Specsavers
FCP
3:00pm - SaturdaySat 23rd NovemberNov 2013
| Att: 3515

Cambridge United
Cambridge United
2 - 0

Woking
Woking

Cards travel to league leaders

Brian Caffarey
4:35pm, Thu 21st Nov 2013
Cambridge United v Woking
3pm on Saturday 23 November 2013

A few weeks ago Cards fans wouldn’t have dared even dream that Garry Hill’s side could get anything from this trip but a couple of wins, greatly aided by the loan signing of Jack Marriott, have instilled a belief that Woking are capable of at least giving the league leaders something to think about. But, make no mistake, even a point would be a very tall order against a side which has won every home league game this season. Make the trip to the Abbey Stadium if you possibly can to cheer the team on.

WOKING

The Cards’ 3-0 and 3-2 wins over Dartford and Hyde respectively in successive home games have lifted them out of the bottom four and will no doubt have greatly boosted morale and, crucially, confidence. Garry Hill’s side had been creating a reasonable number of chances before those games but were lacking someone to put the ball in the net. Jack Marriott’s arrival seems to have solved that problem, at least temporarily, and brought the best out of the players around him, especially strike partner Scott Rendell. But Jack will no doubt find the going much harder against a very mean U’s defence, who have conceded only nine goals in 19 games. It will be an excellent test for the promising young forward.

The Cards will need to defend better, however, than they did in the early stages of the match against Hyde, when the previously familiar pattern of conceding an early goal (or two in this case) reared its ugly head again.

Just as crucial as the displays up front and at the back will be the midfield combination of Josh Payne and Mark Ricketts. Josh seems to be growing in influence in every game and barely put a foot wrong in an impressive debut as a substitute in the England C v Czech U21 game on Tuesday evening at Kingfield.

CAMBRIDGE UNITED

Quite a few people, including Garry Hill, tipped the U’s as ‘dark horse’ contenders this season and they’ve proved to be right so far, with United making a storming start to the season. They top the table by six points, having won 12 games, drawn six and lost only one (1-0 away to Southport on 2 November). At home the U’s have a 100% record, with eight wins, scoring 18 goals and conceding only two.

Richard Money rang the changes over the summer. The U’s defensive solidity seems to owe a lot to raiding Dartford for centre back Tom Bonner and bringing in Ian Miller from Grimsby, Greg Taylor from Luton and former Tamworth captain Richard Tait. Regular keeper Chris Maxwell is on loan from Fleetwood Town, whom he joined from Wrexham. Other summer captures included Adam Cunnington, a prolific scorer for Tamworth last season; midfielder Nathan Arnold from Stalybridge; midfielder/defender Tom Champion from Dartford; and former Card Delano Sam-Yorke from Basingstoke Town. Delano has mainly been restricted to substitute appearances so far. Striker Kwesi Appiah is on loan from Crystal Palace.

On Tuesday night the U’s drew 0-0 at Bury in a 1st Round FA Cup tie.

GETTING THERE

The R Costings Abbey Stadium
Newmarket Road
Cambridge
CB5 8LN

Official website: www.cambridge-united.co.uk

By coach
The Cards Trust coach leaves Kingfield at 11.00am. The cost is £15 for members and £20 for non-members. Phone the Club Shop (01483 772470) or email shop@wokingfc.co.uk to book your place.

By car
Take the M11 to Junction 14 and then join the A14 towards Newmarket. Turn off onto the B1047 sign-posted for Cambridge Airport. At the top of the slip road turn right towards Fen Ditton. Go through Fen Ditton until you reach a T Junction, where at the traffic lights you turn right into Newmarket Road. Go straight across the roundabout (McDonalds on one corner) and you will come to the Abbey Stadium on your left-hand side.

By train
Trains run from KX and Liverpool Street. Generally, the former are quicker but not always so. Check www.nationalrail.co.uk or www.thetrainline.com for times and prices.
It’s about a 25/30-minute brisk walk to the ground or you can take a bus or taxi from the station. If you’re walking, head away from the station along Station Road. Take first right (Tenison Road). Take first right again (Devonshire Road) and follow round to the left up to next T-junction. Turn right again onto Mill Road. Walk over railway bridge. Take third left (Sedgewick Street). Follow past set of traffic-calming barriers and shops (in Cromwell Road) to T-junction (Coldham’s Lane). Go into large field ahead of you and follow path under bridge to away turnstiles.

The C3 Citibus runs from the station every 10 minutes through the city centre to a stop (Ditton Walk) a few yards from the ground.

