football rambles

 Unfortunately, I have been short on time this week so I am only coming back to this game after nearly a week.  It was a well won game by Downham, who I thought would find it tough against Yarmouth. However, the Red Army got off to a flying start that put the Bloaters on the back foot. A cross from Charlie Royle was met at the far post by Dylan Edge in the first minute to put the home team ahead.  Downham remained on top and a strike from Charlie Royle on the 20 minute mark made it 2-0. The rest of the game was well managed by Downham who kept Yarmouth at bay and gathered a fine well earned win.

 It's been a long time since I witnessed a home win and with Marine looking like relegation candidates and King's Lynn pushing for promotion, anything less than a home win on Saturday would have been a disappointment. Tommy Hughes put the Linnets 1-0 up after 10 minutes of the game and Lynn dominated the first half. However, shortly after the break Marine equalised with a goal from Joseph Mattock. The equaliser felt a bit tough on Lynn who had been dominant and continued to be. After 58 minutes they took the lead again through a goal from Ross Crane. King's Lynn continued to push for more goals, but as the game drew to a close Marine went all out for an equaliser but it eventually backfired as  Josh Hmami fired in a third to give the scoreline that was probably truer of the overall performance

 On Saturday we went to see Championship Norwich take on Premiership Brighton in the 3rd Round of the FA Cup and it was a very one sided affair with the Premier League running out 4-0 winners. Norwich had very few chances and the game was settled by four Brighton goals after a barrage of pressure from them. Two goals towards the end of the first half from Georginio Rutter were added to in the second half by Julio Encisco and Solly March to give the Seagulls a comfortable victory.

 It's been a poor season for Cambridge and it looks like this time will be the one where they finally drop back into League 2. On New Year's Day, they performed well, but always looked like coming off worse, which has been the story of the season so far. The first 30 minutes of the game saw Cambridge dominate but a lack of clinical finishing and what appeared to be a fear of missing the goal and trying to walk it in meant that Cambridge failed to convert. After this period, Reading grew into the game a bit more, but it was still Cambridge who were dominant and just as people were scratching their heads about how Cambridge wouldn't be going in at halftime with a lead, Reading scored. The defence somehow let an innocuous through ball go through to ex-Cambridge man Harvey Knibbs who slotted home to give the Royals a 1-0 lead at the break. Cambridge weren't done though and came out firing on all cylinders and after just two minutes in the half, Elias Kachunga evened the sco...