Match Details

Reports

Crichton

West Davis Thomas Smith

Little Mullin Cook Johnrose

Cooke Branch

Subs Mellon for Little, Lee for Branch, Brass for Smith all in the last 15 mins.

Both sides started briskly, however the Clarets seemed to get the better of the early skirmishes without creating a clear cut chance. However after about 5 mins they opened the scoring with a rather comical goal. From one of the corners the Clarets forced, Cook wanged in one of his bendy jobs from the right which caused panic in the United defence. The ball was cleared outwards only for a Cambridge player to return it to Cooke standing in the six yard box, in attempting to round the defender in front of him Cookey conceded possession. However instead of pumping the ball into the Car Park, (No row K to Z at the Abbey) he hesitated for a second, whereupon Cooke pounced in a flash and whipped the ball in the net from close range. A case of a newly promoted side exhibiting Pub League defending for a goal which ultimately separated the two sides.

Really that was it. Despite much huffing and puffing from both sides I can't recollect either goalie having to make a really serious save apart from a few long range efforts, notably one by Davis from the halfway line. Cambridge attempted to exploit the perceived weakness of Smithy down their right but to his credit the lad stood tall and had his golden moment when the dinky electronic sub changer gismo flashed up the number of the bloke assigned to rip him apart. His silver moment came late on a game when he produced a trick out of the Brazilian coaching manual down on the far left touchline to bamboozle his opponent and whip in the cross of the night. One which was far too good for a Paytonless forward line as it not only took out the goalie, the Cambridge defence, but Cooke and Lee as well, and with Mellon on to play a deeper role than Little, it was completely wasted.

Overall not a bad performance. A strenuous evening with little subtlety or art, but the Clarets ground out a result. Even in Kitchen Sink time Cambridge never really broke through despite having the Lion's share of possession. Considering BFC were Paytonless it was a good result.

PERFORMANCES

Crichton did OK, he still looks shaky under the high balls, but dealt comfortably with the rest of the work. In front of him Davis was back to his determined best, after his Scunny nightmare, but frankly United's tactics of trying to get the ball wide and scorning the direct route helped his cause. I thought Thomas looked a little less convincing than when I had seen him previously at Oldham, some of his distribution was wayward at times. For me the jury is still out on West, however as a defender he looks competent enough although he looks a nosebleed type whenever he gets to the final quarter. Smithy had a fine game after a bit of a shaky start when he passed straight to the oppo a couple of times. On this performance Cowan will struggle to get back in, although his opponent wasn't the best I have seen.

In the middle Johnrose in particular caught the eye, his aggressive non stop display saw him having a go at one end and doubling up on Smithy at the other. An impressive performance and probably my MOTM. In sharp contrast was the seemingly lethargic performance by Mullin. Looking lightweight in this rumbustuous contest and a couple of yards off the pace throughout, to me he looks as if he is going to have to sharpen up if he wants to keep his place, especially if Weller is going to come back into the equation. Apart from one good run and pass at the end when he played Cooke in, its difficult to remember a positive contribution from John all night. Contrastingly Cook ran the show in the middle. Sat near the pitch, one can hear him organising and prompting the others to take up positions and the solidity of the team owes much to him methinks, as he gets the others working. Added to this he plays the odd telling ball but is inclined to safety first.

This was a game where Little could well have been influential, however old bendy legs looked a pale shadow of the player who used to beat defenders for fun, and then go back and have some more, and despite one or two trademark runs, really his attacking threat was limited. It was left to Cooke and Branch to carry the threat and Cooke in particular had an outstanding game. He was all over the place, challenging and holding up play when in possession. Thats not to diminish the part played by Branch who for me had his best game in a Claret shirt.

Despite not having the best of service Branch and Cooke managed to occupy the Cambridge defence to give our own some relief, but in truth most of the game was played in the middle of the pitch. Cooke looked well up for it tonight and being a serial goalscorer we are now due a splurge taking him up to the fifty mark.

Of the subs. Lee came on and showed some nice touches on the ball, which was encouraging, it was also nice to see Brassy given a very brief run out. Whilst Cambridge are not the best side in the Division having beaten only Reading Colchester at home, this was only the second time they had failed to score and the only other home loss was to Stoke, also both Brentford and Notts County drew here. In seasons gone by this was a game where BFC could well have wilted under the pressure to lose points. So far, Scunthorpe excepted, they have whacked all the lowly sides encountered, which has not always been the case previously.

For the time being we are back on course, and four points from the last three indicates that the side can drop points at home as they can pick them up away, having conceded only three on their travels in 7 games.

It will be interesting to see the difference 4 4 2 makes at home against Bristol who may well be the first side to feel the brunt of the more attack orientated formation. I think it should work if the right personnel are selected. The danger is that Burnley might be more prone to concede, but what the heck, they've been doing that anyway.

So I am looking forward to Bristol City being given a good lamping on Saturday, taking into account their 1 - 1 draw with Colchester, City could be a nice juicy plum ripe for plucking, eating and spitting the stone out, into a nearby receptacle, of course.

Igor

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