Cambridge United — Closing out 2015

Hello friends and welcome back to my continuing Cambridge United story which last time out saw us end October on a high with a 5-1 thumping of Blackpool. Let’s see if we could continue that kind of form despite all the dressing room turmoil of late.

November

The first game of the month saw another East Anglian derby with a trip to Portman Road to take on second place Ipswich Town. A very tough encounter saw both sides create and squander chances and after falling behind early in the second half we came up with an equalizer from the penalty spot converted by RB Marcelo Canteros. A draw was a fair result and I was happy with the point.

Our second game was an equally as difficult encounter as Nott’m Forest visited The Abbey Stadium and were in third place in the standings. Danish striker Jacob Plambech gave the Forest defence a torrid time in the opening thirty minutes but their Northern Ireland GK Lee Camp was stopping everything being fired at the goal. Forest though took the lead with some slick passing and finishing just before half time and it wasn’t until 8 minutes from time that Plambech was finally rewarded with a goal heading in from a deep cross by Canteros. Another draw. Hmmm?

It was our third game in seven days and it took us all of 76 minutes to wake up in our visit to Selhurst Park but we finally overcame Crystal Palace with goals from Bandiera and Plambech for a much needed come from behind victory. Back home we entertained Plymouth with MR Sean Power finding the head of DC Bandiera at least a dozen times but to no avail. We left it very late indeed to secure the win with Jeff Webster finding opposite wingman Johnny Gorman in the box whose curling shot beat the Plymouth keeper with minutes to spare on the clock. We made it three wins in a row at Pride Park with Derby taking the lead after just six minutes. Jacob Plambech then produced two fine goals in the space of fifteen minutes to secure a 2-1 away win.

Following the Derby game the draw was made for the Third Round of the FA Cup which will see us take on Aston Villa at Villa Park. Good day out for the fans not so good for the team.

Morale was now the best it had been since we got promoted to the Premier League but STILL players were unhappy with several knocking on my door to discuss my performance as a manager. I’m tempted to start transfer listing some of these players but they are crucial to our chances of reaching the play-offs.

December

The Christmas season started off with Deportivo La Coruna showing in interest in Mariano Blanco which didn’t really surprise me. No offer as yet but I slapped a £6.5 million price tag on the young Spanish midfielder.

On the field our first encounter on the month was at home to 21st place MK Dons so I switched things around a bit to give some fringe players an opportunity. The strategy almost back-fired as we allowed the visitors too many chances and I had to bring on Plambech in the last 15 minutes who then put us ahead with a well-executed strike on goal which was followed by a farcical goalkeeping error that allowed Maclaren to add a second in injury time.

Next up we travelled to Hull where our changed strip of all white blended in nicely with the snow. Glen Richardson opened the scoring after 16 minutes forcing the ball across the line from a corner kick. First half domination failed to produce any further goals but 10 minutes into the second half Gorman added a second as Hull made a mess of clearing a free kick that ended up in Gorman’s path to tap into the net. An unlucky deflection allowed Hull a late goal but not enough to change the course of the result.

My 300th game in charge of Cambridge marked the start of a 4 game Christmas schedule which began with a 1-0 win over Swansea thanks to a sensational 30 yard strike by ML Andreas Dossena. We stayed at home for the visit of Newcastle with Jacob Plambech given us the lead within 40 seconds. A typical bullet header by Bandiera made it 2-0 after 20 minutes and that was all that was needed to fend off a struggling Newcastle.

A trip up to Yorkshire to take on Huddersfield was next with ST Glen Richardson finishing off a lovely counter attacking move inspired by Plambech after just 6 minutes. Huddersfield equalized just before the half hour mark but DC Lune restored the lead with a headed in corner just on the stroke of half time. A cheeky little lob from Scottish striker Jamie MaClaren finished off the game in the 73rd minute for a really satisfying away win.

We closed out the year with a home game against Bolton with a view to making a clean sweep of this four game series. Sadly that didn’t happen as we were reduced to 10 men following the sending off of DC Giovanni Ferrara after 31 minutes. Jamie MaClaren had given us the lead some nine minutes earlier. Bolton made it 1-1 just before half time and a second half rear-guard action saw us hold out for the draw as the visitors tried desperately to take advantage of the extra man.

Results Summary:

Two months unbeaten — now that’s a turnaround in fortunes!

League Table:

Thanks to those results as seen above we now find ourselves in the play — off picture!

 Other News:

I was linked to two other jobs in December, both Premeier League clubs, those being Aston Villa  again and also Sunderland. If you recall I was offered the Villa job prior to starting our Premier League campaign. In any event I declined to comment and both vacancies were eventually filled. I did apply however for the vacant Northern Ireland manager position as I felt this was a good chance to get into international football but I was an unsuccessful candidate.

Back to Cambridge and the Stadium upgraded which was finally completed, extending our capacity to almost 13,000.

Finances:

We dropped a little down to 16 million probbably becuse of having to pay for the stadium upgrade.

Fixtures:

We start off the New Year with an FA Cup encounter with Aston Villa and then have three important games against fellow promotion challengers in Burnley, West Brom and Sheffield United.

Phew, that’s it for this report other than to say I have some big news to start off the next update. No, I haven’t resigned and I guess it’s not really that big other than for the club itself and a first for me. Anyway you will have to wait and see :)

Thanks for reading as always and I look forward to your comments.