Eastern Junior Alliance: Sunday 25th April 2010

After losing our first league game last week at Bury the boys had the perfect opportunity to put things right just 7 days later with the return match at Milton Road.

We had 15 boys available with only James Howard missing. Shaun Flack, Tom Sapsford and Adam Wright were all carrying slight niggles so would start on the bench along with Tyler Martin.
 
We lined up as follows : BRANDON, YOUNGS, WYMAN, SPENCER (c), GUY, DRISCOLL, HOBSON, BROWN, NICHOLSON, DARLING, POOLEY. subs : FLACK, SAPSFORD, WRIGHT. MARTIN.
 
The 4-0 defeat last week was very flattering to Bury, but we wanted to start well and put them on the back foot. This did not happen as the visitors were ahead within two minutes. A minute later they could have scored again, but somehow the centre forward skied over from close range. We then settled down and once the nerves had gone we started to knock the ball around nicely.

On 13 minutes we should have been level. DARLING hit a great left footed shot that rattled the bar and the rebound fell to DRISCOLL who was denied, then POOLEY who was also closed down. The ever lively NICHOLSON was again giving Bury concern as he did last week with some fine runs and crosses. BROWN was back in the centre of midfield and he added the grit that had perhaps been missing in previous matches.

The lad last week who scored a hat-trick for Bury certainly didn't have any time as BROWN and HOBSON were all over him like a rash. YOUNGS was back in his favoured right back position and the quality of his balls forward was evident for all to see. WYMAN in at left back for the first time for a while was certainly making the most of his opportunity, some cavalier runs had Bury on the back foot for most of the half. At the centre of defence GUY and SPENCER were now dealing well with the long ball and anything they did miss was being gathered by BRANDON in goal.

Our deserved equaliser came on the half hour. HOBSON did well to rob the ball in midfield and play an excellent pass through for DARLING who sprinted clear, cut back on his right foot and curled a delightful shot into the top corner. We kept pressing until half time but the scores remained level at the break.
 
H/T  City 1 Bury 1
 
Last week we lost the game in the opening minutes of the 2nd half so the halftime talk was all about concentration and reminding the boys of their jobs.

City celebrate their third goal

Four minutes into the half we had the lead. A great run by WYMAN saw him go past two defenders and into the box his low cross/shot was turned home by the alert POOLEY. FLACK then replaced DARLING. FLACK started with a couple of fine runs down to the byline putting in some inviting crosses. We were now turning on the style with wave after wave of attack but we could not kill off the visitors.

15 minutes in and SPENCER was replaced by MARTIN. Bury had a decent chance to level but BRANDON pulled off a smart save at the feet of the visiting centre forward. With 13 minutes remaining SAPSFORD was sent on for the shattered WYMAN who had an excellent game at left back.

We needed that third goal to put this match to bed and it came with just 10 minutes left. YOUNGS and FLACK combined to feed BROWN and his jinking run and pass found DRISCOLL who swept the ball home in great style. BRANDON was immeadiatly replaced by WRIGHT in goal for the final minutes. We could have added to our lead with POOLEY going close twice. DRISCOLL also headed just wide.

The final whistle went to set off great celebrations from players, parents and City supporters as the league title had been secured.
 
F/T City 3 Bury 1
 
A great performance that saw us take the title. We now look forward to friday when we play Histon Hornets at Histon FC in the county cup final.

CHAMPIONS!!!

Manager Simon Youngs said "This is a proud day for me. The boys have been exceptional all season and deserve all the praise. They are a credit to themselves, their parents and the club. We now go to Histon on Friday night and Boreham Wood on Sunday for Cup Finals what a great way to finish the season".

© Copyright 2003-10 Cambridge City FC

Top of Page