|
|
|
STANDING ORDER FOR GOALDEN LOTTERY
|
AWAY DAYS-CAMBRIDGE UNITED It was almost 29 years ago since I had been to the Abbey Stadium in Cambridge so I was quite looking forward to this game and it was one of the first I looked for when the fixtures came out. With the missus on half term hols the week after the game I tried to find some cheap accommodation in the Cambridge area so we could stop over and have the Sunday in Cambridge. I came up trumps with a bargain £10 stopover in the Travelodge on the outskirts of Cambridge. We decided to make an early start, the we consisted of myself, the missus and the student who had been stopping up North for a few days and wanted dropping off in Cambridge after the game so she could get her train back to London. Filling up with petrol at Tesco on the Formby by-pass we encountered the first fellow travelling fan, it was good to know we wouldn’t be the only ones there! We were in Cambridge for noon and had plenty of time to find a pub to have a meal and watch the first half of the Liverpool v Man United game which was spoilt because Liverpool won. We had parked up at the ground at a cost of £3 and had a wander round before being the first to enter the ground. That’s three away games in a row were I was first in the ground. The stand we were allocated was excellent and the stewards were extremely friendly. One suggested we should call each other by first names as he wasn’t expecting that many. Introductions done I proceeded to take my photographs. I had read on the Conference forum that Cambridge was the one club apart from Southport you had problems with taking pictures. Not a bit of it, no problem at all. We were only charged £12 to sit down as no terracing was available to away fans. Are you watching Kidderminster? The programme was £2.50 and was excellent, a superb read, lots of material and very fan friendly. Sadly it puts ours to shame and for the same price as ours it was well worth the money. The only thing wrong with it was, you guessed it. the dreaded Dream Team! The rest of the ground hadn’t changed too much from my previous visit all those years ago and I could still visualise the Brendon Batson own goal that gave us our one in the 5-1 defeat. There was a decent away following with a few new faces in attendance. The usual southern exiles club were there and I would guess that there were around 100 Sandgrounders. The programme shows for each game how many away fans are in attendance so we will get the figure confirmed in due course. (UPDATED 93) The only league game were the actual away attendance was unknown was…….Southport! Why are we unable to count the away fans? The game started in a subdued manner, the Cambridge fans were quiet and the game was poor. The first Cambridge goal arrived after 15 minutes and was a massive deflection, we played some neat football at times but I can’t remember a chance in the first half. We had some good spells in the second half but apart from a header from Robbo that flew close and a chance for Liam Blakeman when he was clean through before being shrugged off in the box the game looked to be petering out. However six minutes from the end after good work by Liam, Dales nodded in from close range to become joint leading scorer with 7 goals for the season and we thought we had salvaged a point. Cambridge had other ideas and went straight down the other end, won a free kick, launched it high and it was headed in. Sixty seconds of elation and then five minutes of dejection. Our goal was the first time we had scored in the final 10 minutes of a game this season whereas Cambridge’s goal was the 11th time we have conceded in that period. The ref must like booking 3 Southport players per game as he did the same at Canvey Island. There was no way back and with other results going badly for us we were bottom again. We so nearly got a point from a game that we hardly created a chance in but alas not. It was a quick drive back in to Cambridge to drop Michelle off at the station before making our way to our hotel in Lolworth. Julia was disgusted at my writing Southport FC Were Here on the mirror in the morning after it had steamed up after my shower, I’m just a big kid still even at 47 ½.! The Sunday was spent exploring Cambridge. The song says there are nine million bicycles in Beijing well there are 8.9 million in Cambridge, they are everywhere. It was a cold and cloudy day but it stayed dry long enough for us to have a lovely punt up the river before a super meal in The Eagle pub, well worth a visit if you are ever in the area. It was recommended to us by the “punter” and I can see why, the food was first class. We set off back home after lunch and we were going great guns until a hold up on the M6 delayed us by an hour. A pleasant weekend spoilt by that horrible late goal immediately after we scored. Someone commented on the way out that it was another nail going down in our coffin and it felt just like that but all is not yet lost. Once again we had been to a club were a Trust is in place and like at York, Cambridge are also fan focussed and we can learn a lot from clubs like this. The last 3 away games at Stevenage, York and Cambridge have been a pleasure to visit.
|
|
|
