It might be the end of September, but the afternoon was sunny and warm, a nice extension to the summer!
U’s starting line up: Eastwood in goal, Watts, Heffernan, Bradshaw at the back, Ball, Moxon,McConnell, Mpanzu, Knight and Heath in the middle, with Ahadme at the front. Breeze, Appere, Lavery, McDougald, Efobi and Herd on the bench.
Not much happened in the first 20 or so minutes, U’s had more of the ball but did little with it. AFC looked dangerous on the break, former U’s loanee Stockley having a shot go wide. For U’s Knight put a shot across the face of goal
First real chance came from AFC, a cross found Stockley in between 2 defenders, his diving header was straight to Eastwood. The lesson on how not to defend was not learnt, and a few minutes later AFC took the lead. Heath wasn’t quick enough to stay with his man which allowed a cross into our penalty box, Stockley got in front of Heffernan to chest theball up then volleyed it into the for corner of the net. 0-1 on 30 minutes.
The half continued with U’s having most of the ball, but no testing of their keeper.
Half time: 0-1. 50/50 draw ticket 31399 won £554.
The second half started with Lavery coming on for McConnell, and almost immediately equalised when a shot from a tight angle almost caught out their keeper, and continued pressure made lots of half chances that would not quite get the ball in the net.
The danger with pressure is it leaves you open to a quick counter attack, and AFC had a great chance but Eastwood did really well to block the ball away, which was about the only thing he had to do in the second half!
More U’s pressure and a goalmouth scramble saw 2 shots blocked and 1 hit the bar. It seemed it would be one of those days where the ball would not go in the net!
Appere and Hoddle replaced Ahadme and Moxon on 78 minutes.
More chances spurned, then in added time Mpanzu crossed from our right defenders were fouling our players and so the crowd were shouting for a penalty but there was Bradshaw to shoot in off the keeper. 1-1.
And that is how the match ended.
First half U’s were not very good. Mpanzu was playing wide on the right, and not able to influence the match at all. McConnell was anonymous. Ahadme was doing a lot of work but getting little from their big defenders. Knight and Heath looked lively but unable to make much happen.
In the second half the running of Lavery made their defence have a lot more work, and lots of descent chances were made, but poor shooting and last ditch blocks stopped us scoring until right at the end. Mpanzu was able to get more into the game, Knight and Heath continued to cause problems, Ball had a good chance for a shot but was caught wrong footed and put the ball over.
With an experienced forward like Stockley, Heffernan will have to learn to mark closer to stop giving away easy chances.
The stats show we had 18 shots with 5 on target to their 7 and 3. We also had 40 touches in the penalty area to their 13.
The referee did not have a great game. Towards the end their keeper went down holding his leg. The trainer came on to treat him. I thought the rule was that an outfield player had to go off for a minute, but it didn’t happen! Would we have had a penalty if Bradshaw hadn’t put the ball in the net?
1031 away fans in a crowd of 7819, so not many spare places! A last minute equaliser always feels like a win, so the majority of the crowd went home happy. I suspect their fans were happy to leave with a point after all the pressure their defence had to soak up in the second half!
The point keeps U’s in 5th place, however a number of clubs didn’t play, so it is likely we’ll drop out of the play off positions! Who would have thought that would be the case this season!