Cambridge Utd match preview by Andrew Stephen
It’s strange that for two games in a row we are playing teams closely associated with fish. I hope that this afternoon we land the catch we deserve, rather than cruelly losing two points in the 97th minute as the result of a very soft penalty at Grimsby. We had led that game for an hour. It was a game we deserved to win, like a few others this season. No doubt today’s Cod Army will be hoping that we don’t take the
chances that our team will undoubtedly make, but the pattern will have to change if we are to achieve promotion. Our play has shown that we are quite capable of making the playoffs at least. Swindon are currently top, and we clearly deserved something when we played there. We have been punished for sloppy mistakes and have not made the most of far greater dominance than we managed all last season.
Soon, the quality of Mayer, Appere, Kouassi and Lavery will produce goals, and we all hope that today will be the day. The skipper is back, Korey Smith is almost fit, and Mpanzu is beginning to show his quality. All we need is a bit more consistency and belief. We had 70% possession against Oldham and lost 1-0 to their only real chance. That can be changed around.
Fleetwood transformed their fortunes under the ownership of Andrew Pilley. The stadium was rebuilt, and an expensive team, including Jamie Vardy, assembled. Fleetwood initially turned down huge bids for him before selling him to Leicester. We’ve tended to do well against them though, winning six and drawing three of our 12 fixtures.
In the 2011-12 season, when they became champions, we beat them 2-0 here at the Abbey, during what optimistic U’s fans called the Jezolution. In February, they struggled to beat us 1-0, with a goal set up by Vardy, which we didn’t quite manage to equalise. Hilariously, Richard Brodie, who had outraged U’s fans whilst playing here for York, was hauled off during the game, having earlier made clear his
contempt for us. On that memorable occasion in Cambridge, he had as much trouble staying on his feet in the Supporters’ Club as he had on the pitch. At Fleetwood, he’d come on as a sub to boost their attack before being taken off after a mere 20 minutes. He was not amused. Funny what you remember, isn’t it?
Like us, Fleetwood have had their problems. Andrew Pilley, who had done so much for Fleetwood, was jailed for fraud and for a while the future of the club looked uncertain. His son Jamie bought the club, and things look much more stable now. A situation that all fans deserve. Fleetwood is an interesting town with a much more old-fashioned and nostalgic feel to it than its local rival, Blackpool. A number of players have represented both clubs, including Danny Andrew and Chris Maxwell, a goalkeeper we would dearly have liked to keep hold of. Joey Barton cut his managerial teeth, and who knows what else, at Fleetwood. Town have had some very distinguished managers who faced a variety of challenges, but Pete Wild has stabilised the ship and we will face a tough challenge this afternoon. Ron Atkinson always used to say, “Don’t worry about them. We’re the home team. Let them worry about us.” I’ve got a feeling that plenty of visiting teams will do just that this season.
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