LAST SEASON

Woking 2 Cambridge United 1
9 October 2012

A hard-fought, high-quality game saw the Cards just edge home after surviving some heavy pressure from the U’s. Bradley Bubb’s header in the 19th minute, from a clever cross by ‘man of the match’ Kevin Betsy, gave Woking a first-half lead, to which Betsy himself added in the 59th minute with a superbly-worked goal. But Cambridge almost immediately pulled a goal back through Robbie Willmott’s header from a corner and the Cards had to defend stoutly to hang onto three valuable points.

The game was also notable for Billy Knott’s debut, which was unfortunately cut short by an injury which resulted in his temporary return to his parent club, Sunderland.

Woking: Sam Beasant, Mark Ricketts, Mike Cestor, Brett Johnson, Joe McNerney, Jack Parkinson, Lee Sawyer, Billy Knott (Dean Sinclair 69), Kevin Betsy, Gavin McCallum (Adam Doyle 88), Bradley Bubb (Brett Williams 76)

Unused subs: Loick Pires, Andy Little

Cambridge United 1 Woking 0
9 March 2013

The Cards felt decidedly hard done by at the end of this rather dull game. Arguably, neither side deserved to win but it was Woking who applied most of the pressure at the end, being denied a ‘stonewall’ penalty when Jayden Stockley was hauled to the ground. Then, in injury time, Seb Brown, disappointingly, managed only to ‘bat’ away a deflected cross and Jon Shaw stooped to head home to gain the U’s all three points and delay the Cards’ achievement of Garry’s 50-point initial target.

Woking: Seb Brown, Adam Newton (George Frith 67), John Nutter, Joe McNerney, Brett Johnson, Bradley Bubb (Gavin McCallum 76), Mark Ricketts, Jack Parkinson, Lee Sawyer, Kevin Betsy, Jayden Stockley

Unused subs: Andy Little, Mike Cestor, Adam Francis


NEXT GAME

The Cards’ forthcoming games are:

Saturday 30 November – Hereford United v Woking (FA Trophy)
Saturday 7 December – FC Halifax Town v Woking
Saturday 14 December – Woking v Chester

Come on, you Cards!

P.S. Cards Trust members – don’t forget the AGM at 7.30pm on Monday evening. This is an important meeting, with the agenda including voting for the Cards Trust’s nominee to sit on the Club Board as well as selecting a Chairman, Secretary and Treasurer for the Trust.


Cheap goals cost Cards

Alan Worth
9:36pm, Sat 23rd Nov 2013
Cambridge United 2 Woking 0
The Skrill Premier
23rd November 2013


Woking were unable to build on their two recent confidence boosting home wins as they succumbed yet again to two early goals, the result of some poor defending, at the league leaders Cambridge United. Inside the first fifteen minutes the Cards, looking nervous and disorganised at the back, presented Cambridge with two goals and despite plenty of possession were never able to find a way back into a match dominated by the host’s excellent defence.

Garry Hill started with the same eleven that had managed to “get out of gaol” against Hyde last Saturday with Niall Wright replacing the injured John Goddard on the bench.

With only three minutes on the clock and Cambridge’s first attack the Cards were behind. Harrison Dunk was on hand to side foot home from five yards after confusion in the Woking box and a failure to clear their lines.

But Woking did create an opportunity to equalise seven minutes later. A good first time cross from Newton out wide on the right was met by a, for once, unmarked Scott Rendell but the striker was unable to get on top of his header and the ball flew over the bar. He will have been disappointed with that as in a game with few chances this was a clear goal scoring opportunity.

While Woking still struggled to deal with the pace of the Cambridge attack, up front Jack Marriott again showed his eye for goal as, ever alert, he bravely raced towards a loose ball with defenders closing in and blasted a shot from twenty-five yards just over the bar.

On fifteen minutes Cambridge had their second and again it came as a result of hesitant Woking defending. The ball was crossed in from the right and was met by Harrison Dunk who ran beyond Adam Newton to head home unopposed at the far post. To get anything from this game the Cards now had to repeat their escape act of last week against Hyde. The problem was this was at the home of the league leaders – six points clear at the top and on a run of nine wins at home. That tenth win already looked pretty inevitable.

Cambridge looked dangerous every time they attacked as Woking continued to struggle to clear long balls into their box and Beasant had to be out of his box quickly to clear a through ball with the dangerous Appiah closing in.

