3-4-3 is not a winning formation
Yesterday I got to a game for the first time in over a month and like the last game I went to the away team won 5-1. Volunteers had helped clear the pitch of snow at the Abbey. They probably wished they hadn't bothered. Due to having to make changes Cambridge manager Martin Ling decided to change the formation to 3-4-3, which might have worked if the forwards weren't firing blanks, although it was always going to leave the team exposed at the back.
The match didn't start off too badly for Cambridge and both Wayne Gray and Danny Wright had chances that they squandered. However, in this period Cambridge were a bit guilty of trying to walk the ball into the net and Mansfield looked dangerous on the break. They showed just how dangerous they could be when on 33 minutes Adam Murray (not to be mixed up with his namesake at Ely City) blasted the ball into the back of the onion bag. Just 4 minutes later Adam Smith doubled the visitors lead with a wicked strike that on December 28th was probably the best goal I have seen all year. The first half finished with Mansfield 2 up, but Cambridge didn't look out of the contest just yet.
Cambridge came out firing in the second half and at this point it looked like they would be happy to travel back to Nottinghamshire with a 2-0 away win. Cambridge finally got back in the game on 66 minutes with a goal from Robbie Willmott that even surpassed the blast from Adam Smith for the Stags in the first half. After beating the whole of the Mansfield defence he blasted the ball from about 30 yards out at quite an accute angle and it went flying past the keeper to make it 2-1 and it looked like it was game on.
It wasn't though and Mansfield woke up and on 73 minutes Rob Duffy put the Stags 3-1 up. Cambridge then fell apart and in the last minute the slippy pitch saw Josh Coulson knock the ball into the back of his own goal. They hadn't finished yet though and in stoppage time with the Cambridge defence at sixes and sevens Danny Mitchley made it 5-1 to the visitors inflicting Cambridge's heaviest defeat since 2007.
The match didn't start off too badly for Cambridge and both Wayne Gray and Danny Wright had chances that they squandered. However, in this period Cambridge were a bit guilty of trying to walk the ball into the net and Mansfield looked dangerous on the break. They showed just how dangerous they could be when on 33 minutes Adam Murray (not to be mixed up with his namesake at Ely City) blasted the ball into the back of the onion bag. Just 4 minutes later Adam Smith doubled the visitors lead with a wicked strike that on December 28th was probably the best goal I have seen all year. The first half finished with Mansfield 2 up, but Cambridge didn't look out of the contest just yet.
Cambridge came out firing in the second half and at this point it looked like they would be happy to travel back to Nottinghamshire with a 2-0 away win. Cambridge finally got back in the game on 66 minutes with a goal from Robbie Willmott that even surpassed the blast from Adam Smith for the Stags in the first half. After beating the whole of the Mansfield defence he blasted the ball from about 30 yards out at quite an accute angle and it went flying past the keeper to make it 2-1 and it looked like it was game on.
It wasn't though and Mansfield woke up and on 73 minutes Rob Duffy put the Stags 3-1 up. Cambridge then fell apart and in the last minute the slippy pitch saw Josh Coulson knock the ball into the back of his own goal. They hadn't finished yet though and in stoppage time with the Cambridge defence at sixes and sevens Danny Mitchley made it 5-1 to the visitors inflicting Cambridge's heaviest defeat since 2007.
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