Cambridge United: Season Finale

Hello friends and welcome back to my Cambridge United story. We left off last time with the club battling for a play off spot so let’s see how the season finished up…

March 2016:

We opened the month with a trip to Reading which saw Jacob Plambech open the scoring after 15 minutes having just returned from winning his first international cap. The home side equalized in the 34th minute but then we went on to dominate the game but frustratingly couldn’t find that winning goal which saw 4 attempts cleared off the line and the same amount of clear cut chances missed.

Three days later we were home to Watford who headed in the opening goal early on the in game after we re-organized the defence following an injury to RB Ikoko. A precision pass by Blanco ended in a smashing strike by Gorman and we were back in the game just after half an hour. Watford took the lead once more half way through the second half when DC Luna put the ball in his own net under pressure from the Watford front two. With eleven minutes remaining Webster made superb run down the left flank and his cross from the by-line was met by the head of Gorman and it was 2-2. Everton Santos came on minutes later and his Brazilian trickery proved too much for the Watford defenders as he forced a penalty that Conor Newton tucked away for the match winning goal

Our third game in seven days meant changing half the line-up which I hate doing which in my opinion effects the rhythm of the team. Case in point in took a very long time to overcome Blackpool away from home with Andrew Driver finally getting a goal and Maclaren adding a second on the counter deep into injury time.

With two wins in a row we closed the gap on the auto-promotion spot but next up would be a trip to the City Ground to take on Nott’m Forest!!!

“For the fans” was the rallying cry in the dressing room before taking the field to meet second place Forest. Within the first twenty minutes Bandiera had his usual header cleared off the line and Maclaren missed an open goal before Everton Santos created a goal for the Scottish striker out of nothing to give us the lead after the home side had been reduced to 10 men minutes earlier. A freak deflection opened the door for an equalizer which would have otherwise been offside to tie the game going into the interval. Following the break we fell victim to the dreaded 30 yard long shot but kept our heads with Johnny Gorman leading a “cavalry charge” on the counter attack that was beautifully finished off by his opposite wingman Jeff Webster. Bandiera then had yet another effort cleared off the the line though I was happy to get a crucial away point.

After the Forest game Everton Santos revealed he was unhappy at the club and so I granted him a leave of absence. Unfortunately the following day Jamie Mclaren was injured in training so I lost two strikers just like that!

Our next game was at home to Crystal Palace and we took the lead early on from a rare goal by DMC Sunny who went on to dominate the midfield. Again we missed a bucket full of chances but a mistake by the Palace keeper late in the game allowed Plambech to poach the second goal and gain all three points. The win pushed us into third place.

Up next was a crucial derby game at home to Ipswich Town. Sunny provided the through ball early on that ST Glen Richardson put narrowly wide. Gorman’s cross found the head of Bandiera – hit the bar! Plambech on the counter hit the bar! A shot by Andrew Driver goes under the keeper and trickles wide. Twenty minutes gone and its’ still 0-0. Another counter attack led by Plambech his cross by met by Glen Richardson on the volley….GET IN!!!! 1-0 at last. The score remained the same until half time with Blanco picking up a knock and having to come off. Two minutes Bandiera head in a corner kick to double our lead but the rest of the game was less exciting apart from the penalty we conceded but we managed to hang on for the victory under late pressure by Ipswich.

One of the things you may have noticed is that I haven’t talked much about the facilities at the Abbey Stadium. On the whole the board have been rather negative about any upgrades though I finally managed to persuade them to upgrade the Youth Facilities.

The next game was away to Plymouth and a quick-fire double by Jamie Maclaren in the opening 10 minutes was enough to win the game down in Devon. Back at home we then entertained Derby County with the pundits correctly predicting an evenly matched game that ended in a draw. We then travelled to Milton Keynes for another frustrating game where we threw everything at the home side but just couldn’t get the ball in the back of the net.

With two game remaining here‘s how the table looks. We have to play Bolton in one of our games and Forest will have to meet Sheffield United.

Our penultimate game of the regular season was at home to Hull City with Andrew Driver getting us off to a great start striking a through ball from Blanco into the net after 11 minutes. Hull though quickly equalized with some slick movement that completely wrong footed our defenders and so the score remained at 1-1 until the interval. Ten minutes into the second half and Driver takes off down the left flank and his cross is met by Plambech who hit’s the ball first time into the roof of the net. The fans go wild at The Abbey Stadium!! With the game seemingly under control Hull came up with a 30 yarder and it’s 2-2. Sensing an opportunity to win the game Hull pressed forward but they didn’t count on Sunny who has played magnificently these past couple of months and it was he broke down the Hull attack – sent the ball screaming forward to Jamie Maclaren who left the Hull defence for dead and hit the ball cleanly into the right hand corner of the net to win the game in a sensational way!

Onto the final game of the season and it was away to Bolton. We were now on second place with the table looking like this. We had to win because the other teams having superior goal difference.

Cambridge 83

Forest 81

Bolton 80

My strategy was counter but for the first half an hour we kept Bolton on the back foot with Driver coming close with a shot at the near post and Glen Richardson hitting the woodwork. Bolton created very little for them-selves and what they did we coped with well defensively. We finally broke their defence down three minutes before the interval with Sunny leading the breakaway and his through ball found Plambech who squared the ball across the box for Richardson to slide past the Bolton keeper. After the beak the home side as expected came out strongly forcing Rigoni between the posts to pull off a couple of good saves. We held firm, kept our heads and the one goal in the end proved enough which meant automatic promotion and we were back in the Premier League!!!

Final Table

After such a terrible start back in August and September, the dressing room turmoil, the lack of faith in my abilities we had somehow rallied together as a team, fought our way back into the race and ended in grand style. It was a wonderful feeling for this season to be finally over.

So tht’s it. I have to run off to the subway now otherwise I’ll be late for work. Thanks for all your support this season and your positive comments along the way.

Cheers!

Kevin

PS apologies for any spelling / grammer mistakes