| City needed a tonic after Tuesday's defeat snatched from the jaws of victory at Chesham. Sadly, it didn't happen today as Burnsy's men begin to find life at the slightly higher level tougher than expected. |
| The visitors, Histon, are a side built upon the foundations laid by Steve Fallon at Cambridge City. After leaving Milton Road Fallon used his experience to elevate the Eastern Counties league side to within touching distance of the Lilywhites from down the road at the Varsity City. |
| In their starting eleven they had cousins Ian and Adie Cambridge, both of whom had seen action with the same club as their surname. However, Ian's time with the City club was cut short after a Cantona style incident where he punched a supporter and was sacked. Other than those two, Colin Vowden was the only other familiar name. |
| For City, Lee Smith, a player with bags of talent but one who treads a fine line between pure skill and cockyness found himself dropped to the bench for being too flash in recent games. Tom Webb took his place. |
With five strikers at his disposal, Burnsy chose to deploy four of them in the starting eleven. Lee Davis dropped back from his forward role to fill the berth vacated by Smith at right wing back and Aubrey played in midfield, whilst Hoskins and Cox reformed their lethal partnership up front.
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| Within seconds of the kick off Dave Wilkinson made his mark on the game by conceding a foul. A minute later the combative midfielder got in another tangle and was lucky that the youthful looking referee, curiously wearing a kit without any badges didn't book him. As it turned out, players from either side would've had to have gone on a "Kill Bill" style rampage to earn even a talking to. Or in Ian Cambridge's case, smacked another fan. |
| Jimmy Cox might've done better when his run from the halfway line could only produce a weak shot as he got into the box. What a sight for sore eyes it was for the City fans as their favourite striker showed what they'd been missing with only the lightweight Davis and the out of his depth Aubrey on offer. |
| In the fourth minute Histon had the best possible start as the out of position Davis was easily duped, a cross came in and number two Matthew Hanniver sidefooted home inside the side netting with Bath rooted to the spot. The tannoy and other sources credited the goal to Adie Cambridge but I'm sure it was Hanniver who scored. |
| City replied when a corner was cleared to Marvin Thompson, whose shot needed a touch to keep out. The young defender was keen to make amends for his double penalty giveaway at Chesham but was nowhere to be seen when Histon's Neil Kennedy found room for a shot that Bath made light work of saving. However, minutes later the defender did well to avert the danger of putting through his own goal as he got between the City keeper and the attacker to deny the Histon man. |
It should've been two when a flicked header presented the ball for Ian Cambridge at the far post and his superb volley really packed a punch as Bath did well to get a fist to it and deflect it over. Despite the number of attack minded players in City shirts they were struggling to break down the stubborn visitors and a second goal at that time would've been a real knockout blow.
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| We seem to have a knack of picking out duff goalkeepers to face City. Chesham's keeper had listed Billy Smart's Circus in his previous clubs whilst Histon's Paul Barber was having difficulty keeping his goal kicks on the island. On three or four occasions the patrons of the sparsely populated stand had to duck for cover as he sent a clearance their way. |
| The desperation in City's attacking play began to show as on a rare break Jimmy Cox shot well wide from an acute angle, but Andy Hoskins was guilty of a dreadful miss when he sidefooted Tom Webb's lay off hopelessly over the bar. Golden Boot? More like Industrial boots. |
| The frustration was beginning to show as Cox almost landed a punch on the Histon defender after the City man's run saw him halted by a Sky Blue human wall. The Stutes hit City with a counter attack and with a man over and attempted lob had all the deftness of a Chieftan Tank as the Histon striker wasted a gilt edged opportunity to score. |
| Often described as not the most elegant of players, rarely fit enough to complete ninety minutes but Dave Wilkinson has an uncanny knack of being in the right place at the right time to score goals. Usually he can see the whites of the goalkeepers eyes as he pulls the trigger but on this occasion he was well outside the area when he smacked the Hosky's pass into the bottom right hand corner. The keeper had no chance. |
| The referee made an ass of himself and drew daggers from the City fans as he penalised Jimmy Cox for being pulled back en route to goal. The City man might've had hold of his markers shirt but the Histon man was already down to Coxy's socks by the time the City man took hold! |
Just like the Team Bath game the Tigers could've taken an undeserved lead into the break but for a good save from an even better Wilkinson shot than the one that he'd equalised with minutes earlier. But one all it remained and Chris Burns had his work cut out at the interval.
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| For the second game running Davis was replaced, this time by Lee Smith. |
| Hosky had a great chance to put City in front just seconds into the second half when the justifiably, much maligned kick off routine almost paid off. The ball went wide to where Smith was running to but the defender easily collected the ball, then slipped. The substitute fed Hoskins who shot at the keeper with the whole goal to aim at. Golden Boots? Rusty boots, maybe! |
| That was to be the City target man's last action though as he over-stretched going for goal and pulled up. Exciting prospect Kenny Stiles finally made his City debut and added some much needed bite, but at the same time the Tigers lost their aerial threat up front. |
| Two changes for the Stutes meant that Adie Cambridge and Haniver were withdrawn as Wayne Goddard and Neil Coburn took their places. |
| A tenacious dash up the wing from Tom Webb saw the midfielder run out of options and lose the ball, but in typical fighting fashion he won it back again. Jimmy Cox was pulled down on the edge of the box and Neil Mustoe, playing among familiar faces from his Cambridge days would've been disappointed to see his free kick easily saved. |
Matt Aubrey, described as a "forward who could also play at centre half" wasn't having the best of games in midfield, but to hear some of the criticism from the crowd couldn't have pleased the nineteen year old. It didn't help when he gave away a free kick in a dangerous area on the edge of the City box, but Matt Bath spared him any further grief by keeping out the shot.
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| Bath couldn't do anything about the winning goal thought as a calculated risk from Tom Webb didn't pay off when his attempt to cut out a quick one-two failed. A cross from the right hand side was flicked on and Ian Cambridge rose at the far post to send in a header which the City keeper got a hand to, but couldn't divert away from the target. |
| Chris Burns made his final change by bringing on Ben Wood, a midfielder from Hardwicke and pushing Aubrey up front as Wilko made way. |
| Lee Smith left City wide open when his pass was easily intercepted and Histon forward Adie Cambridge was sent clear. With just Bath to beat, the forward rounded the City stopper but knocked the ball too far forward and dived over the City keepers arms, no penalty was given and Cambridge wasn't even spoken to by the ref. He did get one or two caustic words from Bathy though! |
| Even Neil Griffiths found himself in attack now as City searched in vain for an equaliser. It wasn't to come though and Histon should've killed the game when Bath was beaten but Mustoe got back well to clear off the line. His passing may be awful at times but Mussie is second to none when it comes to defending from midfield. |
| It was all over and the unspectacular Cambridgeshire Village team left Meadow Park with all three points. A disappointing way to surrender the title of "Fortress Meadow Park" and City will have to buck their ideas up if they are going to form any kind of promotion challenge this term. |
| An ever decreasing crowd watched this defeat, although one can only hope they were at Lords cheering Gloucestershire to victory in the C&G Trophy and will be back in force next time. I doubt it. |
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| Tiger Roar Man of the Match - Tom Webb |
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Tom Webb
Star Man |
An energetic performance from Tom Webb today, despite being on the losing side. He covered every inch of the left flank proving his worth to City as they struggle to cover positions through injury.
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