| Cambridge United | 0-1 | Fulham |
| Freeman 14 | ||
| Att: 7,218 |
Cambridge Utd: Barrett, Vowden, Wilson, Beall, Craddock, Raynor, Wanless, Hyde, Benjamin (Taylor 70), Kyd (Barnwell 70), Joseph.
Sub not used: Ashbee.
Booked: Raynor 17 (foul), Craddock 17 (ungentlemanly conduct?), Benjamin 34 (foul), Kyd 61 (dissent), Wanless 75 (foul).
Referee: T Heilbron (Newton Aycliffe).
Fred Berry's match report:
We deserved at least a point against the very physical Fulham, not helped by a crap referee. He was nearly as bad as the one in Fulham. The game started off rather scrappy, Fulham forcing a attack or two. With 4000 partying Fulham supporters, there was a good atmosphere.
We only mounted a few half chances which we failed to capitalise on. Kyd (I think) was put through but was tackled when through on goal, big Trev was not up to his usual standard either but did have a good shot which forced a good save from the keeper.
Fulham's main threat was their gypo forward, who was persistantly put off with the chants of "he lives- in a caravan". But on the 14 min stage he bloody scored. To tell the truth it was not a bad goal, finding himself past the defence he rounded the stretching Barrett to fire in from an acute angle 0-1.
Fulham were getting away with murder, but the ref insisted on only booking our players. There was a mix up with the ball witch ended with Wilson completing a superb two footed tackle in which he quite blatantly took the ball, this turned into a scuffle with both teams as guilty as eachother but to our astonishment, ended up with Wilson and Raynor getting booked. I thought Raynor was going to be sent off when he had one of his regular temper tantrums but luckily the ref ignored it. That rounded off a drab first half.
In the second period we were better, a lot better then them anyway. Kyd fired over from the edge of the box after good play by Benjamin and Raynor fired a free kick just over. Shaggy and Barnwell came on for Fash and Kyd, and looked fresh. We had a few chances but just could not break down their defence. Fulham could only manage a few crosses with a corner or two. The final whistle came and a few Fulham supporters ran on to the pitch. Cambridge's threat on trying to invade the pitch was ended when Popey and friends, rather then just running on the pitch, asked the police officer rather politely " Can we go on the pitch please". Instead several fans stayed behind chucking stuff and shouting abuse at a Fulham supporter who would stray too close to the North terrace.
Ratings.
Barrett 6. Marc Joseph 7 Wilson 7 Vowden 7 Craddock 7 Raynor 7.5 Wanless 8 Gave it his all. Hyde 7 Kyd 7 Benjamin. 6.5 Beall 7 Subs used. Taylor, Barnwell. Performance rating, 5/10
Gareth Challis' match report:
An extremely dodgy goal by Freeman on 14 minutes gave Fulham the lead. The defence went AWOL, leaving Scotty to face the striker. He was rounded easily, 1-0. Well done to Scotty for making a good attempt without bringing Freeman down! Most notable efforts for the U's came from Kyd's swervy first half effort almost catching the 'keeper out, an excellent turn by Benjamin on the edge of the box in the second half, although his shot blazed way over the bar ... Raynor skimmed the crossbar with an almost perfect free-kick and Barnwell shot inches wide of the post. Fulham's best effort came 10 minutes from the end when a powerful shot from all of 30 yards saw Barrett at his best, pushing the ball wide for a corner.
The game exploded into life in the first half when ten or so players started a round of fisticuffs in front of the U's dugout. Wilson's reckless challenge upended a Fulham player. Player after player piled into the fracas, Freeman clearly throwing an elbow at one U's player although the referee didn't see it. After it all died down, Raynor and Craddock were both booked. The referee, while not the worst we've had this year, was inconsistent with his decisions, booking eight players, some justifiably, some not, and surely a red card was warranted for the very, very late challenge on Raynor in the second half. One of the biggest cheers was when Conway pulled a hamstring running after Marc Joseph ...
Although we were not allowed onto the pitch after the game, the police were quite content with letting Fulham fans on who proceded to stir-up the United faithful with various hand gestures. Two or three were led off by the police, but they didn't bat an eyelid at some of the fans who were determined to incite some violence.
