football rambles

 On Saturday we visited a new ground, but Enfield FC - not to be mixed up with the breakaway club Enfield Town play in Bishop Stortford rather than in Enfield, where they share Woodside Park with Bishop Stortford. With nothing much happening locally for us, it was a good opportunity to get to an FA Vase match at a new ground. In all honesty, it was a pretty one sided game and the Es were good for the win. They started off applying a lot of pressure on Hackney Wick and Dwade James gave the hosts the lead on 19 minutes after Ayo Odokuyo had done all of the hard work. It somehow remained 1-0 at half time despite all of Enfield's efforts. The second half carried on in much the same way the first had ended. On 48 minutes, Enfield got a deserved second when Grosvenor scored from a Warman free kick. A Cockman header made it 3-0 in stoppage time and despite the goal coming late 3-0 still flattered Hackney Wick.

 After the disappointment of the Ipswich away game being off last week this was probably as equally disappointing. Michael Duff out-though Mark Bonner in this game and hopefully this is a blip like the Lincoln at home last season rather than a sign of things to come. Barnsley were impressive in this game, but Cambridge offered very little going forward and even before the game, I thought that Joe Ironside would have been better off starting rather than Sam Smith given the way Barnsley were set up. However, even his introduction and Barnsley being down to 10 men after Liam Kiching was sent off wasn't enough to stem the tide.  Barnsley originally took the lead through Devante Cole and Robbie Cundy and James Norwood added to the issues after Ironside had been introduced and Barnsley were down to 10 men.  If Norwood can get his fitness and form back, it could be a good season for Barnsley. Cambridge need to have a bit of a rethink though after a couple of losses and some game...

 So this was the third trip in a week to the Abbey, as Cambridge took on Lincoln City. Last season, this fixture was one of the worst home games with Cambridge going down 5-1. Conversely the fixture away at Sincil Bank saw the Us win 1-0 with a last minute goal from Joe Ironside. It was Ironside who put the Imps under the cosh again. Ironside scored on 24 minutes and 27 minutes and it was a comfortable victory for Cambridge. A lot more comfortable than the Burton game. Despite only having 37% of possession and two shots on target, this felt like a really comfortable win.

This was my first trip to a Football League Trophy aka Papa John's Trophy game and it might well have been my last (can't completely rule out Ipswich at home in it though!). After the excitement of the game against Burton on Saturday, this was a bit of a lacklustre affair. Only a quarter of the ground - as expected - was open and there were a lot of part-timers taking their opportunity to see future Gooners in action. I can't say I knew any of the Arsenal players and Cambridge rang the changes to give some of the fringe players a go. I am really hoping that Rossi doesn't get near the first team any time soon, as he was turned inside out time and time again by the Arsenal attack.  Arsenal dominated most of the game and it was only the introduction of first team mainstays Ironside, May and Knibbs that really looked like creating anything, but at two down with 25 minutes left they were unable to change the U's fortunes. The damage had already been done though with two ...

 An early contender for match of the season. Saturday saw Burton Albion and their under-fire manager Jimmy Floyd-Hasselbaink visit the Abbey and despite a bright start things don't get back for the Brewers. They started off very strongly and set-up from kick-off with what looked like a fool-hardy 0-3-7 formation. We were laughing on the other side of our faces a few seconds later though when Gassan Ahadme put the visitors ahead on what was the first attack and with less than a minute on the clock.  As seems to often be the case with Burton though, they don't like to make things easy for themselves. On 10 minutes Johnny Smith was given his marching orders for an off the ball incident and despite being a goal up the Brewers were going to be playing with 10 men for 80 minutes. It seemed imperative that Cambridge put something on the board before the break and it was with some relief  when Sam Smith, who was looking to play Joe Ironside in somehow scored from a cross to give ...

 After a week in France, we were back at the football. The train strike put pay to the plans of going to Peterborough United v Lincoln or Peterborough Sports v Chester or Charlton V Cambridge. Instead we ended up at Ely Reserves, it was alright but not something that i really want to make a habit of this season.

 Saturday saw two of the teams newly promoted to the Conference North take on each other at the Bee Arena on Lincoln Road. It's really difficult to know how either team will fare and after Saturday, I am still none the wiser. In truth Buxton had the best of the early play and created more chances, but I can't say that they had any gilt-edged chances either. However, it was Sports who took the lead on the half hour mark when Dan Jarvis converted from the penalty spot. The Buxton players and fans were all complaining that when he slipped he took two touches before the ball went into the net, but as Sean has video evidence to the contrary, I am not sure where the collective illusion came from Buxton were on level terms, and deservedly so, ahead of the break when Jason Gilchrist scored an absolute screamer. The second half was dominated even more by Buxton, but this was mainly down to Kyle Barker being sent off on the 48th minute for a second bookable offence, which in all honesty ...