Cambridge United: February 2011

Hello everyone and welcome back to the latest installment of my Football Manager Story featuring Cambridge United of the BSP.

I’ll start of this report with a quick look at our finances which despite being over £6,000 in my salary budget look in fact quite healthy.

We started off February being greeted by snow for the visit of Darlington to The Abbey Stadium who fell behind after just three minutes when a precision pass by Williams found Dalla Valle in the 18 yard area and he made no mistake in scoring his first goal for the club. Emmanuel Frimpong scored his first goal some 10 minutes later picking he ball up in midfield and his run ended with a cracking effort into the back of the Darlington net. We held onto that lead until half time and following the interval N’Goma had a shot trickle across the goal line to safety and moments later another effort hit the bar but finally got on the score sheet in the 75^th minute through intercepting a back pass and rounding the keeper for an easy tap in goal. Darlington were never in this game and N’Goma rounded out the victory with a second goal minutes from the end with a typical bruising run and fierce shot to collect another three points.

Next up was our FA Trophy match against Gainsborough which provided an excellent opportunity to rest the regular eleven. With 64% possession and 20 shots we easily dominated the game and I was well pleased with how the back up players performed together with the goals coming from ST Adam Marriot and Mustaphe Traore in a comfortable 2-0 win. The draw for the quarter-finals will see us travel to Mansfield.

Following the game yet another injury happened this time loanee Emmanuel Frimpong who will be out with a torn hamstring for the rest of the season. 2011 has been marred by injuries so far.

It was back to BSP action and a trip to mid table Rushden whose manager severely doubted my managerial abilities to lead Cambridge to promotion. I didn’t respond and let the players do the talking on the field.

 Dorian N’Goma opened the scoring after 15 minutes picking up the ball just inside the Rushden half and proceeding unchallenged into the box and smashing the ball past the Rushden keeper. A slick move down the left flank saw Spence play an intelligent low cross into the box for MR Stuart O’Keefe to side foot into the net after 36 minutes to double the lead. N’Goma who seemed to be everywhere added his second just before half time with a side foot shot of his own with O’Keefe the provider from the right flank. Traore headed in from a corner early in the second half to make it 4-0 and N’Goma completed his hat-trick with a true poacher’s goal from inside the six yard box just before being substituted. Strike partner Danny Wright finally got on the score sheet himself converting from the spot in the dying seconds of the game for what was our best performance of the season and left the Rushden boss speechless!

With injuries becoming a concern as we push for promotion I brought in two new strikers and another midfielder to bolster the squad who all started in our next game at home to Fleetwood. Ryan Mason from Spurs and Elliot Chamberlain for Leicester led the charge up front and it only took 3 minutes for Chamberlain to score off a through ball from MC Calum McNish who’d just arrived the day before from Southampton for a couple of months. Fleetwood though were not Rushden and fought back into the game creating an equalizer before half time at which point Danny Wright came on for Mason who’d picked up a knock. Fleetwood got the go ahead goal in the 62 minute and things were looking desperate but another inch perfect pass from McNish to Wright brought us back on level terms and 11 minutes from time we took the lead as Wright made a nuisance of himself in the box and forced a Fleetwood own goal. The visitors heads dropped after losing the lead allowing us to fashion a fourth goal as Shane Williams found  David McDermott steaming into the box from the left flank and he produced a sublime finish into to roof of the net for a stunning come from behind win.

We were off to Kenilworth Road for our top of the table clash with Luton Town which saw us jump in front after only 5 minutes as N’Goma broke away but with no support fired the ball against a Luton defender and it ricochet into the net for the opening goal. N’Goma’s speed caught the Luton defence flat footed 15 minutes later but he unselfishly crossed the ball to Danny Wright instead of shooting and his strike partner made it 2-0. Scott Wootten headed in a third just before half time but his goal was disallowed for a foul even though he was totally unmarked? Luton responded with strength after the break and pulled a goal back just on the hour mark and kept the pressure on for the remainder of the game with the woodwork denying them a victory which in fact they really deserved but in the end we went home with the three points.

We were back at The Abbey Stadium for our next BSP game with Histon the visiting team whom we have seem to have played countless times this season. Elliot Chamberlain got us off to a quick start with a cheeky little chip over a stranded Histon keeper after just 5 minutes and 10 minutes later Chamberlain was brought down in the penalty area and up stepped Ryan Mason to blast the ball into the roof of the net from the spot kick. Traore added a third by heading in from a corner but Histon threw themselves a lifeline as in a rare attacking move a harmless looking shot took a cruel deflection off of Luke Berry and suddenly it was 3-1. As half time approached an attack down the right flank resulted in a low cross into the box and there was Chamberlain to head in his second of the match and kill the game off within 45 minutes. After the interval the excitement ground to a halt and so the score remained the same in what was a very comfortable result.

Here’s a look at Chamberlain who might be worth a more serious look at trying to sign when his contract expires, that’s if Leicester don’t re-sign him.

The final game of the month took us to Field Mill for a fourth round FA Trophy encounter with Mansfield. After a very even though uneventful first half N’Goma broke the deadlock with his 30^th goal of the season sneaking into the box and firing home from close range leaving the Mansfield keeper no chance. The home side tried to stage a fight back but LB Darren Lough played superbly in countering their attacks and we eventually finished them off with a diagonal strike from Danny Wright four minutes from time to send us through to the semi-finals.

Results Summary

For those of you who may be new to this story here’s a look at my prolific goal scorer Dorian N’Goma

League Table

Fixtures

We start of next month with our first ever TV game against promotion hopefuls Newport County then have to face my old team Wrexham twice who stand between us and a trip to Wembley for the FA Trophy Final.

Thanks for reading and have a great day!