| Cambridge United | 2-2 | Cardiff City |
| Barnwell 50' | Greenacre 31' | |
| Barnwell 79' | Eckhardt 90' | |
| Att: 2,728 |
United line-up: Barrett, Chenery (Benjamin 90), Wilson, Joseph, Foster, Campbell, Wanless, Rees, Taylor, Barnwell, Preece (Hayes 79).
Sub not used: Youngs.
Booked: Wilson (foul 58').
[Ben Mynott's match report] [Terry Wilby's match report] [Gareth Challis' match report]
Ben Mynott's match report:
Another two points thrown away in the dying moments of the game. I thought we'd kicked that habit!
Fortunately I'd missed the dreary game at Doncaster, but I started to get an idea of what the game might have been like as this game started. Most of the first half was very low in quality, with neither side showing much invention. We clearly missed Kyd and Butler (the latter pulled out on the day due to 'flu) and were very poor all round.
It was Cardiff who broke the deadlock, with a large chunk of help from donkey Jason Rees. A Cardiff attack broke down and the ball fell to Rees. He looked up, saw nothing ahead of him so "casually" played the ball square to his right. However, the only players there were Cardiff players, one of which pounced on the mistake, crossed to the far post where the ball was slightly fortunately deflected into the net by another Cardiff player.
Having said that, we probably had more chances than Cardiff. Preece tried a couple from long range, one of which was a chip that only had to find the target to be a goal. Barnwell used his pace on a couple of occasions but nobody was able to get on the end of his crosses.
The second half was a huge improvement on the first, with Cambridge stringing a few passes together and starting to find the numerous weaknesses in the Cardiff defence. As Cardiff looked more and more dodgy, so we grew in confidence. Jamie Barnwell managed to equalise thanks to some poor defending. Preece hit a ball over the defence for Barnwell to chase. He started well behind the defender but his pace drew him level and he managed to win the ball in the air. The defender seemed to be trying to obstruct Barnwell instead of playing the ball, but failed miserably. The keeper came out but offered little resistance enabling Barnwell to tap the ball into the open net.
As the game progressed we looked more and more likely to go on and win. We took the lead through a great goal. Wanless won the ball in defence, beat two men and then released Adi Hayes running down the left. Hayes looked up and crossed the ball to Taylor at the far post, who sensibly headed back to Barnwell who nodded the ball on into the corner.
Wanless had a great chance to tie the game up, but after being put clean through he was unable to beat the keeper (who, to his credit, made a good save). There was also an appeal for a penalty for handball, but it wasn't given. Then came a very worrying incident. Cambridge were defending a corner when Ben Chenery went down and the ref immediately stopped the game. The panicky reactions of the players made it all too obvious that Chenery was hurt badly. Both Ken Steggles and the club doctor ran to his help, leaving an unnerving hush around the ground. The player was treated on the pitch for around eight minutes before being stretchered off.
Benjamin was brought on to replace him, meaning Hayes had to drop to right back and Barnwell dropped back into midfield. The Chenery injury occurred with the clock on 86 minutes, with the game restarting on 94 minutes. So the game should have finished on 98 minutes ignoring any time for the few other stoppages. 100 minutes therefore seemed reasonable.
Before the 100th minute Benjamin had two superb chances to seal the victory. A Barnwell cross from the left found him totally unmarked ten yards out, but when all that was needed was a sidefoot he managed to miss the ball entirely. He then broke down the left, beat his man but from a narrow angle he had a rush of blood and blasted the ball for a throw-in! Then disaster struck. The scoreboard clock read 101 minutes when an innocuous ball was crossed into the Cambridge box. However the defenders all missed it and the ball fell to an unmarked player on the left and before long the ball was in the back of the net.
Just 15 seconds after the restart the ref blew for time. On the radio afterwards we found out that Chenery had severe concussion and a possible fractured jaw. We also heard rumours that the ref almost blew for time while Chenery was being treated. If only!
