football rambles

 Finally a win! It seems like ages since we witnessed a Cambridge win at the Abbey - because other than a dead rubber in the Papa John Trophy in reality it is! Both teams went into this game in terrible form, but given that Cambridge had lost at home in the week to fellow strugglers Cheltenham, we weren't confident of getting a result and a defeat would have surely meant a final nail in the coffin of any hopes of staying in League 1 next season. It's still going to be hard, but at least this result gives the Us some hope and there were encouraging signs from players coming into the team. Ryan Bennett who joined as a free agent added some solidity in defence. Liam Bennett returning from a loan move at Walsall offered something different at full-back. Conor McGrandles, who joined on loan from Charlton added some bite to midfield and Jack Lankester, who was already at the club added a spark going forward. I was also impressed by George Thomas, who signed on deadline day from QPR a

 On Saturday we had another trip to Bishop's Stortford to see the nomadic Enfield take on West Essex in the Essex Senior League and like most of our recent trips, the outcome was pretty disappointing.  Enfield were the stronger team in the first half, but despite a couple of chances early on not a lot happened and the teams went in an equal terms at the break. West Essex came out a bit stronger in the second half, but the real game changer was Zak Oliver, who came on late for the visitors and scored twice and managed to hit the bar too. Not a bad 20 minute cameo! Enfield stay top of the league, but this was a disappointing result and a fairly lackluster performance.   

 It wasn't a bad performance, but mistakes really undid Villa in this game. It all looked like it was going to go well when Ollie Watkins opened the scoring on 9 minutes. However, the lead didn't last for long as Villa got caught out playing from the back and Leicester had an equaliser from Maddison straight after. Villa with a bit better application could have gone into the lead at the break, as Watkins forced an error from Souttar to give Villa the lead again on 32 minutes. However, a couple of lapses in concentration gave Iheanacho a goal and Tete one, so Villa actually went in 3-2 at the break. Obviously, Villa need to press in the second half and although Buendia, Watkins and Bailey all had chances the application wasn't quite there. Villa then made the mistake of over committing and praet rounded off a miserable day for the Villans