Cambridge United: Feb — Mar 2012

Hello friends and welcome back to my latest update of my Football Manager Story. If you remember from last time I finished off with the incredible FA Cup result in which we beat Liverpool at Anfield in the fourth round. The draw was made for the 5th Round and we were drawn at home to Blackburn. You’ll see some of the bigger teams have been drawn against each other so maybe a semi-final place could be a reality?

Here’s a look at the clubs finances as of January 2012. We have hit the £1,000,000 mark for the first time!

We travelled up the Lancashire coast for our next league game to face Morecambe who had handed us a 4-1 thumping back in September. After our defence was spilt wide open in the 12th minute for the home side to take the lead we fought back with goals from Conor Newton and Scott Wootten to take all three points. Our return to the Abbey Stadium saw us take on Colchester who had moved up to second place and it was Will Keane who earned us a point scoring late from the spot in what was for the most part a drab match.

The following game was also at home this time against Torquay. With a Blackburn on the horizon I completely changed the starting eleven for this mid-week encounter. Nadir Ciftci who had been left on the sidelines for some time now opened the scoring within the first ten minutes meeting a lovely cross from Walcott on the left flank. CB Tony Diagne powered in the second with a fine header from a corner to put us two up after 30 minutes. We were looking comfortable and remained in control up until the interval. Torquay mounted several attacks in the second half but loan GK Conor Devlin produced a string of fine saves but was eventually beaten in the 72nd minute. We replied almost instantly with a visionary pass from DM Harry Pell which picked out Ciftci who placed the ball past the keeper for his second of the game and put the match beyond all doubt.

The town been gripped again by cup fever for the visit of Blackburn Rovers to The Abbey Stadium for this FA Cup 5th Round tie. Expectations were somewhat high following the win at Anfield in the last round and those were lifted even higher as Nadir Ciftci picked up a through ball by Shane Williams and slotted it into the corner of the net after just 8 minutes. The packed stadium erupted but the joy was short lived as Blackburn soon fashioned an equalizer 7 minutes later and the game remained all square until half time as the rest of forty five proved uneventful. Blackburn took the lead early in the second half and scored with a low driving ball into the box that we failed to deal with. That goal was seemingly enough for the visitors who then proceeded to shut us down and we never even saw the opposing penalty area for the rest of the game and so our cup run was over.

Following the cup defeat we had two games left to play in the month which saw us endure another defeat away to Stockport County but then kept a clean sheet for the first time in ages with a comfortable win at home to Hereford to complete the month.

February Results

League Table (top six)

We still hold on to top spot but only just and realistically it looks like a three horse race now for automatic promotion. Our last game of March will be against Southend and could prove to be pivotal in the outcome of the season.

The first game of March saw us travel to Northampton whom we had crushed in the FA Cup earlier in the season. The home side were in no mood to have another such defeat inflicted on them and after falling behind to a penalty kick by Nadir Ciftci after 28 minutes went about wearing us down. By late in the second half we were exhausted and two goals in the last 6 minutes gave Northampton the victory and we lost top spot in the table.

We returned to The Abbey Stadium to face Crewe on the following Tuesday and due to fitness or injury I had to go with a 4-5-1 formation. It paid off very nicely in a very even encounter with goals from Frenchmen Tony Diagne who headed in form a corner and AMR Michel Sanchez who scored his first ever goal for Cambridge.

After the match the board announced that they were so pleased with our league performance that an extra £1,000,000 would be available in the transfer budget. Too bad they didn’t announce that in January!

Next up was away to Bradford City with striker Will Keane getting two goals both of which he forced across the line from corners that had been headed back in by Scott Wootten. A magical run by ML Karl Moore ended with a through ball into the box that Nadir Ciftci got a hold of and planted it in the corner of the net for a well deserved victory.

The next two matches saw us throw away a 2-0 lead at home to Cheltenham, tying that game 2-2 and then played like total morons away to Dagenham where we lost by 2-0. It was then time for our showdown with Southend at The Abbey Stadium. Due to an injury crises with the front line which saw only Nadir Ciftic available I had to get in another loan signing this time from Blackburn. Here’s is profile below.

On to the game which set off at a frantic pace as we tried desperately to find the early goal but Southend were having none of it. Just of the stroke of half time Joan Angel Roman lobbed the ball into the box that Atajic took on his chest, rounded the keeper and tucked it home – 1-0. In typical fashion Scott Wootten headed in from a corner in the 57th minute to extend our lead before Southend deservedly pulled one back some 20 minutes later. With the clock ticking down Southend launched another attack which ended in a brilliant save by Martin Hansen that fell into the path of skipper Brian Saah who then inexplicably slammed the ball into his own net! We had thrown away a decent opportunity for all but ensuring automatic promotion and so the last 5 games of the season will decide who will go up with Colchester as they look almost certain champions.

March Results

League Table

Fixtures

So the last two months have been particularly challenging especially with injuries and I’m very much regretting the sell of Mustaphe Traore at the start of the season as it’s obvious our defence is not as effective as last season. With five games remaining I feel we just have to win them all to ensure automatic promotion as Southend are a very strong team.

That’s it for this update so thanks for reading and see you next time for the season finale!