Cambridge United v AFC Wimbledon

[SVH]

Another tough encounter for us over the festive period, but one we should be expecting to win. Wombles haven't been great of late but a win on Monday and a good away record, I full expect this to be a game similar to the Barnet game.

Tom Elliott makes his return to the Abbey but I hope he doesn't have his shooting boots on, like 90% of the time when he was with us

 

[Wombletom]

After several lame performances including the complete capitulation at home to Stevenage, including some off field events the players were told in no uncertain terms what was expected of them.
Seems to have worked so far. Solid battling draw with 10 men v Bristol Rovers followed up by a superb away win at Exeter.

Let's hope it continues on Saturday. Tom Elliott was superb at Exeter, won almost everything and was the perfect target man.
I'm going for a close Wombles away win. Seems a long time since I've said that.

 

[Wombling Kiwi]

1-1 and where is our "ref watch" ?

 

[Arbury]

Yep reckon it will be another toughie, I know some wombles aren't happy at the minute but whenever I've seen them under ardley he always gets them up for it, organised and definitely put a shift in, so it will be tough but I'm hoping home advantage will again allow us to nick it and continue our March to the play offs( that sentence is for you vanni)

KTF

 

[Laker]

Is big Ak fit? I've not noticed him this season. Him and Elliott against Legge and Roberts could be fun....

Wimbledon have picked up again the last couple of weeks but they seem distinctly mid table (like us until 3 weeks ago) so we need to be going for the win here.

We've got quite a kind run of games until late February (Orient aside we play no one above us until then) so we need to keep picking up points.

 

[Vanni]

Tough one this and, on paper, looks set to be a very balanced game, as is often the case when the two sides meet. I'm still not convinced with our home performances, as I feel the boys are more comfortable playing away from The Abbey, and the Dons have got a decent away record so I'm going to go for a 1-1 draw.

Arbs - While I definitely agree with those fans like Tom who say L2 sides only play well in patches and don't perform for the whole 90 mins, I have some reservations, and these doubts stem mainly from the last two games. IMO, the first half at Daggers was way below the what the side is capable of, and it was only after the introduction of Simpson that we started to play well, and bear in mind that the substitution wasn't planned, but only forced.

The Barnet match was more concerning imo, as I expected Derry to instruct his players to take the game to them from the start. After all, they came to our ground with an away record of only 1 win and 2 draws in their previous 11 matches. Fortunately they didn't take their chances and we didn't find ourselves something like 3-0 down before the players finally realised what they were being paid to do.

So excuse me my fellow U's for taking a cautious approach. On the whole I consider myself a 'happy clapper' whatever that means. Everyone remembers the run-up to the playoffs, with those 4 consecutive defeats at the end of the season and the defeat at Halifax. Unlike most of our supporters at the time, I was 100% positive we were going to go up, and surely enough we did. Likewise last year with all the talk of relegation.

Play-offs here we come

 

[JonnyWomble]

Wimbledon have picked up again the last couple of weeks but they seem distinctly mid table (like us until 3 weeks ago) so we need to be going for the win.

Huh? You're 3 points above us. If we win this by 2 goals we go above you in the table. If we're distinctly mid table you can't really be much more.

 

[JonnyWomble]

Plus akinfenwa is fit, and he will rip your defence apart

 

[SVH]

Plus akinfenwa is fit, and he will rip your defence apart

All he did at your place was try to start a mass brawl and got away with a red card. I think he had Liam Hughes by the throat.

 

[womble76]

Hopefully akinfenwa will be benched again. He is dog shit this season. Anyway I will take a point nil, nil.

 

[Laker]

Huh? You're 3 points above us. If we win this by 2 goals we go above you in the table. If we're distinctly mid table you can't really be much more.

I had us down as distinctly mid table too til this little run we're on reached 5 wins from 6. If you beat us we'll revert back to that. Don't worry it wasn't personal.

 

[Slow Train to Anfield]

Our defence has been excellent lately but we haven’t been creating enough up the other end so I’m going for a low scoring draw. Tom Elliot will start alongside Lyle Taylor, he hasn’t had many chances this season but he did well at Exeter and will keep his place against his old club. With Bayo rumoured to be departing in January Tom has his chance now to cement a place in the team.

