Stevenage Borough vs Cambridge United

Cambridge Utd: Barrett, Chenery (Wilde), Wilson, Marc Joseph, Murphy (Ashbee 73), Campbell (Preece 90, instead of a booking), Wanless (Williamson 60), Rees (Beall 78), Kyd (Taylor 60), Butler (Barnwell 60), Preece (Hayes 78).

[Jon Mansfield's match report] [Terry Wilby's match report]

Jon Mansfield's match report:
The toughest test so far this pre-season saw the U's battle out a two-all draw against a good Stevenage side.

Stevenage provided a stiff test for United stopping the passing game from getting going, and their strikers caused more problems for the United defence than during any of the previous fixtures. Both Wilson and Chenery looked stretched at times and Marc Joseph and Jamie Murphy also looked far from comfortable. The inclusion of Scott Barrett in goal came as a surprise, his claim that he has not been given a contract to sign sounds a little doubtful, although he says he has a meeting with Roy on Tuesday.

Stevenage took the lead with a near post header midway through the first half, United replied on 27 minutes with a Michael Kyd strike running through the Stevenage defence to slot home past the keeper from 8 yards out. Kyd and Butler up front never looked as sharp as they did against Norwich midweek.

In the second half Kyd again came close with a darting run from the left wing ending with a shot rebounding off the left hand upright. Stevenage regained the lead, but the United late show again came to the rescue, substitute Davey Williamson slotting past the keeper from 6 yards after some good work by Barnwell (also a sub) who crossed the ball in from the left wing.

Jamie Campbell was requested to leave the pitch for a tackle deemed to be at least a booking by the referee, the ref showing common sense and not cautioning the player officially, Preece coming back on for the second time.

A draw was just about deserved by United, but they will need to play better than this if they are to come home with the points from Scarborough in a weeks time.

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Terry Wilby's match report:
1328 people paid to see this friendly, which was played at a fairly slow pace. We managed to look the more sluggish, and Barrett had to make more saves than their 'keeper, and although their 'keeper seemed suspect in the air we didn't really test him.

We went a goal down after 24 minutes, they had a good spell of one touch football on our right which put Chenery out of position, the cross from the goal line was headed in at the near post from about 6 yards. We equalised on 30 minutes, Kyd holding off defenders to score from a through ball. They lost a player to a nasty injury, it seemed to be a dislocated ankle, which added 5 minutes to the first half.

After 12 minutes of the second half Kyd turned a couple of defenders and hit the post from a tight angle, the follow up shot from Rees was high and wide. We lost another goal when a long corner was headed back across the goal, the scorer had a free header from around 6 yards. We equalised 5 minutes from the end when Barnwell beat a defender and cut the ball back to Williamson who scored fairly easily.

There were lots of changes in the second half, with Ashbee, Williamson, Hayes, Shaggy, Barnwell and Beall coming on. Preece came back on late in the game when the referee signalled for Campbell to be substituted after what seemed like a pretty average foul tackle. Shaggy had to change shirts when his defender tried to take it off him during play, in order to stop a promising move.

My general feeling is that playing 3 centre halves is not our strength as the full backs got caught out of position too often, leaving the centre halves to deal with wingers. Barrett did all right in goal, despite some "Orients number one" barracking from some of our so called fans, who also had a go at Ashbee before he'd even touched the ball. Campbell looked OK at the back, as did Joseph, Preece always seemed t have time in midfield, Wanless did lots of running. Taylor looked better than he did last season, and Kyd looked good. He seems to have built his strength up. No one else caught my eye, but Billy Beall has some challenges for smallest player from Rees and Williamson!

I guess a draw was a fair result, but we must be more solid at the back, and make more scoring chances from our possession.

Many thanks to Jon and Terry for their match reports.

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