Tuesday 11th April 2000 : Reserves lose to strong Norwich side

The reserves completed their Avon Insurance Combination season at the Abbey Stadium last night, but were defeated by a strong Norwich City side.

The Canaries' Welsh star Craig Bellamy made his comeback from a long-term injury and was joined by Phil Mulryne who is only a couple of reserve appearances ahead of him on the comeback trail, and their presence boosted the crowd to 318. Norwich also included former U's target Paul McVeigh, and several players with first team experience.

The Us included Clive Wilson who continued his interrupted comeback from a knee injury, Tom Youngs who also built on his comeback appearance from the bench on Saturday, and Chelsea midfielder Nick Crittenden. The side was captained by Ben Chenery who started the game in central defence but switched to right-back during the first half when Norwich were giving England Under-18 international Adam Tann a torrid time.

Italian loan striker Gaetano Giallanza scored twice in the first half for Norwich, Adrian Forbes beat several United players to score straight from the second half kick-off, but Zema Abbey - who had an impressive game after looking good as a late sub on Saturday - scored in the 69th minute to make the scoreline more respectable.

Will Jones' report:

In the last match of the season, United lost to a Norwich side brimming with quality and experience. First half goals from Gaetano Giallanza put the Budgies 2-0 up and but for a fine display from Ajran Van Heusden the half-time scoreline could have been a lot worse. Norwich added to their tally 8 seconds after the referee had started the second half but from then on United took control and played some nice football.

Zema Abbey played really well up front and managed to score a goal, as well as forcing a few good saves from Robert Green in the Norwich goal. Tom Youngs played most of the game and struggled to have much impact but as ever was throwing himself at everything and looking like he was going to get injured with every touch and run!

Disappointing to end the season with a home defeat (it seemed like an away game with the number of Budgies that made the trip!) but a generally promising second half performance from the lads.

In today's Cambridge Evening News, reserves' boss John Taylor commented, "It was a disappointing way to finish the season for the reserves, we couldn't cope with Norwich's passing in the first half."

Roy McFarland said, "Norwich were excellent at times, but some of our players didn't put enough in and were told about it in no uncertain terms. Young Daniel Chillingworth did well, though, after his hat-trick for the youth team on Saturday, and will come into the reckoning for the first team squad during the run-in."

Cambridge United reserves: Van Heusden, Tann, Wilson, Grieves, Chenery (c), Cockrill, Crittenden, Youngs, Lamey, Abbey, Cassidy.
Subs: Ingham, Mercer, Chillingworth, Bridges, Howe.

Norwich City reserves: City: Green, Kenton, Derveld, Mulryne (c) (Coote 45), Mackay (Way 45), Fuglestad, Anselin, Bellamy (Forbes 45), McVeigh, Giallanza, Carey.
Subs not used: Gay, Parker.