| Cambridge United | 1-1 | Lincoln City |
| Chenery 25' | Alcide 57' | |
| Att: 3,891 |
United line-up: Barrett, Chenery, Ashbee, Duncan, Joseph, Campbell, Wanless, Preece, Taylor (Benjamin 83'), Kyd, Barnwell (Williamson 90').
Sub not used: Hayes.
Ref: Paul Danson (Leicester).
[Terry Wilby's match report] [My summary of media reports]
Terry Wilby's match report:
I got interviewed by Sky on my thought of John Beck before the match while selling Rabbits, but I don't think it was used. I haven't got Sky, so haven't seen the TV version. Loads of kids getting in for a quid, some looked rather old to be termed a kid though, but at least the main stand looked fairly full.
As a game it was not particularly good, with not much to write about and few clear cut chances. We started well with Kyd having a curling shot hit the angle of post and bar after 4 minutes, and some-one shot the rebound past the far post. We scored with a cross from Chenery near the touch-line that swerved in at the near post, their 'keeper anticipating the cross and could not stop it going in.
Lincoln equalised in the 11th minute of the second half, a long throw headed on and looped in at the far post. If we had defended as if it was a corner there would have been a man on the back post. Barnwell managed to miss from 3 yards by scooping the ball over the bar following a head on from Taylor. 10 minutes from time Kyd had a shot miss the goal by about a foot. Towards the end Shaggy was replaced by Benjamin, a minute from the end Williamson came on for Barnwell.
Lincoln played as expected without really creating opportunities, but really stopped us playing by very quickly closing down whoever was on the ball. The times when we spread the ball quickly we made thing happen, unfortunately we didn't do that very often. Our defenders coped fairly well with the high ball, their defenders never let our forwards get anything in the air. Preece was my MoM for trying to play football, Lincoln realised this and hacked him down at least 4 times which resulted in 2 bookings. I would have brought on Benjamin earlier for Kyd or Barnwell in order to upset their central defenders. I guess a draw was a fair result in the end.
Ratings: Barrett 6, Chenery 6, Ashbee 6, Duncan 6, Joseph 6, Campbell 6, Wanless 6, Preece 7, Taylor 6 (Benjamin 5), Kyd 6, Barnwell 6 (Williamson 5).
My match report (via Sky TV):
First team regular Paul Wilson missed out tonight through suspension so Ben Chenery returned to the side after recovering from 'flu. David Preece continued to deputise for the suspended 'Billy' Beall, and Ian Ashbee returned after recovering from a virus to replace Grant Brebner. The Manchester United midfielder has been recalled after a month on loan but his Old Trafford team mate Andy Duncan started his second month at the Abbey.
United lined up in the 4-3-3 formation that yielded a 0-0 draw at Sincil Bank earlier in the season, with the pace of Jamie Barnwell and Michael Kyd supporting John Taylor. Jamie Campbell - playing his 150th League game - moved over to fill Paul Wilson's left back slot and Ian Ashbee, another versatile player, played in midfield instead of central defence.
Michael Kyd got the game off to an excellent start when after just four minutes he got on the end of a John Taylor flick-on and his rocket shot from outside the area hit the angle. Ian Ashbee reacted quickly to connect with the rebound but his shot was just wide. Lincoln dominated possession for the first 20 minutes and the United defence had to deal with a barrage of high balls and long throws into the box, but the U's persevered with their passing game and took the lead in the 25th minute.
The move started wide on the left just inside United's half when player-coach David Preece collected the ball, advanced and fed it through to Paul Wanless. The powerful midfielder took the ball forward and passed it to Ashbee on his right, who again advanced and then fed it wide to the on-running Ben Chenery. The right-back took the ball forward to the corner of the penalty area and launched a deceptive cross into the box that curled into the net, leaving Barry Richardson clutching at fresh air as he back-pedalled into the net.
Four minutes later Preece started another good move from the halfway line when he passed to Paul Wanless who advanced before feeding the ball to Taylor, but the big forward ran at goal only to shoot over the bar. United continued to defend well against the barrage of throw-ins from the right, with Marc Joseph having a very good game in the centre of defence. After one brave tackle he had to leave the pitch for a couple of minutes of treatment from Ken Steggles and Taylor dropped back into defence to help with the aerial bombardment.
There was only one team trying to play football tonight and during the first half Sky TV commentator Alan Brazil was prompted to say, "Watching this kind of direct football makes Wimbledon look like Real Madrid"!
Four minutes before half-time Taylor was back in attack to head a Preece free kick just over the bar, and United continued to play football while Lincoln's tactics were to get the ball forward by the most direct option. They were having limited success with their long throws into the box, possibly due to the wide Abbey Stadium pitch, and the first time they varied it by throwing it short and crossing into the box, Scott Barrett was alert and well positioned to save a header from Brown.
That was the last attack of the first half but a former United player was put well and truly on the spot by Sky TV reporter Alan Bentley during the interval. Danny Granville, who left the Abbey to join Chelsea last Match in a £350,000 transfer, was watching the game and said he thought United deserved to be in the lead, but then the questioning turned to Ruud Gullit's departure from Chelsea yesterday. Granville had to deflect questions about what the Chelsea squad thought about the matter and was suitably vague in the face of some pointed questions, saying they would have to "wait and see" how things developed under new player-boss Gianluca Vialli.