 

[SVH]

Any idea on how many you'll bring on Sat?

 

[Slow Train to Anfield]

Our travelling numbers have been a bit down this season, probably due to some of the crap we’ve served up at home. We had 250 at Newport and 315 down in Exeter so I’d guess about 450-500 will make the journey.

 

[JonnyWomble]

I had us down as distinctly mid table too til this little run we're on reached 5 wins from 6. If you beat us we'll revert back to that. Don't worry it wasn't personal.

To be fair that is a very impressive run, and had we been on it I'd be saying we're heading for the play offs.

 

[worried womble]

RefWatch; Ref for U's v Wombles game (played 5 times, D3, L2) is Tony Harrington, a 39 year old Monkey Hanger. FL ref since '12. Academy Director with Durham FA by day, and ref by night, so leads the most boring life in the history of mankind. Looks like Gavin 'Womble Lover' Ward's dumber younger brother - hair says Harrod's cosmetics counter, face says Poundstretcher toilets. Family runs a local bakers, so he's well used to seeing his mum displaying her massive baps in the window every morning, while his dad squirts his cream on her lovely tender buns, as his sister makes cream pies on the floor with big black men.
Generally does Championship & L1 games, but is dropping down to the Idiots League for this one (like Keith Hill for the Brizzle game, and that went fantastically well) - he must have done something really dreadful. Reffed Wombles once, 2-0 loss at Holker Street (5Y) in November 2010, when we had the prolific Mark '18 games & 1 goal' Nwokeji up front. Reffed U's 4 times (2-1-1), most recently the 2-1 win at home to Luton in Jan (2Y, 1 pen). Hates the scum. Reffed them once & they lost. Top, top man. Hates them. Home win % is 25% - very low. In 14 games this season he has given 40 Y & 1 R - average.

AnagramWatch; Tony Harrington = O Horny Ranting. Into Hot Granny. Granny Tit Honor. Try No Ranting Ho. Angry Horn On Tit.
Cambridge United = Diabetic Mug Nerd. Dude Embracing It. Dime c*** Brigade. Nice Timid Badger.

 

[Habbinalan]

Back in harness for this one. Got in at 3 a.m. and have managed only a bit of sleep for the second night in a row - getting too old for this lark.

A bit seems to have happened since we went off-grid (180 bird species seen including enough new ones to take the life list past 2,500). The first news before sleep brought a big grin - 6 points made that one of the best Decembers for a long while

The transfer rumours are rife. Room is being made for incoming. Glad that Simpson got a look in. If we can find or keep 3 players of the quality of Demetriou (or Taft?), Williamson (whither Gaffney?) and Ledson (will Keane finally deliver something or L Hughes get his chance) then a top10 finish, flirting with top 7, should be possible - PROVIDED WE GET IN A KEEPER!!!

Quote: Derry added: "Everyone at the club is working hard to strengthen the squad this month. Our main energy has been spent picking up the phone and calling other clubs,"

It looks like off-field activity will be as important for the season as performance and results for the next few weeks - but another win and 6,000+ crowd would be a great start to 2016. I'd be happy with a draw (2-2) to keep the momentum and a 5,000 gate with 600+ away following - surely a day/night out in Cambridge with a visit to a proper ground and a guaranteed Tom Elliot goal is more tempting than half of what's on offer in this league.

 

[Vanni]

Well done the real Dons. Totally deserved, and it also highlights the fact that Derry needs to bring in reinforcements in Jan. A defeat was always coming after our recent unbeaten run, but I'm more disappointed with the poor showing in the second 45.

Hopefully we'll get something at Crawley, but we've never won there so it's going to be tough.

 

[Laker]

Wimbledon totally outplayed us and were well deserved winners. It was coming - you can't keep playing poorly and winning.

We're distinctly mid table.....

 

[Vanni]

Wimbledon totally outplayed us and were well deserved winners. It was coming - you can't keep playing poorly and winning.

We're distinctly mid table.....

Careful Laker....or you'll be labelled as negative instead of a realist

 

[huddsmoose]

That's two terrible performances in a row, the timing might be lucky as hopefully it'll spur Derry into making some radical changes.