Performances:
Barrett 6.5 Nothing amazing.
Chenery 6 Seemed to be a bit slow getting back on occasions.
Wilson 7 One of his best games this season.
Campbell 5.5 Not as good as most of his other performances, particularly early
in the game.
Foster 6.5 Quite quiet really.
Marc Joseph 6.5 As Foster.
Rees 2 And he's lucky to get that. I realise some people rate him -
admittedly he's got a great engine and covers a lot of ground - but
what good does it do? On Saturday I lost count of the number of
times he lost possession, and the mistake for the goal was a disgrace.
As a guy on the phone in said, god knows why MacFarland didn't
substitute him.
Preece 6.5 Looked like Gazza next to Rees, but didn't really do much.
Wanless 8 My Man-of-the-Match. Was constantly helping in attack and defence and
was a bit unlucky not to get on the scoresheet.
Barnwell 7.5 Two well-taken goals. His pace was a constant threat; he certainly
has staked his claim for a regular place in the side.
Taylor 6 Seemed lethargic at times and failed to win many balls in the air.
Subs:
Hayes 7 Looked superb for 15 minutes. The equalizer did come from his side,
but it would be unfair to blame him.
Benjamin 6 Very lively and looked a constant threat, but two woeful misses cost us
the game.
Ben.
The first half was pretty boring, we had few chances, the best when Preece lobbed the keeper but over the bar, and a good shot from Taylor blocked. They scored after 30 minutes, a free kick just outside our penalty area (which they shouldn't have been awarded) was played short and easily cut out by Rees. He tried a short ball to Chenery who had started a run on our right, but like most of the rest of the passes Rees made it went straight to a Cardiff player who had a free run into the area, crossed and somehow it was deflected into our net. They had to replace their goalkeeper in the first half, the replacement was a proper keeper, so no advantage to us.
In the second half we started much better. Preece was fouled in the middle, took a quick free kick for Barnwell to score from. Wanless should have scored when he got through but the keeper made a good save, Preece also had a good shot saved well. Preece was replaced with Hayes after 75 minutes. Soon after a quick break gave Hayes the ball on our left, he shaped to shoot but decided to cross to Taylor who knocked the ball back for Barnwell to score his second with a looping header for 2-1.
Chenery then got injured and carried off after a nasty clash of heads, suspected broken jaw. Apparently the referee considered finishing the game at that point. Benjamin came on, and almost immediately had 2 good chances to score, the first from a low cross where he tried to back-heel the ball but missed it, the second when he got free of the marker, took the ball to the corner of the 6 yard box before blasting a wayward shot which went out for a throw-in about 15 yards from the goal line when Taylor was unmarked in the middle. Cardiff equalised in the 55th minute of the second half, a cross form the wing was not cut out, the ball eventually blasted in through a crowd of players.
A draw was probably about the right result, although we could have won if Benjamin or Wanless had done better in front of goal. Preece was my Man of the Match. A class above, he looked safe on the ball, looked to get forward at times, and rarely misplaced a pass which was the opposite for Rees. Maybe it was the instinct to pass to a Welsh player all the time! Wanless did lots of running, but his passing was bad. Barnwell made a few good runs and crosses, but no-one could take advantage of them. The defence looked sound, Barrett having little to do.
Hayes got not much respect from the crowd at first, but looked quite good and was soon being cheered (someone said Adi Hoddle!). Fickle fans or what!
Ratings: Barrett 5, Chenery 6 (Benjamin 5), Wilson 6, Joseph 5, Foster 6, Campbell 5, Wanless 5, Rees 2, Taylor 5, Barnwell 7, Preece 8 (Hayes 6),
Gareth Challis' match report:
If you excluded stupid comedy goals of the Under 11's Cambridgeshire Colts league kind, then this game actually ended 1-1. An extremely dour first half left a lot to be desired, although having read the review of the Doncaster match in Saturday's programme it didn't appear to be the worst game in the world.
