| Cambridge United | 1-2 | Chester City |
| Wilson 81' (pen) | Rimmer 53' | |
| McDonald 90' | ||
| Att: 2,473 |
United line-up: Barrett, Duncan, Wilson, Ashbee, Joseph, Campbell, Wanless, Brebner, Taylor, Kyd, Beall (Barnwell 65').
Subs: Preece, Youngs.
Booked: Beall (foul 56')
Ref: Mr S.G. Bennett
[Terry Wilby's match report] [The Abbey Rabbit's match report] [My summary of media reports]
Terry Wilby's match report:
Hold on while I cut and paste from previous reports where we have most of the possession, make loads of chances but fail to take them, and lose to a break-away towards the end. If anyone has the video of the game and could do a Sky style possession graph we would have at least 75%, goal scoring chances would be about 15 for us, 3 to Chester. How Chester are 11 points ahead of us is beyond belief.
Early on Wanless missed the goal either side with a couple of long shots, Kyd put an angled shot just past, Beall's shot swerved away at the last moment to miss the foot of a post by inches, and Taylor had a shot saved by their keeper. Chester forced one flying save from Barrett in the first half.
8 minutes into the second half we concede a goal when Rimmer runs with the ball, between full back Duncan and the centre halves to score fairly easily. 5 minutes later Wilson blazed over from the edge of the penalty area. After 19 minutes Beall, who was having his usual good game was replaced by Barnwell.
We had a number of chances, Taylor had a shot saved, as did Brebner, then Barnwell headed into the 'keepers arms from 2 yards. A hefty push on Taylor in the penalty area went unpunished (as did a number of other blatant pushes), and Campbell had a header hit the post. We got a penalty when a Brebner cross was handled, Wilson scored. We had more half chances, but just when we thought we had only lost 2 points we lost the third, a cross to the far post was headed back, and Thomas scored from about 2 yards.
Now I know why Chester are now 14 points ahead of us, they can score! Roy McFarland cannot be blamed for this defeat. We played reasonably well, it's just that their 'keeper played better.
Duncan (the other Man Utd. loan player) did fairly well, Brebner did very well and is my MoM, (although if Billy Beall had stayed on it would have been close) he has a lot of skill, can make tricky passes look easy, unfortunately his thought is too quick for most of the rest of the team. Wanless did lots of running and put himself about as usual, if he could shoot straight he could have scored a couple. Wilson had a poor game, his passing was terrible and his corners not much better but at least he scored from 12 yards. Joseph and Campbell seemed to get in each others way at times, Ashbee was sound though.
At the front Taylor and Kyd started off too far apart, they did better when they moved closer, but Kyd's control of the ball was pretty poor. Barnwell played in the middle behind the forwards and did little. If it was me, assuming Beall had an injury and had to come off, I would have put Preece on in the middle, and replaced Kyd with Youngs.
It looks like our season is over. We'll be lucky to get a point out of either of our next 2 games (away to Rotherham and Barnet), then we'll give Doncaster their first away win of the season!
Ratings: Barrett 5, Duncan 5, Wilson 4 (Would have been 2 if he hadn't scored the penalty), Ashbee 7, Joseph 5, Campbell 5, Wanless 6, Brebner 8, Taylor 6, Kyd 5, Beall 7 (Barnwell 5).
At least with Matty gone I don't have to differentiate between two Josephs any more!
The Abbey Rabbit match report:
It was the same old story - we had spells in the game where we did dominate - about 15 minutes in the first-half and around 20 in the second and OK, so Sinclair made a couple of good saves (as did Barrett) - but we never really created many clear cut chances. It was the usual combination of a poor final ball or woeful composure in front of goal. As per usual we had no width and everything got funnelled down the middle of the park cul-de-sac.
To be fair, I though that Chester played the better football. Certainly their movement off the ball was better - their first goal was a classic example of this. Also we never had anyone to worry their defence like Bennett did for them.
My summary:
Chester City finally ended their Abbey Stadium duck thanks to the generosity of United's strikers and some excellent saves from their 'keeper Ronnie Sinclair.
Roy McFarland made two changes to the starting line-up: Manchester United loanee Andy Duncan made his full League debut in place of Ben Chenery in the number two shirt and Paul Wanless made a welcome return to midfield in place of David Preece. Seventeen-year-old forward Tom Youngs joined Preece and Jamie Barnwell on the bench.
Despite Chester striker Rod McDonald missing a first minute sitter, this was yet another match that United dominated for long, long periods without making it count. The U's were on top to an embarrassing degree in the first half but the only red faces on show were those of United's strikers as chance after chance went unconverted. Michael Kyd fired wide in the 25th minute, John Taylor headed wide in the 30th and 'Billy' Beall sliced his shot in the 36th. Our only shot on target was Grant Brebner's 30-yarder which Sinclair pushed onto the bar.
It was more of the same after the break until Stuart Rimmer's opener after 53 minutes. The veteran striker burst through a static defence to take his chance well. United redoubled their efforts but Sinclair was in brilliant form and among his excellent saves he tipped a 25-yard shot from Brebner round the post while another hit the post. From the resulting corner Jamie Barnwell headed straight at the 'keeper from close range.
The game seemed to be drifting away until the U's were awarded a slightly fortunate 81st minute penalty when Neil Fisher was adjudged to have handled the ball. Paul Wilson took the kick and drove the ball hard and low inside the left hand post, giving Sinclair no chance despite diving the right way. It was Wilson's sixth goal of the season and his fourth from the spot.
A point was the very least United deserved but the players seemed to sit back and settle for that, only to be denied in the last minute by Rod McDonald's strike. He made amends for his early miss when he slid in to finish from close range after Gary Bennett headed the ball down into a crowded goalmouth. However City's hero was undeniably goalkeeper Ronnie Sinclair who produced a handful of outstanding saves to deny United and ensure City's first win at the Abbey - and only their second over United in 21 meetings.
Many thanks to Terry and Steve for their reports.
Back to Match fixtures, results and reports
Back to Cambridge United index