| Cambridge United | 1-1 | Stevenage Borough |
| Butler 83' | Crawshaw 17' (pen) | |
| Kirby s.o. 61' | ||
| Att: 4,847 |
United line-up: Barrett, Chenery (McCammon 75'), Wilson, Ashbee, Foster, Campbell, Wanless, Benjamin, Taylor, Kyd (Butler 46'), Beall.
Subs not used: Marshall, Joseph, Rees.
Booked: Kyd (foul 34'), Foster (78').
Ref: Mr B. Coddington (Sheffield).
[Keith Webb's match report] [Terry Wilby's match report] [Gareth Challis' player ratings]
Keith Webb's match report:
Another Jeckyl and Hyde performance from United as we managed to lower ourselves to Stevenage's standard. For the first scrappy 15 mins 'boro were just happy to clear their lines and looked decidedly uncomfortable on the ball. The only problem was we were in 'hoof it aimlessly' mode for most of the first half and we were subjected to absolute 'pants' football. When we did manage to play it around a bit we either went backwards/sideways or tried to walk the ball into the net and for the umpteenth match managed to miss chances that were easier to score, with again Benjamin deciding the ball needs to travel at the speed of light whenever he shoots. The more I see him play the more I'm reminded of Devon White (o.k. not quite THAT bad). I didn't have a completely clear view of the penalty incident but the ref was a total prat in first waving play-on indicating a dive, and then looking at his linesman before changing his mind.
I am still mystified as to our formation/team selection.
Trev Benjamin on the left wing?? if you had to pick any of our forwards to play wide my vote would go to Taylor who is not only good at holding the ball up but is more skillful than is given credit for.
Michael Kyd instead of Butler?? No way is Kyd fit yet and is much a liability as is Trev Benjamin on the wing. Butler is fit and hungry and should at least start the game with Kyd as his replacement on the bench.
What has happened to Adi Hayes?? He had a couple of cracking games and would make a better wingback than Ben Chenery who panics when under pressure and gives the ball away too cheaply when pushing forward.
Wilson?? Solid player coming forward but his delivery on crosses is 99% toilet, we need quality balls into Taylor and Benjamin to unsettle defenses.
At least in the second half the players looked as if they cared enough and were fired up, obviously got a rollocking from McFarland for being as crap as Stevenage were. We deserved the equaliser if only on effort rather than quality football and should have won it as first Butler missed a peach of a chance straight after the Stevenage hacker got his marching orders, then just after we equalised Taylor missed the kind of chance he would have buried earlier in his career. That was quickly followed by a shot from Wanless that flashed just over. In the end Stevenage were just hanging on and in truth were pretty dire throughout the game apart from the occasional break when we were chasing the game.
Can we play as bad in the replay?? I hope not and also hope Roy changes things around a bit. Benjamin on the wing?? Nearly as daft as 5ft 2 Matt Joseph at centre half and 6ft 2 Jody Craddock at right back.
Keith
Terry Wilby's match report:
Who wants to go to Swindon anyway?
If we play without passion as we did most of the game on Saturday we will lose in the replay at Stevenage. We were not very good, luckily Stevenage showed nothing apart from booting the ball long. Scott Barrett only had 1 save to make, in the second half Foster got caught in possession on the half way line, the attacker had a clear run to goal but Barrett made a good 1 handed save.
For the penalty decision, a Stevenage player ran into our penalty area, had kicked the ball over the goal line before falling over Foster's outstretched foot. The referee looked to the linesman who gave no signal, and seemed to indicate a goal kick. The Stevenage players started running back, (the chap who fell over making faces at Wilson or Campbell) with no complaints about not getting a penalty. The referee then decided it was a penalty, maybe the linesman had indicated something by then. Barrett went the wrong way.
In the first half we had a couple of half chances, but didn't test their goalkeeper. In the second half we played better, although not anywhere like our recent best. It was enough to keep Stevenage in their own half most of the time. Benjamin who was more on the wing than normal was being pulled down almost every time he got the ball and tried to turn the defender. This eventually led to the defender getting a second yellow card so off he went.
Our normal play against 10 men is not usually very good, this was no exception, we didn't make use of the extra man. Our goal came from 1 of the few decent crosses, the 'keeper came a long way out and for a change failed to take the ball cleanly, Shaggy knocked it over his shoulder to Butler who finished it with a good shot from around 12 yards. We had chances to win, Shaggy missing a couple of the best ones as Stevenage tired.
Beall was again my MoM, he was able to hold the ball and look for something, the rest seemed to want to get rid of the ball as soon as they got it. The defence looked sound but really had little to do, the wing backs rarely crossed decently. Kyd looked totally out of the game, and was substituted by Butler at half time. Shaggy and Benjamin didn't do a lot. I wonder if 2 games a week is too much for Benjamin at the moment. Perhaps he's best used as a sub. McCammon (an even bigger looking coloured forward) came on towards the end for Chenery, he looked confident on the ball but didn't have enough time to show much else.
In general, a game we never looked like losing (even though the goal took a long time coming!), and should have won easily. At least it's not far for the replay.
Ratings: Barrett 6, Chenery 5 (McCammon 5), Wilson 5, Ashbee 6, Foster 5, Campbell 6, Wanless 6, Benjamin 7, Taylor 7, Kyd 4 (Butler 6), Beall 8
Gareth Challis' ratings:
Ratings for Stevenage:
Barrett 4, Chenery 4, Wilson 5, Ashbee 6, Foster 5, Campbell 5, Wanless 5, Benjamin 6, Taylor 6, Kyd 4, Beall 7 *MoM*
McCammon 5 (for Chenery), Butler 5 (For Kyd)
Many thanks to Keith, Terry and Gareth for their reports and ratings.
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