The Grass Isn't Always Greener

Date: 23rd January 2024

Match: King's Lynn Vs Curzon Ashton

Competition: National League North

Price: £18

"The best manager in the league" That's how King's Lynn described manager Adam Lakeland when they pouched him from Curzon Ashton earlier in the season, after their bad start to the season. 

The journey was a simple one. About a 50 minute train from Cambridge and then about a 10 minute walk from the station to the ground. 

Apologies for no photo of outside the ground, I forgot to take one!

I got Refreshments from the supporters bar. Unfortunately the young lad behind miss heard when I asked for a pint and got half a pint instead - apparently it was his 1st day. 

The view of different sides the ground.

The game was a pretty even event till 25 minutes when Curzon scored 3 goals in eight 8 minutes. 1st goal came from Lynn failing to clear a corner and was worked back into the box and finished by midfielder Stefan Mols. 3 minutes later a long ball was knocked down to that man Mols, who squared it over to Adam Barton for a simple finish. The 3rd goal was supposedly  headed over the line by Jimmy Spencer - However from my view I didn't think the whole ball crossed the line. The home fans and certainly made sure the linesman know what they thought to that decision. 

At the start of the 2nd half came the bizare choice to move Josh Coulson from center back to up front. Curzon added a 4th just after the hour, Mols getting the 2nd. Not long after they almost made it 5 Mols was denied a hattrick when his shot hit both posts and went clear. 

Overall I enjoyed my trip to The Walks and seeing all the ex Cambridge players in action.

Attendances: 675

Man of the match: Stefan Mols

Bore Draw But Solid Point

Date: 20th January 2024

Match: Exeter City vs Cambridge United 

Competition: SkyBet League One 

Price: £20

It was an early start to this one; and one we didn't even know if the game would be on when we set off. Even after our pit stop at Hopwell services (just south of Birmingham) we didn't know if it would be on. It wasn't till about 11:30am we got the news that the pitch had passed a pitch inspection.

Arrival at ground  was just past 1. We decided to try a local pub which was just round the corner of the ground.

The pint was alright, but wasn't too impressed by the pub it self. It had more of a vibe of a working man club than an actual pub. We only stayed for 1 pint then went into the ground.

A nice touch from Exeter City. 

They was given out tokens of for a free cup of tea to 1st few away fans in the ground. Unfortunately the woman behind the kiosk was being a miserable sod and wouldn't let me exchange it for a hot chocolate.

I did decide to get a pie. It was excellent and tasted very good.

We then took our place in the terrace behind the goal. Fun fact that stand they brought from Barnet. 

We was greeted Lexi the lion - one of two lions Exeter have as there mascots.

Exeter has a nice ground. A nice big terrace behind one of the goals. The stand on one side doesn't quite all along the pitch - talking to a local this is because how close the ground is to the train line. 

The teams emerge ahead of the game.

The 1st half was a really drab  encounter in which neither team manage to work the keeper. The only thing of note was Exeter and their bizarre short corner routine which they did all match and never came to anything.

The 2nd half wasn't mutch better. Cambridge right back Liam Bennet forced the Exeter keeper into a making good save late on. Jack Stephens made a fantastic save very late on to deny Exeter a late winner.

It wasn't a great game. However a draw away from home at a place where we lost our last 6 previous league visits feels like a good point. Especially as we moved another away from the bottom 4.

Attendance: 6,343

Man of the match: Liam Bennett

Goals Galore As U's Crash Out Of Cup

Date: 6th January 2024

Match: Blackburn Rovers vs Cambridge United

Competition: FA Cup - 3rd Round

Price: £10

The FA Cup is the oldest and best knock out cup competition in the world. A good run and result and it lives long into a clubs folklore.

We started the day early, 3 coaches full of fans leaving the Abbey around 7:40am. The journey up north was fine traffic wise.

We made our 1st stop at Corley services, just north of Coventry. I decided to get some breakfast and opted for a sausage,  bacon and cheese sub from Subway.

After that stop, we continued north and had a shorter stop at Knutsford services. While there we bumped into the Chasetown team, who was on there way to Liverpool to play Vauxhall Motors. 

Arriving at Ewood Park around 1:20pm I meet up with a group of friends who travelled up the day before.

Outside the ground on a cold Saturday afternoon.

Once inside the concourse of the ground, I got some refreshments. Opting for a balti pie and a pint of strongbow. Pie was good, though it didn't need to come in a stupid plastic wrapper. 

The ground was sparsely populated. Blackburn decided to close one stand and the upper half of another for the game. 1,600 Cambridge fans was behind the goal. A fantastic turn out for a long journey. 

Cambridge took the lead on 6 minutes when Jack Lankester superbly curled one into the far top corner, when Blackburn failed to clear a free kick.  Some lovely fast moving attacking movement allowed Sammie Szmodics fire home an equaliser on 23 minutes. Things weren't level for long and a nice cross was headed down for an unmarked Kaikai to fire past the Blackburn keeper.just minutes later. Rovers got there 2nd equaliser after Cambridge lost possession  rather cheaply allowed Szmodics to fire another home. He grabbed his hat trick in first half injury time when he was left unmarked when a cross came into the box. Great 1st half, was a shame that we couldn't go into break level. 

2nd half Blackburn had pulled themselves together a bit and was in much more control. The game felt like it was beyond Cambridge when Blackburn got there 4th goal of the game on 66 minutes when Sigurdsson smuggled the ball home.with 9 minutes to go Leonard headed home to complete the scoring.

Overall it was a valiant effort for a side who still didn't have a recognised striker, whom took the lead twice. However you have to defend better against the top scorer from the league above. For me personally I was happy to get another ground tick done to my total to 56/92.

Attendance: 8,311

Man of the match: Sammie Szmodics    

Goals Galore In Final Game Of The Year

Date: 30th December 2023

Match: Newmarket Town vs Woodbridge Town

Competition: Eastern Counties Premier Division 

Price: £8

With Cambridge's trip to Stevenage called off for floodlight failure( Don't get me started) and free Saturday afternoon; I decided to head to a local non league game.

Newmarket is a short train journey from Cambridge, and the ground is a short walk from the station. 

The outside of Newmarket Town's stadium 

I went for a cheese burger from the food outlet. Standard non league burger, couldn't grumble. 

View of the different sides of the ground. The pitch is a 3g pitch, so should be able to play in all conditions. 

Ryan Keeble opened the scoring for Woodbridge before Isaac Maynard quickly equalised for Newmarket before Jordan Foster put them in front. Keeble got his second to level it up before Andrew Crowe put Woodbridge in front with five minutes left of the first half. However, Ben Robinson netted the Jockeys’ second equaliser to level up the scores again.

The 1st half was an utterly bonkers one.

Bonkers 1st half. End to end frilling stuff. 

On my round the pitch at half time I took a photo of the horse statue at the entrance; which I forgot to do when I came end - D'oh . 

In the second half Newmarket was much the better side, but was unable to find another breakthrough, and Woodbridge might have nicked it at the death. Overall we was spoiled in the 1st half and it was a shame there was more goals in the second half.

Lastly apologies for the very late of getting this blog out - rather busy start to the year  

Attendance:208

Man Of The Match: Ryan Keeble