Result: Northampton 1-2 United
United Scorers: Hyde, Richards
Att: 4584
United line-up: Barrett, Matt Joseph, Granville (Marc Joseph 45), Thompson, Craddock, Wanless, Raynor (Vowden), Hyde, Richards, Barnwell, Beall.
Sub not used: Xabier San Miguel.
Terry Wilby's report:
At last I've met someone from the list. John Harmer was also going on his
own, so we shared.
Problems on the A14 meant that John and myself got in just as the game
started, so no time to try the pub at the top of the hill this year. Hopes dipped when we found the referee was G. Singh, and sure enough in the
first 20 or so minutes the Northampton forwards got away with all sorts of
fouls which gave them a couple of good chances, one saved by Scott Barrett,
the other saved by the bar. There were also a couple of headed chances, one
was a real sitter that was missed right in front of goal. After that the
defence tightened up and Scott wasn't really trouble for the rest of the game.
Our first goal came after one of a number of corners in the first half, Tommo flicking on for Micah to head in. As it was at the other end of the ground it was difficult to see quite who scored, luckily their tannoy is good.
The second goal came when Micah broke quickly with the ball from our penalty area after a Northampton corner, ran 60 yards or so before passing wide to Tony Richards (with short blond hair!) who blasted the ball low and hard into the corner of the net. A wonderful goal which really silenced the Northampton yobs in the main stand. Northampton got a goal back from a deflected free kick.
Danny Granville went off at half time to be replaced by Marc Joseph. Paul Raynor was replaced by Colin Vowden in the second half. Raynor had been pushed as he jumped and fell awkwardly off the side of the pitch, appearing to hurt his shoulder. He was signalling the bench not to bring on the substitute even though he was clearly in trouble. A bit like the knight in the Monty Python film he wanted to continue even after losing both arms and legs!
In all a good performance once we sorted out their front two, and a very satisfactory result. Jody took a while to really get going after his injury, and Tommo did well as did Danny Granville. Matt Joseph was steady as was Billy Beall. Some fans moaned when Billy played the ball backwards, but it was safety to keep possesion so a bit unfair. Paul Raynor played a little deeper and looked all the better for having a little more time on the ball. Jamie Barnwell did a lot of running but is lightweight as a target man. As I put in my note last week Tommy Taylor is a hero for the rest of the week, although he was helped by me wearing the "Moose" hat and John wearing his new shirt. Got back to the Abbey at 6:10 gasping for a drink only to find the supporters club wasn't open.
Terry Wilby
Ben Mynott's report:
A bit better than our last visit to Sixfields! Admittedly things didn’t look too great when I saw our favourite Mr. Gurnam Singh was the ref; well known as John Vaughan’s biggest enemy, he has given his fair share of dodgy decisions against us in the past. On the plus side, he was in charge of the personal 5 goal destruction of Exeter City by God (well he was then!), and quite liked our chant of "Can you hear the Gurnam Singh?!".
Gurnam didn’t have a good start to the game. He let a lot of niggling fouls go, and it wasn’t until over 20 minutes into the game (no joke!) before Cambridge got their first free-kick. Needless to say there was an almighty roar from the visiting fans at this point (who out-song the Northampton faithful throughout the match). By this time Northampton had wasted some good chances, and it took Cambridge about 30 minutes to get into the game.
There were notably two glaring misses by Northampton; both times a player was put clean through, only to once be denied by the woodwork, and once shoot a fraction over the bar. They also had a couple of good chances with headers, but both times the ball was nodded wide.
Scott Barrett also had to be alert of numerous occasions. At one point Beall played a suicidal backpass from almost the half way line, that was never going to reach Barrett. Scott came charging out of his area and tackled the Northampton striker, somehow winning the challenge and coming out with the ball at his feet.
As I said, Cambridge did start to come into the game after half an hour. Our biggest threat was undoubtedly from corners; they were very predictable but very effective. Raynor would hoist the ball to the far post out of the keeper’s reach, where, almost without fail, Dave Thompson would rise above the defence to head the ball back towards the penalty spot. This created panic in the Northampton defence, and at about the fourth attempt, resulted in a goal. Thommo brilliantly headed the ball back into the danger area for Micah Hyde, the hard-working captain, to fire home from close range.
