minutes until Javi Lopez broke away down the right and his through ball found Newton who slipped it into the box for Baston and he smashed the ball passed a sprawling Tim Howard….GOOOAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!

We immediately defended even though there were twenty minutes left and we seemed to have done enough until Stoke conjured up yet another equalizer deep into injury time to send the game into extra time. My lads were exhausted but somehow survived the next thirty minutes that failed to create a winner for either team and so it was on to the dreaded penalty shoot-out.

I couldn’t watch so I went down the tunnel (actually into the garden to water the flowers). I couldn’t tell which way the shoot-out was going but on coming back to the field I saw GK Denis Mehmet take a penalty and score! 7-6 to us!! Up steps Glen Whelan for Stoke – I looked away and then heard a roar from the crowd – it was coming from our end, Whelan had missed and we were in the FA Cup Final!!!!!!

Penalty Shoot-Out

On making it through to the final we received a massive payout.

After yet another fairy tale cup win it was back to the business of promotion to the EPL and with other results not going in our favour it is very much a case of the play offs for us with two games remaining.

Our final two games of the season ended in a 3-1 win at home to Blackpool in which Julien Gorius hit an absolute screamer from 25 yards and Baston was on fire grabbing a brace himself. The final game was a lack lustre effort by the back-up players but thankfully the result really didn’t mean anything in terms of the standings.

Final League Table

So in the end we didn’t get automatic promotion as those two defeats before the FA cup semi-final cost us dearly and therefore we will take on Bolton in the play-off semi –final.

Play Off  Semi-Final First Leg

In front at a packed house at The Abbey stdium we got off to a dramatic start as young Argentine RB Orellana surged into the box and was brought down with Julien Gorius converting the penalty after only two minutes on the clock. Seven minutes later Fernandez finds ML Jacob Walcott unmarked down the left and his telling run ends with a through ball to Baston he smashes the ball into the roof of the net 2-0!

Bolton though quickly get some skin in the game with an unreal goal from a 35 yard free kick which then turns the tide and we find ourselves defending with vigour. Bolton can’t make anyway real headway and just after the half hour we extend our lead with Scott Wootten heading in from a corner. Into the second half and an exhilarating run by Julien Gorius splits the Bolton defence and his shot is straight and true making it 4-1 on the hour mark. Deep into injury time Bolton come up with another unreal free kick goal to cut our advantage to two goals going into the second leg.

Play Off Semi-Final Second Leg

As anticipated Bolton laid siege to our goal right from the kick off and within 15 minutes had the ball in the net from a corner kick. They dominated much of the first half barely allowing us out of our area but a long kick by GK Mehmet caught them completely by surprise and Baston reacted quickly hitting the ball first time to make it 1-1 on the night. Early in the second half Walcott supplied the cross for MR Johnny Gorman to head in the go ahead goal but Bolton soon came up with an equalizer but that was all they could muster and so we ended up 6-4 winners on aggregate and we will be off to Wembley again for an all East Anglian final against Peterborough.

FA CUP FINAL: MAY 17TH 2014

CAMBRIDGE UNITED V MAN UNITED

After a dramatic run through the competition we were in our first ever final in the clubs history and playing the biggest team in the country…Manchester United. This would be our third game in seven days whereas United were fully rested though fearful of our recent performances as they employed a six man defence!

We gave a good account of ourselves in the first half considering Baston and Gorius were completely shut out of the game with both Newton and Shane Williams who had been in the BSP league just a few years ago going close with decent shots on goal. At the other end GK Deniz Mehmat was being kept busy pulling off a string of brilliant saves with both Valencia and Rooney hitting the wood work. At the half it was still 0-0 with everything to play for.

After the interval DMC Sunny got caught in possession of the ball by Rooney who sprinted away and his powerful shot made it 1-0 after 49 minutes. In typical fashion United searched for the second goal but we defended admirably but soon began to suffer from fatigue and held on until the 90th minute when Vertonghen headed in United’s second and that was that.

We had given it our best effort and the only real difference was they had Wayne Rooney and we didn’t. It had been a proud day for the club and came away from Wembley with our heads held high after the game it was formally announced that we had qualified for the Euro Cup next season!

Yet another big pay out for the club!!

Npower Championship: Play Off Final May 25th 2014

Cambridge United v Peterborough

A week later and we were back at Wembley to compete for the right to play in the Premier League next season. After a cagey opening 20 minutes, Sunny who gave away the ball a week earlier played a killer pass to Julien Gorius who neatly placed it in the corner of the net for the opening goal. As happened so much this season we immediately conceded a goal as Peterborough equalized from a corner. The balance of the first half played out as a mid-field battle and it was our opponents who came out in more positive fashion after the interval hitting the woodwork and forcing some fine saves form Mehmet.

The attacking strategy wasn’t working so I switched to a more standard approach and soon enough we were making inroads to the penalty area. Still we couldn’t break the deadlock either but with four minutes remaining we forced a corner that Wootten headed back across the area and youngster Joaquin Angulo on loan from Chelsea forced the ball across the line and it was 2-1. We instantly stacked up the defence that Peterborough could not break down and soon the final whistle went and we had won promotion to the Premier League!!

Board Reaction

Super Sevens

So there we have it, the season is finally over and we can go on a well-earned break before preparing for the EPL and the Euro Cup next season.

It’s going to be an interesting summer as the squad will need to be revamped to play at a higher level domestically and to cope with our first ever time playing in Europe.

I look forward to bringing you that Pre Season report but for now a big thank you to all who have followed this story both old and new and I have much appreciated your comments and support.

Have a great weekend!

Kevin