Cambridge United 1 Reading 3

 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 scoring up. However, as is often the case Cambridge's happiness was short lived when Knibbs again made the most of some poor defending to give the Royals the lead back on 53 minutes. The Us fought and pushed hard for an equaliser but again the finishing was either poor or they tried to find one extra pass when a shot would have been a better option. James Brophy headed across when he had a clear chance on goal and Kachunga looked for a pass when he could have easily scored too. Unfortunately, there was another ex-Cambridge player amongst the Reading ranks, who is not scared of taking a shot on and that man was Sam Smith. On 83 minutes, he scored a fabulous volley to put an end to any chance of Cambridge salvaging a point and the make sure all three went back to Berkshire.

Another tough day where despite some good individual performances Cambridge were let down by some defensive lapses and a lack of conviction up front. There seems to be the ability there, but confidence levels are low. It also feels a bit like what could have been when players who were influential in keeping Cambridge up three years ago, turn up and run the show.






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