Cambridge United: Sept — Oct 2013

Hello everyone and as promised here’s my latest post to bring you all up to date with my Cambridge FMS.

September started off with an uninspiring performance at The City Ground, Nottingham where we were defeated by a single goal and more than half the team were less than 65% condition by the end. I quickly arranged a fitness friendly in Ireland against Derry City due to the international break which produced a similar performance and result.

By the time the visit of Reading arrived for our next league game moral was starting to take a dive but was lifted by a first half goal from Borja Baston to the delight of the home fans though Reading restored order early in the second half with two goals in seven minutes to take all three points.

Our trip to Wigan showed promise especially after they went down to ten men in the first minute and although we controlled the ball well we came up against a brick wall of a defence where as ours appeared to have more holes than a block of Swiss Cheese and two dreadfully embarrassing own goals didn’t help matters either.

With Conor Newton switching back to the right side of midfield we finally managed to secure a victory thanks to two goals by Newton himself against Sheffield Wednesday. It was a much more solid effort that we also carried forward in our trip to London to face Millwall though again we were left wanting up front. ML Josh Dawkin came up with a last minute header to rescue a point for us.

September Table

A pretty much disastrous month saw us slide down the table!

October 2013

October started off with a home game against Coventry prior to which Alex Smith and Gabriel Gomez handed in transfer requests which I accepted but wasn’t happy about. However my spirits were lifted as Darko Bodul finally got his first goal of the season opening the scoring against Coventry running into the path of a low driving cross from Newton. Rasmus Falk headed in the second in the 66th minute with Newton wrapping things up being the recipient of a lovely through ball by young Spaniard Imanol Eslava for our best result of the season so far.

The following game was our highly anticipated derby game with Ipswich Town at Portman Road. We got off to a dream start as a long clearance out of defence by DC Rhys Bennett was met perfectly by Darko Bodul who placed the ball into the corner of the net inside two minutes. Some twenty minutes later Walcott set up Petrucci for goal number two but Ipswich replied immediately with the score remaining 2-1 at the half. Ipswich poured on the pressure after the interval but Conor Newton kept the home side busy with one counter after another and in the end we held on to take all three points.

After a two week break due to internationals it was time to meet Alan Shearers’ Leeds United at The Abbey Stadium who knocked us out of The FA Cup last season. Revenge was on our minds and revenge we got with first half goals from Wootten and Bodul which was enough to see off Leeds even though they clawed one back. We faced another Yorkshire opponent in our next game with the visit of Doncaster Rovers. It was a day for the defenders with both Nicholas and Wootten scoring with headers whilst LB Victor Hernandez scored a cracking goal with a vicious curling free kick from 25 yards out.

The final game of the month saw us travel to Devon to take on last season’s League One Champions Plymouth Argyle. Borja Baston got us off to a terrific start with a powerful strike that deflected off a Plymouth defender to give us the lead after seven minutes. Rasmus Falk doubled our lead on the half hour with a confident run from midfield and a neatly placed shot into the left hand corner of the net. Plymouth looked more like there old selves in the second half but sub Conor Newton killed the game scoring a third 13 minutes from time.

League Table

So with five wins on the trot we’ve mangaged to scoot back up the table and find ourselves  right in the thick of things for the title race.

Fixtures

Next month will see two huge games against my promotion rivals Peterborough and Bolton so I hope we can carry this form onwards and upwards!!

That brings you all up to date though before I end I just wanted to make you aware that the last month I have been using a tweaked version of Johnny’s tactic to suit my players. My left flank Wrexham tactic was showing signs of deterioration in the Championship and seems to me more suited towards the lower leagues.

Thanks for reading and see you soon!