We started 2025 badly (to remind yourself read The Season That Nearly Was) , but ended it with 4 points from 2 difficult away matches. Starting 2026 with 2 home games and I was hoping for another 4 points from those games, with Walsall being the team we couldn’t beat.
Walsall had been top of L2 for most of the season, only dropping to 3rd in the last week or so but were 6 points above the U’s. Their nickname is The Saddlers, and their manager is Mat Sadler. I wonder if there is a Mr (or Mrs) U who could be a future manager of CUFC? I suspect the nearest we could get is Mr Yu from China, and there is a Mr Ewe on Facebook!
The weather was cold, but quite sunny. I did wear my heated waistcoat, so I was OK! Apparently the pitch, which had been under covers for a few days to protect from frost, almost needed watering! I’m told that if the moisture level is too low the surface will break up. After the match the sprinklers were on for a short time before the covers were put back.
A few changes to the team today, probably because Neil had seen the size of many of the Walsall players!
Starting line up: Eastwood in goal, a back 3 of Watts, Rossi and Jobe. Bennett and Brophy wide with McLoughlin, Ball and Knight in the middle, Kaikai and Appere up front.
U’s were attacking the South Stand in the first half, and took a while to get going. Hurried clearances, inability to hold the ball, conceding possession….perhaps too much celebrating the change of the year? You could see why Walsall were at the top, get crosses in to the big men at the front! The U’s back 3 dealt with the aerial threat nicely.
A Walsall through ball almost caught out the defence, but Rossi got back an made a super tackle to rob Kanu as he was about to shoot.
After around 20 minutes U’s found a bit of rhythm without really testing the keeper, and the nearest we got to a shot on goal was a long back pass by a defender!
Towards the end of the half Walsall had another attack halted by a superb tackle by Bennett.
In added time we took the lead. A long ball into the Walsall penalty area didn’t look to be a danger to them, but their defender was closed down/tackled by Brophy (yes, he can tackle!) who squared the ball to the unmarked Knight to shoot home from around 12 yards. 1-0 after 45+1 minutes.
Moments later it should have been 2, a U’s corner was flicked on to the back post for Jobe to have a stooping header into an open goal, but the ball hit the post, rebounded against the arm of a defender and was cleared. Ball appealed for a penalty while Mamadou held his head at missing such an easy chance (much like the Chesterfield player who missed an open goal in our previous match!).
Half time: 1-0. Ticket number 18683 won £588 in the 50/50 draw.
The second half continued with U’s just about on top, and the score was doubled on 52 minutes, Appere doing well to turn a defender near the halfway line then put the ball through for Knight to run on to and lob the keeper from just outside their penalty area. 2-0.
Soon after and Knight could have had his hat-trick with an amazing overhead kick about 12 yards out which hit the bar with the keeper well beaten. It was so nearly “Goal of the Season”!
Hoddle and Mpanzu replaced McLoughlin and Ball on 64 minutes, Brophy and Appere were replaced with Purrington and Lavery on 72 minutes.
More U’s chances, Lavery shooting wide from a tight angle when a pass back to Kaikai might have been better.
Knight got a standing ovation when he was replaced by Kachunga with 10 minutes to go.
Walsall realised their tactics of crossing to their big men was getting them nowhere so bought on some smaller players and changed their pattern of play, and they were rewarded with a couple of minutes to go when Bennett made an unnecessary and rash challenge just inside our penalty area near the bye line and the referee pointed to the spot. Watching the replay it looked as if Liam got the ball, but it was a silly tackle. As at Gillingham Eastwood saved diving to his right.
Final score: 2-0.
The unbeaten run continues, now it is 10 league games without defeat, and we move up to 5th in the league. It is very tight with only 9 points separating the top 8 teams. Bromley start the year on top with 6 straight wins. No-one but a die hard Bromley fan would have predicted that! Will they still be up there when we play them away in April?
Another good crowd of 7277 (825 Walsall fans), our second highest of the season (Barnet the highest so far).
I think it was the UTAS preview where they talked to a Walsall fan who said that any high balls to their defence would be cleared by their man mountain #4 Flint. And that was true, so we played the ball wide, and kept the ball low and found he had the turning circle of a battleship! Maybe it was his height, or perhaps the headband he wore to keep his hair in place, as he seemed to have no balance and fell over very easily whenever Appere was trying to get to the ball on the ground! Many of his team-mates also seemed unable to stay on their feet, going down under the weakest of challenges. Towards the end Walsall got a bit more physical as U’s passed the ball around to use up time, the referee let a few challenges go and almost had a “no bookings” day but a late agricultural tackle by Browne in the 7 minutes of added time meant he had to show the only yellow card.
The stats show a fairly even match, we had 8 shots with 3 on target, they had 10 and 3. The weirdest stat is that we had 6 crosses, Walsall had 36!
Knight rightly got MOM for his 2 goals and outstanding play, when he performs like that you can see why Man City paid a lot of money for him. Our tactics and good play meant he seemed to have time and space. And that was due to the rest of the players working really hard in both attack and defence. I think it shows what a Neil Harris team is all about: hard working and covering when we don’t have the ball, getting blocks on shots, making space to accept the ball when we get it back. We have a number of really good players, but the important thing is that they play as a team, and when changes are made the players fit in, or if the tactics change the players can adapt, which is great to see.
Like every other team we are looking for a striker. Will it be a “rough diamond” from non-league? An “out of favour” L1 player? Maybe a youngster from a championship side? It should be rather easier to persuade a striker to join the U’s when they see the chances we are making!
Grimsby next at the Abbey on Sunday 4th January. They are only a few points behind us, so it will be another hard game.
So far it is a Happy 2026.
Walsall reactions etc: https://www.cambridgefansunited.org/cufc-2-v-0-walsall-1st-january-2026-reactions/