It was more of the same after the break as Lincoln came out after an ear-bashing from Beck and caused United some jittery moments from the kick-off. The U's were not helped by referee Paul Danson who awarded a corner to the Imps when it was clearly a goal-kick, but the ball was cleared from danger.
United were noticeably quick with the ball in this half, with lots of first-time passing and good movement off the ball, and Barnwell and Kyd caught the eye with their pace and running. Lincoln kept on with their game plan and passed up a glorious chance to equalise in the 49th minute when the impressive Dean Walling raced into the box to meet a corner kick, but his downward header was too powerfully hit and it bounced up and over the crossbar.
John Beck revealed that at half-time he instructed his players to mark man-for-man in midfield and that seemed to mean that David Preece got clattered every time he held onto the ball for more than two seconds! In the 55th minute Thorpe was booked for a late and clumsy tackle on Preece, but two minutes later the Imps were level.
From yet another long throw-in by Fleming, Colin Alcide rose at the near post and his back header looped over Barrett and into the far corner. It was probably about as intentional a goal as Chenery's, but it counted just the same. United could have gone ahead again within a minute as Jamie Barnwell stuck out a leg to connect with a cross, but the ball went over the bar from point-blank range.
Referee Danson annoyed the home fans again by awarding Lincoln another corner instead of what was clearly a goal kick, and it was to the great credit of United's young defence that they cleared yet another gift to the visitors. Joseph and Andy Duncan coped well with the Lincoln air force and Jamie Campbell looked cool and accomplished at left-back, but Mr Danson was to plumb new depths in the 69th minute when Michael Kyd was quite clearly felled in the box.
The young forward was tussling with Austin as he raced towards goal, and he was bundled over on the edge of the box only to leap to his feet and run after the ball. The grounded Austin quite clearly lunged at him and lifted him off his feet - in full view of Danson and his assistant - but incredibly nothing was given. You could sense from that point that United would get nothing more from tonight's game!
In the 72nd minute John Taylor got on the end of a Barnwell cross but Richardson saved bravely to clear the danger, and four minutes later at the other end Marc Joseph intercepted Lee Thorpe's run in time to allow Barrett to safely collect the ball. Mark Hone was booked for his second late tackle on the diminutive David Preece, who will surely be black and blue after his treatment in the second half.
In the 80th minute Preece took only United's second corner of the evening. Although Taylor rose well the ball was beaten away to the edge of the box where Kyd collected it and fired a shot in from 18 yards, but it was always rising and cleared the bar. Preece was then again clattered by Hone as the United supporters cheered the appearance of Trevor Benjamin on the sideline, ready to enter the fray. The big teenager replaced Taylor in the 83rd minute and did his usual job of chasing lost causes and keeping the Imps defence on their toes, but two minutes later a mistake by Andy Duncan allowed Brown to get a good cross into the box. Fortunately it was too long for Alcide.
The introduction of Benjamin coincided with a period of late pressure for United and in the 86th minute Michael Kyd won our third corner. Preece delivered another good cross but Richardson commanded his box well and took the ball. Another corner a minute later came to nothing and then in the 89th minute Preece played Barnwell in on the right, and the forward had a shot at goal from just inside the box. He seemed to stretch and injure himself slightly in the process, so the waiting Davey Williamson replaced him with just minutes to go.
Like Benjamin, Williamson made the most of his time on the pitch to run at the Lincoln defence and cause as many problems as he could. Two minutes into injury time Benjamin caused a few flutters in the Imps defence when he charged down a goal kick, but unfortunately there was no repeat of his FA Cup goal against Plymouth and the ball went for a throw-in. There was time for one more corner as United kept up their late pressure, and it was good to see that United had no intentions of conceding a costly late goal tonight.
After the game Ben Chenery was honest enough to admit that he had not intended to shoot at goal when he scored, describing it as a cross and adding, "I didn't hit it as well as I hoped and it went in!" Lincoln, he said, were "very difficult, you're always under pressure."
The first question asked of Roy McFarland was about the incident when Michael Kyd was brought down in the box. "I thought it was a penalty," he said straightaway. "The referee and linesman were both on that side and I'm surprised they didn't see it."
On the overall performance he said he was pleased with his team's performance before the break, but lamented the fact that in the second half Lincoln were able to break up play and counter-attack so often: "In the second half we failed to keep the ball in their half."
Asked his opinion on Lincoln's style of play he shrugged, "I just wonder what their players do day in, day out! It's not my style of football. I like to get it down and play. They wouldn't let us get it down and play."
John Beck admitted after the game that United had dominated the midfield in the first half as he was caught out by the change to a 4-3-3 formation, but he explained that in the second half he had pushed an extra man into midfield so his players were "making contact". David Preece would certainly testify that they were making contact!
Roy McFarland was asked what the rest of the season holds for Cambridge United and he replied, "We're starting to build again." He explained that replacing the likes of Danny Granville, Jody Craddock and Micah Hyde with free transfer players has had a huge effect on the team. "All credit to the players who have come in and worked hard," he said, while adding that he will probably take the opportunity to give the young players a chance between now and the end of the season.
Many thanks to Terry for his report and ratings.
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