United line-up: Barrett (Preece 46), Matt Joseph, Granville, Wanless, Craddock, Raynor, Hayes, Hyde, McGleish, Barnwell, Beall.
Subs not used: Hay, Thompson.
Booked: Hyde 58 (foul)

Ben Mynott's report and ratings:
Who needs a manager? This was our best performance in some time, the scoreline only remaining respectable thanks to some outstanding goalkeeping from Swansea’s Freestone.

The first half performance in particular was superb. Cambridge played some great football against a surprisingly physical Swansea side (who had Molby sidelined with a groin problem - a shame as it would have been nice to see him grace the Abbey). They weren’t helped at all by the referee, who seemed to let anything short of a scrap off the ball go unpunished. There were numerous challenges by Swansea players that would normally result in yellow cards, but the ref didn’t get his book out once in the first half. One particular challenge on Barnwell immediately springs to mind; he cleverly turned his defender and was about to leave him for dead when the defender scythed him down. This was undoubtedly a yellow card (had Barnwell been a further 5 yards ahead it could have been deemed a professional foul), but no! All the ref gave was a free-kick.

Cambridge had numerous outlets for attack, with Raynor working superbly down the right against his old club, a combination of Hayes and Beall were always threatening down the left, while Micah Hyde was back to his best creating chances through the centre. Barnwell looked extremely lively up front, seeming to have got some confidence back. McGleish was surprisingly quiet, getting relatively few touches in the first half.

Several chances came and went before Cambridge did eventually take the lead. At times Cambridge built up attacks with amazing patience, and had someone been able to find the crucial last touch there would have been numerous candidates for goal of the season. The chances are too numerous to mention.

One noticeable change was the willingness to shoot from long range. I’m not sure if this is because TT told them not to, but Hayes, Beall and Matt Joseph had reasonable efforts. In fact had Joseph’s effort not sailed just over the bar, it surely would have been goal of the season. He picked the ball up wide on the right on about the half way line, proceeded to beat four or five Swansea players before unleashing a decent effort from 20 or so yards.

Had the Swansea keeper not been so commanding in the air, Cambridge’s dominance could have been even greater. He effectively snuffed out any aerial threat, but the way Cambridge were passing the ball about this didn’t matter too much. The main effect was it rendered most Cambridge corners useless.

Finally Cambridge’s play was rewarded with a much deserved goal in the 31st minute. Another patient build up which started down the right wing, involving 6 or 7 different Cambridge players, resulted in McGleish laying the ball back nicely to Raynor who hit a powerful low drive from just outside the area. His shot took a deflection and sailed past the wrong-footed Freestone. Raynor was more than a bit chuffed; he went over to the Swansea fans and rubbed it in a bit, clearly reveling in scoring against his old club.

Cambridge continued to play threatening attractive football, but it was Swansea who scored the next. Three or four missed tackles, in particular a bad mistake by Hyde/Barnwell who sold himself and gave a Swansea player 40 yards of space to run into, led to a swift counter-attack by Swansea. The play was forced out wide by Granville, allowing the defence time to get back, but when the cross came over to the far post, two Swansea players rose unchallenged on the edge of the six yard box. It was Coates who met the cross, easily nodding the ball past Barrett who was in no-man’s-land. Jody Craddock should have been challenging in the air, but to be fair he probably thought it was Barrett’s ball; it certainly should have been. So one shot on target all half and Swansea score with it, just 2 minutes before half time.

The other player who had also leapt unchallenged collided with Barrett on the way down and the keeper had to receive some lengthy treatment.

Cambridge didn’t let this setback get to them, and in fact almost immediately restored the lead. A swift move out of defence started with Hyde feeding the ball to Barnwell in the centre circle. An excellent pass on the turn to McGleish put the striker clean through, and before the keeper had chance to set himself McGleish swept in a low shot into the bottom far corner from the edge of the area. An "elephant" celebration was started, but only half the team managed to join it before the ref gestured to them to get a move on.

Most Cambridge fans were a bit worried during the interval; Paul Wanless was out warming up with the keeper’s jersey and gloves on. Barrett’s injury was obviously quite serious, and sure enough he didn’t reappear for the second half. Preece came on the replace him, taking over Wanless’ holding role in front of the defence, with Wanless going between the sticks.

The worrying proved unnecessary as Wanless acquitted himself well again, after an impressive display in goal at the end of last season. A couple of good saves early on gave him the confidence he needed. One of the saves was very impressive; a right wing corner (Swansea’s main threat throughout the match - the strikers lined up on the edge of the area and ran in as the kick was taken) was met unchallenged just outside the six yard box, and the header looked destined for the roof of the net. Wanless had other ideas, launching himself backwards to tip the ball over the bar.

Swansea did come into the match a bit more during the second half, although Cambridge probably created more clear-cut chances than they had in the first. During a spell of about 10 minutes early on in the half, Cambridge could have had four or five more. Superb saves from the keeper was all that kept out efforts from McGleish and Barnwell, saves that most other keepers wouldn’t have made. McGleish’s efforts were a header from the edge of the six yard box which the keeper palmed over, and a close range shot that the keeper threw himself at. The second effort really should have been a goal - perhaps McGleish could have done better. Barnwell’s effort was a bullet header destined for the top corner that somehow was tipped over.

The ref finally got his book out for an off-the-ball scuffle between Hyde and King. Both were booked.