Some changes to the squad with Butler out (alledgedly banned for two matches by McFarland for returning home drunk a few times during the week, although only a rumour) and Barnwell back in. A good sight to see Jamie back in the Amber & Black. Not too sure about the change in formation, seemingly just the two up front in Barnwell and Taylor, and both Rees and Preece on the field at the same time. Hmm, surely Preece in the middle with Barnwell given freedom of the pitch with Benjamin and Taylor up front would have been more productive, but that's just my opinion. One I've stated many times over the last couple of seasons and one that seems to have worked well for us this year with Butler, Kyd and Shaggy ...
Not a great deal to talk about in the first half, although Barnwell looked impressive and doesn't appear to have lost any of his speed while injured. Maybe not match fit, but lasted a lot longer than Kyd. He had the beating of the Cardiff right-back on several occassions.
Cardiff broke the deadlock with the first of the silly goals, although it was United who gifted them with the opportunity. A free-kick 20 yards out was placed straight into the feet of Rees on the edge of the area. 'Hoof it' would have been the first option ... Rees, our influential captain-type person who should be setting examples to the younger players, decided to pass the ball straight to Chenery (originally part of the wall and still in his own area). Chenery was robbed of the ball, the ball was crossed into the box and despite a lot of bodies flying about, the ball was eventually blasted across the goal, hitting Greenacre and bouncing into the net. They could have had a second in first half injury time when they hit the bar after some sloppy defending.
The second half started reasonably well, and it was a hopeful lob down the middle that Barnwell chased after that brought the United equalizer. The defender left it for the substitute 'keeper who wasn't sure whether to go for it or not. In the meantime Barnwell nipped in and headed it past the goalie, who got a small touch, enough to stop it going straight in. Barnwell managed to get to the ball first and knocked it into the net. 1-1
United were looking better, although still slightly shaky at the back. We grabbed the lead on the 79th minute with the move of the match. Adi Hayes had just come on a couple of minutes earlier to boos from the minority of United fans behind the goal, but played a great part in Barnwell's second. United broke from their own half through Wanless, who passed to Hayes on the left side of the field. Hayes seemed to leave it too long, but chipped in an excellent well weighted cross to Taylor who headed the ball back to Barnwell who placed the ball with his head perfectly in the far corner of the goal, beating the outstretched 'keeper. One of the best goals at the Abbey this year ...
Just before that, Taylor crossed to Barnwell who couldn't quite get his head to the ball, and shortly after Wanless tackled a Cardiff defender 25 yards out putting himself through on goal. He placed the ball over the advancing goalie who managed to get a palm to the ball and push it over the bar. An excellent save.
With four minutes left, Chenery received a nasty injury in the United penalty area and was stretchered straight to hospital. It looked worrying at the time and Chenery was lucky to get away with the injuries he did. Some Cardiff fans didn't endear themselves by hurling abuse after the treatment had been going three or four minutes although soon went quiet when they realised how serious it was. Their applause as Chenery was taken off did go some way to redeeming themselves.
Benjamin came on with Hayes moving back into the right-back position vacated by Chenery. Cardiff were on the attack right from the restart and gained a scrappy goal in the 101st minute when Eckhart placed the rebounding ball past the wrong-footed Barrett.
Two points lost, although maybe a fair result judging by how poor the games was. Benjamin could have made sure for United when it was still 2-1 electing to try and back heel the ball home when he could have sidefooted the ball into the net. He's young, he will learn. (and nothing can be worse than that miss against Scarborough last year ;-)
Barrett 6, Chenery 5, Wilson 6, Campbell 5, Foster 6, Marc Joseph 5, Rees 4, Preece 5, Wanless 6, Barnwell 7 *MoM*, Taylor 6
Subs:
Hayes 6, Benjamin 6, Youngs - Not used.
Many thanks to Ben, Terry and Gareth for their reports and ratings.
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