football rambles

Last week we had a great day out in Cambridge and the York lads. After a few pints in The Mitre, The Barron of Beef, The Brew House and The Champion of the Thames we made our way to the Abbey Stadium to the match. We went into the home end and they went to the away for the game. The game was better than the previous Cambridge home game, but York offered little resilience in defence and at times it was too easy for the Us. Cambridge capitalised on their early domination and took the lead on 10 minutes with a Jimmy Spencer header and the writing seemed to be on the wall when Josh Couldom doubled the lead on 26 minutes. York were thrown a life line on 33 minutes when a quality strike into the top corner by James Berrett got the Minstermen right back in it.  They weren't able to capitalise though and the teams went in at the break with the home side in the lead.  The Us continued to dominate in the second half with Ben Williamson capitalising on Scott Flinders' spill in goals for ...

I finally met Phil in a pub in Milton before the game and went about drinking at a rate that wasn't safe. I reckoned that I deserved it after being messed around by bus drivers on the way there. The game wasn't that great and I must admit to having some regrets, especially with the £3 programme and £15 entry fee, when Mick phoned me up to tell me that Ely scored in stoppage time to win 2-1. The Cambridge goal came from a Ben Purkiss own goal, which settled the match, although it could have been a lot worse for the Minstermen. No wonder the travelling faithful were shouting 'Walker Out'. They got their wishes a week later and now have Martin Foyle the ex-Port Vale manager in the hot seat. I got sent the wrong way into Cambridge by a copper and didn't find very many friendly locals. In fact it was a German who finally helped me, so I probably got home later than those travelling up to Yorkshire. I have to admit that meeting Billy Brewer's best mascot mate in Yorki...

Top - the shirt that fans chose in 2004 bottom - this season's kit

Notes on the below shirt from top to bottom: 2002 - The ones with the dodgy chequered flag. 1974 - The ones with the Y that they wore when they got promotion. 1937 - The first time York appeared in red 1934 - The chocolate box kit 1922 - The original coloura

On Tuesday night big Phil will be in town for the game between Cambridge United and York City. I was getting a bit bored with the club focus format, so here is a more visual and even more potted history. York city were formed in 1909, but were disbanded and reformed after the first world war and wore the maroon and white shirts at the top. In 1929 they got into the league at the expense of Ashington who were relegated and Mansfield who won the Midlands league, but got less votes than York, who finished ninth. They also changed to brown and white shirts as a reference to the town's confectionary history. They then changed for red shirts, as the brown and white stripes were said to clash too often with their opponents. In 1974 they got all the way to division 2 and released the shirts with the big y to celebrate the fact. In 2002-2003 they almost went to the wall after being taken over by someone who didn't really have any cash and who was a car racing fan, hence the daft chequer...