Another Jersey Mike’s (not Guernsey George, Alderney Alan, Sark Simon or Herm Harry) trophy match, this time against Northampton. Many fans don’t seem to like these matches! I do, as it means not having parking problems, not opening the CFU Cabin, being able to walk in the Supporters Club and go straight to the bar, no queues at the turnstiles, no wait for food and plenty of seats in the Main Stand to choose from. 888 people did turn up, of which 100 were in the Habbin South following Cobblers.
U’s starting line up: Breeze in goal, back 3 of Watts, Heffernan, and Bauer. Kaikai wide right, Heath wide left, Hoddle and Bradshaw in front of the defence, Mpanzu and Bangura-Williams behind Ahadme.
Hughes, McConnell, Ball, Moxon, Knight, Lavery, McDougald, and Herd on the bench.
Not a great deal happened in the early stages, U’s looking slightly more in control but not troubling their keeper, Cobblers having a couple of long shots, one from a free kick allowed Breeze to show his juggling skills….. got it….dropped it…. patted it up a couple of times…grabbed it! the sort of thing where defenders probably wished they were wearing brown shorts!
Mid way through the half U’s had a really good move involving a number of passes that set up Heath for a shot which was straight at the keeper, soon after more good play on our left put Heath clear, he cut the ball back for Mpanzu to sidefoot home from around 10 yards. 1-0 on 28 minutes.
Half time: 1-0 No 50/50 draw at this match.
Moxon came on for Hoddle at the start of the second half, Northampton also made changes which put them more on the front foot and they soon got the equaliser form their left, a ball between Kaikai and Heffernan allowed a low cross missed by both Bauer and Watts for a simple sidefoot by Warburton from around 8 yards. 1-1 on 50 minutes.
A spell of U’s pressure resulted in a corner, as the ball came over Ahadme was pulled to the ground and the referee awarded a penalty. A bit of a surprise as usually things like that are not given! Ahadme took, and scored the penalty. 2-1 on 62 minutes. I was half expecting a retake as Kaikai and a bunch of other players wandered into the penalty area bfore Gassan hit the ball!
Lavery, Knight and Ball came on to replace Ahadme, Kaikai and Bauer at the same time.
Knight had a shot saved, Lavery shot across goal and wide from a tight angle when cutting it back might have been a better option.
Herd came on for Bangura-Williams on 77 minutes playing as left full back but able to go forward to support the attack as the formation changed to 4-4-2.
Final score: 2-1.
Not the greatest of performances, but it got the job done. Good to see George Hoddle back and get a solid 45 minutes doing what he does best: getting the ball, giving the ball with no drama.
The back 3 with Bauer in the middle giving instructions worked pretty well. Bradshaw often dropped back as left full back, Kaikai did the same on the right, however Sullay is not a full back, and got caught out by their winger running on his blind side which resulted in their goal.
As usual Ahadme did a lot of running to make life difficult for their defenders, Heath looked dangerous, RBW was OK without setting the world on fire!
Breeze looked solid (apart from his one juggle), claiming crosses with aplomb, and his kicking was good.
2 wins should be enough top get through to the next round, although I’m not sure Neil Harris would be too keen to go through. I don’t imagine much profit was made on the night, but a a chance for some to get a bit of match practice is nice.
Nice and easy getting away from the Abbey, shame the A14 junction at Fen Ditton was shut again (annoyingly no warning until you get to the junction) so the journey home included a ride through Horningsea and Waterbeach.