McGleish had another chance to extend the lead around the 60 minute mark, but this time it was some great defending that thwarted Cambridge. Finding himself clean though, he shimmied one way then the other waiting for the keeper to commit himself, then went round him with ease. Just as he was about to tap the ball into the net a superb tackle came in from a defender, somehow diverting the ball just wide and not making any contact with McGleish. A very brave challenge, as had it been just slightly mis-timed a penalty and red card would have undoubtedly been given.

Cambridge continued to dominate for the rest of the match, but Swansea never gave up hope and the way we’d had so many chances, it seemed obvious Swansea would nick an equaliser. But Wanless and the defence held out when Swansea did attack, and Cambridge got the three points they deserved.

So despite all the goings-on with the manager’s job, the team were still able to put on a superb display to consolidate their 2nd position in the league. They did this playing some superb attractive football, in spite of the referee’s failure to clamp down on Swansea’s over physical play. The ref was dire (looking in the "Score" pullout in the Mirror he only scored 4/10!) - let’s hope we don’t see him again too soon.

Performances (daily Mirror ratings in brackets):

Barrett       5  (7)  At fault for the goal, and had nothing else to do.

Matt Joseph   7.5 (8) Solid defending, and good going forward.

Hayes         8 (7)   Superb display from the teenager.  His spirit and
determination was excellent, and as the game went on and he grew in
confidence, he showed some great skill.

Granville     6.5 (8) Had little to do.

Craddock      5 (8)   The one player who failed to pass the ball.

Wanless       7.5 (8) Did a good job in a holding role in the first half,
then kept a clean sheet in goal.  A great asset to any team - no wonder
we’ve not bothered with cover for Barrett.

Beall         8 (7)   Linked very well with Hayes on the left, and was
instrumental in many attacks.  Was amazingly strong in the tackle.

Hyde          9 (9)   Back to his best with a superb all-action display,
full of clever passes and neat touches.  My Man-of-the-match and I’ve not 
heard anyone think differently.

Raynor        8.5 (8) Was played on the right wing - one of his best 
positions that was overlooked by TT - and put in a vintage Super Paul 
performance.  He seemed to raise his game due to the fact that he’d spent 
five seasons with Swansea, and he clearly took great delight in the 
victory.  He was influential in most of the best moves of the match.

McGleish      7.5 (8) Very quiet in the first half, but was one of the 
best players on the pitch after the restart.  Very unlucky not to get a 
hat-trick.

Barnwell      8 (7)   Although he didn’t score, Barnwell had a great game,
clearly enjoying the pass-to-feet style that Cambridge adopted for the 
entire 90 minutes.  Was a constant menace to the Swansea defence.

Subs:
Preece        4.5 (7) Our worst player.  His age (or perhaps lack of 
fitness) showed as he was extremely slow.

Let's just hope we can get the off-the-pitch matters sorted out as soon as possible and that we can hang on to our best players.

Ben.

Terry Wilby's report:
With all the other things going on with the club over the last few days, I'm struggling to remember much about the match except that it was a very good match.

This may have been partly because Swansea didn't come to defend all the time, I thought they looked quite good though they didn't cause us too many problems. Their man of the match was their keeper Roger Freestone, formerly with Chelsea. He made a number of superb saves, and stopped us winning by 4 or 5 goals, and stopped Scott McGeish getting a hat-trick. Swansea are a fairly "big" side, the referee was lenient with a number of late tackles and pushing offences.

Paul Raynor scored our first goal with (I think) an angled shot. Swansea equalised soon after when an angled cross into the six-yard box was nodded in by their big centre forward (Torpey I think). Neither Craddock nor Wanless were marking him, although Scott Barrett should have taken the cross. Barrett got injured in this clash (an eye problem perhaps) and was replaced in goal at halftime by Wanless, with David Preece coming on as substitute.

Wanless made a couple of good saves in the second half, first from a free-kick just outside the area when he flung himself across the goal to push the ball away for a corner, and secondly when he tipped a looping header over the bar (which would have probably beaten Barrett).

McGleish should have scored when put through with only the keeper to beat, but was tackled after rounding the keeper. A number of other chances were made but saved by Freestone.

Micah Hyde was my Man of the Match, although not by much as the rest of the team played well. Adi Hayes did particularly well, as did Paul Raynor.

Scott Barrett    5
Matt Joseph      7
Danny Granville  7
Paul Wanless     8
Jody Craddock    7
Paul Raynor      8
Adi Hayes        8
Micah Hyde       9
Scott McGleish   8
Jamie Barnwell   6
Billy Beall      7
Sub:
David Preece     6

A mention must be made about the support during the game which was superb in getting behind the team. At halftime there was a lot of anti-board chanting, which continued at the end of the match with a sit-in of around 200. I listened to the radio on the way home, and I think Roger Hunt (apart from being brave!) did well to put the boards points across. The fans seemed to quitened down after a few minutes to allow him to answer the questions. It was odd that he didn't know that Paul Clarke had resigned at the end of the match. (The reason for him not wanting the managers job was mainly the 3 hours a day travelling he would have to do on top of a long day. He said he had 4 job offers open to him, and would decide soon which one to take. He said the board had offered everything he'd asked for. I can't think where else he might get the opportunity to take over a good team that he knows lying in second place. I would think that resigning at the end of the season after getting promotion would look good on a CV).

The crowd was around 3,100 but there seemed more there to me.

Terry Wilby.

Many thanks to Ben Mynott and Terry Wilby for their reports.

Back to Match fixtures, results and reports

Home