Crazy goal celebrations ensued; all ten outfield players joined together to form an "elephant", led by the jubilant goal scorer. Even Raynor ran 70 yards from his left back position to get a piece of the action. Luckily for Cambridge, Mr. Singh turned a blind eye to it all.
The rest of the half was pretty even. Hyde and Richards looked the most threatening for Cambridge, and it was Hyde who came closest to another goal with a 20 yard shot that just flew over. And the corners still looked promising. All the same, considering the home side’s early domination and string of chances, Cambridge were at least a little bit lucky to go in at the break a goal up.
Danny Granville was replaced at half time by Marc Joseph, as the central defender had a sore head (I think!). As expected, Northampton came out attacking looking for the equaliser. Fortunately Cambridge’s defence stood firm, and we started to counter-attack very effectively. It was one such break that led to the second goal; Hyde picked the ball up in his own half and ran almost to the edge of the opposing penalty area. He had Beall to his left, who was marked, but Richards as in acres of space to his right. Hyde had drawn the last defender (Cambridge had a 3 on 2 advantage) creating the space, and played a simple ball into Richards’ path. The striker met the ball on the corner of the area, and instead of taking the ball forward he drilled a low shot past the helpless keeper first time - great finish! Richards then came down to the away end and was engulfed by delighted fans; he seemed to stay there an age and was lucky not to get booked for timewasting.
Not long after, Northampton pulled one back. A free kick was awarded in a central position all of 30 yards out. Cambridge didn’t seem to have much of a wall, but when the ball was struck powerfully goalwards, it took a deflection looping over the diving Barrett. Perhaps the "wall" (or lack of it) was at fault.
The rest of the match saw Northampton pushing for an equaliser, while we spent most of the time either looking to break or timewasting. The Cambridge defence stood firm though, looking a bit more solid than in the first half. Northampton appeared to come closest when a header was headed off the line by Thommo. The main source of Northampton attack was undoubtedly long balls over the top. Cambridge just about coped, but there were a few hair-raising moments!
Quite rightly, a lot of time was added on after 90 minutes; predominantly for all the time Cambridge had (fairly blatantly) wasted. Noticeably, however, not a single player was booked throughout the match.
To sum up, not a bad performance, at least after the first half hour anyway. Cambridge were perhaps a tad fortunate with the win, especially considering that opening 30 minutes.
Performances:
Barrett 7 Quite a solid game. Was quick off his line for the Northampton long balls, and made some good saves. Had no chance with the goal. Did cause one heartstopping moment when a hard swerving shot almost found a gap under his body, but he recovered well.
Matt Joseph 7 Had a reasonable game as wing-back.
Raynor 6.5 Not bad. He seems to be coping quite well with his new role at left (wing) back. Accurate corners. Was substituted with an injury to his arm.
Granville 6.5 Battled away in the heart of defence.
Thompson 8 Some great defending and an excellent weapon at corners.
Craddock 4 A very poor match, particularly by his high standards. Would make one great tackle, and then follow it with a bad mistake all too often.
Beall 4.5 Very negative for most of the match, and made one horrendous backpass almost gifting a goal.
Hyde 8.5 Just shades it for my Man of the Match, after a great all-round captain’s performance.
Wanless 6.5 Was slow to get started, but then did OK in a sort of holding role.
Richards 7.5 Probably his best game of the season so far. Great goal, and always looked dangerous.
Barnwell 4 A very poor performance. He ran a lot, but that was it.
Subs:
Marc Joseph 5 Not a great performance replacing Granville.Vowden 4 Was asked to fill Raynor’s space at left back. He IS NOT a left back, as we discovered last season (I recall a ‘mare there at Northampton last season) and showed this again today. He is simply a central defender, and nothing else.
Grateful thanks to Terry Wilby and Ben Mynott for their views.