Out of that back 5 today the only one I'd keep would be Legge. The rest are non-league quality.

The Dons were ok but nothing special. They didn't have to be mind, as the sole tactic of firing the ball over Roberts' head for a pacy forward to run onto worked every time.

Credit to the Dons fans - noisiest I can remember at the Abbey for a while.

 

[huddsmoose]

We have an expensive yet unbalanced squad. Some very good players (Berry, Dunk, Corr) and some that need to be ushered off to the glue factory (Roberts, Keane, Omozusi).

We also handicap ourselves by opting not to have a goalkeeper in the squad.

 

[Meadow]

We also handicap ourselves by opting not to have a goalkeeper in the squad.

A couple of embarrassing moments for Lurch's boy?

 

[huddsmoose]

At least one a match but he's still better than Dunn.

 

[Wombling Kiwi]

Is big Ak fit? I've not noticed him this season. Him and Elliott against Legge and Roberts could be fun....

Wimbledon have picked up again the last couple of weeks but they seem distinctly mid table (like us until 3 weeks ago) so we need to be going for the win here.

Well you have been beaten 4-1 by a "distinctly mid table" team, how you felling now ????

 

[Laker]

Well you have been beaten 4-1 by a "distinctly mid table" team, how you felling now ????

"Felling"? What I do is grab my axe and hack away at that tree until it falls.

 

[Tom_CUFC]

4-1 flattered Wimbledon a little bit but I don't think there's any doubt that they deserved the win, sadly that game was a culmination of pretty much all the concerns we've had over the last few games, hopefully this will get it all out of the system in one go, although I was hoping that the near miss against Barnet would be the kick up the arse.

We never really got our attacking game going and we were just far too slow and trying to be too intricate, when, as the goal proved, the solution was actually really simple, get it out wide and get it in the middle, we scored from 2 corners against Wimbledon at their place and did the same here, but we just didn't get the ball in the box enough, not helped by Corr continuing to unnecessarily drift wide.

Defence was a shambles second half in particular, Roberts is a real problem individually and our lack of pace is an overall problem, we're so easy to beat, but this isn't new, hopefully it's on the list of things to be rectified. Thought the new guy had two very contrasting halves, decent first half but woefully out of his depth second.

Berry is a complete waste on the wing, a right winger is imperative. Newton was anonymous and Ledson was once again absolutely dire, he had a couple of half decent games in December but I'm just not seeing it with this kid, his pass completion % must be even worse than Liam Hughes, which is saying something. Dunk tried his best but we're going to run him into the ground at some point, he needs some help on the other side.

Williamson was quiet today, he's generally been decent for us but we shouldn't be having to worry about losing him due to Gaffney coming back, an arguably better footballer. Sadly, we're in this completely farcical situation where it looks like he will be staying with Bristol, just when you think you've seen it all with United they then go and pull something else out of the bag, I just don't see any benefit to us letting him go, zero, it'll be a travesty if we do. If the reasoning is Derry doesn't want/like him, it's completely baffling, if we're doing it because Gaffney wants to go, then what the hell is wrong with the game, when did players get so much power? He's under contract with us, there's no discussion to be had if we want him, which we should.

We needed to make a lot of big moves in January and today's result and performance hasn't really changed any of it. We need to decide what system we're going to play and start fitting the pieces around it. It should definitely include a goalkeeper, a centre back, probably a full back, a right winger, and a striker, hopefully Gaffney but if not someone else. One game doesn't change the picture and we're still well in the hunt but our next moves will be crucial, and we need to bounce back in our next two games away from home where we've been considerably better in the last couple of months.

 

[Wombling Kiwi]

"Felling"? What I do is grab my axe and hack away at that tree until it falls.

I thought even a lowly Cambridge supporter would recognise a typo when they saw one. Just a note, one does not hack away a t tree until it falls, one skillfully saws one down with a chainsaw.

 

[Laker]

I thought even a lowly Cambridge supporter would recognise a typo when they saw one. Just a note, one does not hack away a t tree until it falls, one skillfully saws one down with a chainsaw.

What's a "t tree"? We don't have those here in the UK.

 

[womble76]

It's where the oil comes from.