Cambridge United: October 2010

Hello friends and welcome back to my Football Manager Story featuring BSP side Cambridge United.

The first game of the new month was away to Histon which turned out to be a very dour affair. The only goal of the game came from Danny Wright who tapped home the ball after N’Goma’s shot was pushed away by the Histon keeper straight to his feet for one of the easiest goals he’ll ever score.

After this game I approached Leeds United to try and loan their right midfielder Will Hatfield as things down that side of the park were somewhat untidy and the starter David McDermott needed shaking up a bit. Hatfield agreed to join and will be with us for three months.

With a selection of injuries and players away on international duty it was left to the youngsters to take on Kidderminster at The Abbey Stadium. Danny Wright switching to the left side for this game set up 19 year old Adam Marriott for the opening goal with a lovely through ball after 11 minutes. Karl Moores’ twisting and turning run ended with a cheeky pass into the box that Wright didn’t need any educating what to do with and suddenly it was 2-0 just after the half hour. The youngsters gave a resolute performance in the second half and were unlucky to concede a late goal from a rocket of a shot but thoroughly deserved the three points.

It was time for our top of the table clash away to Newport County and with the international games still ongoing I found myself without either of my first team keepers. Thankfully I kept hold of veteran Simon Brown who was placed between the sticks for the first time this season also starting was young Dutchman Danny Hoesen who we got on loan from Fulham. The first twenty minutes we absolutely dominated and finally broke down the Newport defence as DM Craig Tawton slipped a ball into the box to an unmarked ML Andrew Spencer to slide past the Newport keeper. A terrible back pass by the Newport left back handed the ball to N’Goma who made it 2-0 after 36 minutes then MR Will Hatfield led a “cavalry charge” counter attack that N’Goma finished off for his second of the game just at the stroke of half time. I’d barely got back into my seat from the interval and Newport had pulled one back followed by another 10 minutes later. We seemed unable to respond and of course had to give away a penalty two minutes from time for the home side to complete their comeback and rescue a point. I was absolutely livid and let the entire team know that after the game.

On loan striker Danny Hoesen

We were back at The Abbey Stadium for our next game with pretty much a full strength team to face Barrow. After a very indifferent start the pace of Karl Moore resulted with him being brought down in the box and N’Goma converted the penalty after 27 minutes. N’Goma’s pace also began to tell on the Barrow defence which forced a corner that Traore headed in for his first ever goal for the club to take a 2-0 lead into the interval. During the break I told the guys not to get complacent and they easily controlled the second half with Danny Wright adding a third using his strength to win a long ball into the box and smashing past the Barrow keeper for a solid victory in front of over 4,000 fans

We remained at home for our following game which was a FA Cup 4^th Qualifying Round encounter with fellow BSP side Histon. The first half was a frustrating affair which saw Traore have a header scrambled off the line and N’Goma  miss from only yards out. Histon, who barely got out of their own half took the lead through an own goal by Craig Tawton who sliced the ball into his own net from an innocent looking cross. The second half was a complete repeat of the first with Karl Moore missing an easy opportunity and MR Will Hatfield hitting the bar. Tawton though made up for his error with a killer ball to Danny Wright whose shot beat the Histon keeper 11 minutes from time to force the replay.

The replay was just days later with the prize a home tie against Bristol Rovers in the First round proper. I changed the team entirely from the previous game as we had a difficult away game with Grimsby coming up. Histon started the more adventurous and took the lead after 15 minutes but we immediately responded with a goal from our young Dutch striker Danny Hoesen two minutes later. The score remained unchanged for the rest of the half but almost on the hour Histon got the go ahead goal but we pegged them back once more with a scorcher from 18 year old MC Luke Berry who was having an excellent game.  With the game heading for extra time I had little choice but to make a triple substitution because of fatigue. In extra time N’Goma who came on for Fofona made a telling run across the face of the Histon 18 yard area with his shot sailing past the Histon keeper to give us the lead for the first time in the game. N’Goma’s pace was enough to force two corners both of which were headed in by Scott Wootton and we finally put this cup tie to bed.

It’s was back to BSP action away to 10^th place Grimsby after the drama of the FA Cup which saw Craig Tawton have two great chances in the opening twenty minutes and  N’Goma unleashing a thunderous shot that rattled the woodwork but the score stayed blank as the referee blew his whistle for half time. Five minutes into the second half Tawton’s through ball into the box found Moore racing in from the left flank and his shot easily beat the Grimsby keeper to break the deadlock. Moore returned the favour 15 minutes later as he headed a cross back into the box for the incoming Tawton to blast into the net for his first goal for the club. Grimsby never really threatened our end of the field and we finished off the month a comfortable 2-0 winner.

Results Summary

League Table

Fixtures

I’m glad that month was finally over as we played Histon three times but in the end we went through in the cup and back to the top of the table. Six games coming up for us in november including the cup tie with Bristol Rovers.

Thanks for reading and see you soon!