For those who read Tuesday’s match report will know I hate the cold. Today it seemed colder, perhaps due to the freezing fog. Why do some drivers not use their lights in fog. Maybe cars should have a specially bright light at the back so they can be seen! Anyway, I went full cold weather gear: two pairs of thick socks, thermal long johns, base layer + sweatshirt+hoodie+coat, snood, hat, gloves and scarf. As a fashion statement it does not look good, but I don’t care if it keeps me warm! I had ordered a heated waistcoat, but it hasn’t arrived yet.
Barry Corr’s first team selection as temporary manager, and it wasn’t much different from the last team picked by Mark Bonner: Stevens in goal, back line of L Bennett, Morrison, Okedina, Andrew, Thomas and Digby in the middle, Brophy and Kaikai wide, Kachunga behind Okenabirhie at the front.
The pitch looked great as we would expect from Ian Darler, especially as he told us on Youtube the night before. The only problem was visibility due to the fog, which wasn’t too bad in Cambridge but did make following the flight of the white ball dificult. How about using an orange (or pink or old style brown) ball to make seeing it easier?
6 minutes in and following a foul on Kachunga Andrew took a free kick from around 20 yards and put the ball in the far corner of the net. 1-0, U’s taking the lead in a match!
A few minutes later L Bennett set up Kaikai who dance into their penalty area past a defender then shot across goal, the ball hitting the back post and rebounding back for Kachunga to tap in from 6 yards. 2-0 after 10 minutes. What is going on?
A good through ball from Kaikai set up Okenabirhie to run at goal and he finished well to make it 3-0 after 13 minutes. Dreamland!
Fleetwood then decided to make a game of it with some pressure and corners, and U’s had to make some last ditch tackles to stop them scoring.
Okenabirhie had gone down injured early in the game, and on 20 minutes went down again and was replaced by Ahadme.
Kaikai was having a great game and again took the ball into their penalty area near the bye line and went down after being pushed from behind and the referee gave the penalty on 27 minutes. Soft maybe, but we’ll take anything. Unfortunately Ahadme didn’t take the opportunity, his penalty was down the middle as the keeper went to the right, but the ball had so little pace the keeper was able to turn and grab it!
Andrew took another free kick from a similar position to his goal but this time the keeper stopped it.
Fleetwood continued to look dangerous at times, and on another day could have got a goal or 2, but more last ditch defending, and some poor shooting meant they didn’t score.
Half time: 3-0 (but could have been 5-4!)
In the second half the pace seemed to slow, and Fleetwood looked resigned to the defeat. Brophy had a good chance and saw his shot from the edge of the penalty area clip the top of the bar.
Kaikai and Kachunga were replaced by Janneh and Lankester on 72 minutes, McConnell and Haunstrup came on for Brophy and Andrew 8 minutes later.
Last real action was Digby dinking the ball into the 6 yard box for Ahadme to put the ball in the corner of the net with defenders AWOL and the keeper helpless. 4-0 after 83 minutes.
Final score: 4-0.
Fleetwood looked quite reasonable going forward (they spent a lot of money on Stockley and Marriott!) but defence let them down, and like us they fell apart after conceding. I can’t remember U’s ever scoring 3 goals in 6 minutes!
So what was different from Tuesday? The players seemed to be half a yard quicker, and played the ball to each other. Maybe the cold weather made them want to keep warm, maybe the fog meant they had to squint to see their colleagues and be more careful when passing! Or maybe the thought that the next manager might be watching from the Main stand was enough for them to up their game to what they were doing earlier in the season. Maybe Corr has the magic touch? Maybe the crowd of 3387 (106 made the long trip from Fleetwood) was lower than we have seen all season and that helped the players? Whatever the reason, long may the cup run last, and we pick up more league points.
Final comment: Next time we get a penalty how about hitting it hard? If the keeper guesses correctly or gets in the way the power takes him into the net too!