Cambridge United 0 - 0 Huddersfield Town: Examiner match report

Nov 8 2010 Huddersfield Daily Examiner

THE FA Cup regularly throws up some really classic David and Goliath contests – this wasn’t one of them.

Whatever buzz there was around the Abbey Stadium at kick-off, the spirits of the home fans were soon dampened and by half-time the goalless outcome was already on the cards.

The first half was a real slow-burner and it would have needed something explosive to have kicked the game into life in the second half – but in the end there were no fireworks.

To a large degree this was down to Cambridge’s game plan as they decided they would not play the normal minnows’ role of going all gung-ho and trying to either better or batter their higher-ranked rivals.

Instead United manager Martin Ling opted for containment and then tried to hit Town on the break, and it was a tactic that almost worked.

For their part Town struggled to find a way through United’s massed ranks and despite the prompting and probing of Joey Gudjonsson, Anthony Pilkington and Damien Johnson, Town really did not create a single clear-cut scoring chance.

The pattern was set early on as Cambridge were happy to sit back and allow Town to control possession, and the plan worked in so far as the Blue Square Conference side allowed the visitors to play some neat passing football, but they didn’t produce anything of note in the areas that could hurt the home team.

The best of Town’s first half chances saw Antony Kay send a looping header just over the bar from a corner, while United came closest when Rory McAuley and Wayne Gray stretched the Town defence down the right, but the ball into the box eluded striker Danny Wright.

The second half could not help but be better, but sadly it was not that much of an improvement.

The upshot was that in the end just two Town players could have changed the outcome.

Firstly, had goalkeeper Ian Bennett not been at his best, next week’s replay at the Galpharm would not have been happening.

For much of the game Bennett’s job was routine, if not in fact mundane, but he kept his concentration levels and went on to make superb stops from Wright, Simon Russell and another block from Gray as United tried to steal the tie from a series of breaks late in the game.