United line-up: Barrett, Matt Joseph, Granville, Wanless, Craddock, Raynor (Marc Joseph 87), Ashbee, Hyde, Taylor, Barnwell, Beall (Kyd 71).
Sub not used: Preece

United started quite brightly, only to concede an early penalty - I believe Danny was the guilty party. After that, and despite having a lot of possesion we never really looked like scoring except when Shaggy pounced on a mis-placed pass, rounded the goalie but delayed his final shot which allowed a defender to get back and block his effort.

This really was a poor game between two very poor sides - although United were slightly better that Tuesday this was probably because Mansfield on this display are worse than Scunny! Second-half was much the same as the first. Lots of huffing and puffing from United, but no real pattern to their play. Micah still doesn't look match-fit and despite Barnwell starting Shaggy was still isolated up front. We gave up any attempt to play passing football, resulting in lots of hopeless "route one" stuff. All we succeeded in doing was picking out Brian Kilcline!

No passion, no fight, no commitment - too many players are thinking of next season. McFarland seems unable to shake them from this malaise and more worryingly the "McFarland Out" chants were out in force. A few fans tried to get behind the team, but to be honest there wasn't that much to get excited about. The pro and anti-McFarland factions almost came to blows(!) and yours truly was accused of revelling in the fact that United were playing badly(!!)

Oh well... Still results went for us this weekend, which makes our failure to pick-up any points all that more depressing...

Ben Mynott's report:
Just a few quick thoughts on the Mansfield game:

We were dire, so were Mansfield. Hence it was a very boring match. Mansfield probably deserved the win as they had more chances. We certainly deserved to lose, but the performance was still nowhere near as bad as the same fixture last season.

The penalty awarded looked reasonable but having seen it on TV Granville appears to get the ball. Barrett got very close to saving the spotkick, but it was just too accurate. In fact Mansfield had two other penalty appeals turned down, one of which looked more a penalty at the time than the one given.

Cambridge did have a few chances. Shaggy was very unlucky not to score after intercepting a backpass and rounding the keeper, but a defender (Warren Hackett, their MoM) made a goalline tackle. Beall went close with a long range effort, while Barnwell had three or for weak passes in the direction of the Mansfield goal.

Notably McF switched back to his 5-3-2 formation with Matt Joseph part of a three man central defence. But it failed to work.

Performances:

      
Barrett     5.5     misjudged long balls too often, but made a few crucial
saves.

Ashbee      6       Probably one of our better players, playing in his more
natural right back position.

Raynor      5.5     Probably didn't defend as much as he should have.

Craddock    5.5     OKish.

Granville   3       Bit of a nightmare all round!

Matt Joseph 5.5     OKish.

Beall       6       Unlucky to be subbed I thought.

Wanless     7       MoM, if only for his workrate.  Covered every yard of the
pitch and tackled well.

Hyde        6.5     Still not match fit but some moments of magic.

Shaggy      5.5     Unlucky not to score but didn't play well.  Perhaps because
of his nonexistent support.

Barnwell    3       Needs a nice long rest.  Very low on confidence. 
His first touch is diabolical!

Subs:
Kyd         6       Looked lively
Marc Joseph 6       Enthusiastic on his first outing this season.

Thanks to Steve and Ben for their reports.

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