Overall, a game which United deserved a point in. Good to see the defeat didn't mean we dropped any further places. The season started with great promise, but ended disappointingly. Here's to next season ...
Ratings :
A party atmosphere for the last game of the season with Fulham bringing around 4,000 to boost the crowd to the biggest of the season for the U's. Fulham were already up and were at the Abbey to celebrate while United were playing for pride and played well, deserving at least a draw in one of the better games seen at the ground this year.
Barrett - 7 - Not a great deal to do, but did his small amount of work well ... Vowden - 6 Wilson - 7 Beall - 7 - Much better than at Rochdale Craddock - 6 Raynor - 8 *MoM* - One of his best matches this year. Wanless - 7 Hyde - 6 Benjamin - 7 Kyd - 7 Joseph - 6 Subs : Taylor - 7 - On for Benjamin (70 mins) Barnwell - 7 - On for Kyd (70 mins)
Terry Wilby's match report:
Our team had a number of changes, some enforced, some not!. Colin Vowden and Marc Joseph came in as central defenders, Paul Wilson and Jody Craddock as full backs. Biily Beall came in for David Preece, and Trevor Benjamin for John Taylor to partner Kyd. Paul Raynor, Micah Hyde and Paul Wanless made up the rest of the team. For the last 20 minutes or so Taylor and Barnwell came on for Benjamin and Kyd.
Although we lost, we were the only team trying to play football, our passing was pretty good all the way through, but as in recent matches we didn't make enough good scoring chances.
The referee was fairly lenient with any of their challenges, but a stickler for ours! Paul Wanless got booked and a free kick against himself for winning a header. The referee did nothing against the Fulham player who threw a punch in a melee, but booked 2 of our players.
The Fulham game plan was long ball to the channels for the runners, our defence coped except for once when our two defenders and keeper allowed the chap to run through past Barrett and score from a tight angle. Maybe if Barrett had stayed on his line the forward might have been forced wide, but I doubt that it would have made much difference. Barrett had to make a
spectacular (but not difficult) save in the second half, but that was about all. We had half chances, Kyd and Barnwell going close with shots on the turn. Kyd had another godd chance, but shot into the side netting. Benjamin did a lot of running and put himself about, but it wasn't enough to really unsettle the defenders. Beall played like Preece, making himself available, and had a good game, as did most of the team. Micah looked good on the ball in the middle, but let himself (and the rest of the team) down by losing the ball too easily when running at defenders. He seemed to be playing the ball too far ahead of his feet, which made taking the ball away from him easy. I put Paul Wanless just above Billy as Man of the Match, lots of running as always, but showed a lot of skill also. In the end I suppose that our youth and enthusiasm was not enough to overcome a team of strength and experience. I suspect they will have problems next season though if they play the same way.
For us a season of "what might have been". With a little more luck/application/skill we could have been in the play-offs, but there were so many games when we deservedly got nothing. After the Fulham goal went in there was a brief chant against MacFarland, but it didn't last long. Unfair in my opinion as well.
Now we can look forward to 4 months of speculation as to who we might be getting to replace the "want away" players. I hope the likes of Micah, Jody and Matt Joseph (if they have to go) go on to better clubs at a division or two higher, rather than down the M11 to Orient. I reckon Barrett and Richards will be at about their level at Orient though.
Ratings:
Barrett 6, Wilson 6, Vowden 6, Beall 7, Marc Joseph 6, Craddock 7, Raynor 7, Benjamin 7, Kyd 7, Wanless 8 (MoM), Hyde 6. Subs: Taylor 6, Barnwell 7
Many thanks to Fred Berry, Gareth Challis and Terry Wilby for their match report and ratings.
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My request for Snow and Hail from 3:00 didn't come true, nor my wish that we should thrash the Fulham thugs! Some Fulham fans had hired an American limo. with black and white ribbons to come to the match, I wonder if they had to pay double for the car park? I managed to sell 80 Rabbits at the Cut Throat Lane turnstiles, I thought the home turnout was a bit poor for the match if there were 4,000 Fulham fans in the crowd of 7,200. There were lots of seats empty in the main stand.