Just before the half hour mark the Cards had an opportunity to get back into the game. A delicious free kick from John Nutter found its way to the far post and as the ball bobbled in the Cambridge box Kevin Betsy had a couple of chances to stab the ball home from close range. However the excellent Chris Maxwell, the Cambridge keeper, was finally able to drop on the ball before it found its way into the net.

Charles Banya and Kevin Betsy were now beginning to see more of the ball as the Cards began to control the majority of possession. But it was never easy with both wide men closed down quickly by a well-marshalled Cambridge defence. Jack Marriott came close with an excellent effort after Woking’s best move of the half. He quickly controlled Rendell’s deft reverse pass, made space as he cut into the box and unleashed a fierce drive that Maxwell held down at the foot of his left hand post.

Cambridge were quick on the break and Cunnington blazed over from twelve yards after a cross in from the left was not cleared and another cross from Dunk on the left caused more confusion but was finally scraped away.

Half-time: Cambridge United 2 Woking 0

Garry Hill made an immediate change at the start of the second half with Mike Cestor replacing Jack Parkinson in the middle of the defence.

To be fair to the Cards they continued to look for a way back into the game and with the defence now looking a little more secure they generally dominated possession. However a mean Cambridge defence made it ever more difficult for the Cards to create any clear opening. Josh Payne (pictured) had a number of long-range efforts but these never troubled Maxwell. Woking’s wide men could not get in behind the Cambridge defence and were reduced to crosses in from wide positions that lacked the quality needed to trouble the host's back line.

As Cambridge soaked up the pressure with little problem they looked to counter quickly and Cunnington forced a low save from Sam Beasant as he got beyond Nutter and into the box. Another lightening break saw Liam Hughes dink the ball over Beasant but also just over the intersection of post and bar.

As Garry Hill made changes to freshen things up Woking continued to pass the ball well and maintain possession but the lack of quality in the final third was evident. A quick break by Betsy down the right flank and cross into the box found substitute Gez Sole but his athletic volley, as he fell backwards, was well over.

Woking continued to press for some form of consolation but on a cold and damp afternoon Cambridge looked cool and composed at the back. A cameo appearance from ex Card Delano Sam-Yorke showed that he still has plenty of pace as he set up a late chance for Hughes who put his shot just wide. And a trip by Joe McNerney on Sam-Yorke at the death handed the hosts a dangerous free kick on the right hand bye line and earned a card for the Woking defender. But the dead ball situation came to nothing as the Cards cleared their lines.

Few teams will get much from a visit to the Abbey Stadium this season as Cambridge showed why they are league leaders – a solid defence, the ability to break forward quickly in numbers to stretch the opposition and dangerous in front of goal. What will disappoint Garry Hill and his group of players is the way in which they continue to leak goals early on – and at Cambridge that was always going to make it very difficult to find a way back.


Woking: Sam Beasant, Adam Newton, John Nutter (Gez Sole 80), Mark Ricketts (Gavin Williams 75), Joe McNerney, Jack Parkinson (Mike Cestor 46), Kevin Betsy, Josh Payne, Scott Rendell, Jack Marriott, Charles Banya

Unused subs: Aaron Howe, Niall Wright

Cautions: Mike Cestor 52, Mark Ricketts 66, Jack Marriott 69, Adam Newton 83, Joe McNerney 90, Josh Payne 90

Cambridge United: Chris Maxwell, Greg Taylor, Josh Coulson, Ian Miller, Tom Champion, Adam Cunnington (Delano Sam-Yorke 78), Harrison Dunk (Michael Spillane 86), Richard Tait, Liam Hughes, Luke Berry, Kwesi Appiah

Unused subs: Will Norris, Mitch Austin, Nathan Arnold

Goals: Harrison Dunk 3, 15

Attendance: 3515


MOTM: Not easy to pick anyone from this disappointing team performance. However Josh Payne worked hard, had a couple of long-range efforts and helped to spread the play as the Cards did their best to look for an opening.
Cambridge United LINEUP
WOKING LINEUP
18Sam Beasant
2Adam Newton
3John Nutter ('80)
8Jack Parkinson ('45)
5Joe McNerney
4Mark Ricketts ('76)
20Josh Payne
11Kevin Betsy
30Charles Banya
21Scott Rendell
25Jack Marriott
BENCH
1Aaron Howe
15Mike Cestor ('45)
17Niall Wright
9Gavin Williams ('76)
10Giuseppe Sole ('80)

Cambridge United 2 - 0 Woking (Garry Hill Interview)

Interview with Josh Payne

David Holmes
11:24pm, Sat 23rd Nov 2013

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