Cambridge (Hive) The Shaqademical Match Thread

[VossaBee]

Lovely to see us defending a lead by keeping the ball, not by keeping 10 men behind the ball and giving/hoofing the ball to the opposition at every opportunity alla Allen

Who would've thought, the opposition cant score if they dont get a hold of the ball

[ninestein]

Takes us up to 7th on GD.
Good stuff considering the key players we are missing: Stephens, Brindley, Johnson, Weston and Akinde.
Win Tuesday night and we'll be 3 points off the top! Exeter will have to come downto earth with a bump sooner or later...

[Golf Delta]

Wow - look at those match stats. 23 shots to their 12, 11 on target to their two! I wasn't there today. I trust it was a little different from the Stevenage performance...?

Unrecognisable from the Stevenage performance. Shaq looks a completely different player, just goes to show what a bit of confidence does and we weren't afraid to shoot today, unlike before. Everyone played well today, the midfield of Jack, Mauro and JCR were superb and Shaq was a livewire up front. For all his good hold up play, JLAA doesn't pose much of a goal threat, I was looking forward to seeing Tarpey play today, looked like he pulled up with a hamstring. Hopefully he won't be out for long.

It would be nice if the club gave us an honest update on Akinde, like what exactly his injury is and when we can expect to see him return.

[To bee or not to bee]

Great performance today - well deserved 3 points. Only downside was Tarpey's injury. From where I was sitting he seemed to turn suddenly and injured his knee. Could be an ACL and he'd be out long term? Curse of Barnet strikes again!

[finchleyman]

Just got back after taking an age to get out of the car park. But I don't care about that! A great performance from the Bees, every player playing for the team and a great all round team performance. I thought the worst when Tarpey was carried off after a few minutes. I don't understand why we keep getting these knee injuries and it has to be something to do with watering the pitch or the training methods. Why water the pitch when it has already rained and it rained again during the game. At least they had the common sense not to water the pitch at half time.

The first goal was a wonderful piece of first touch football culminating in Mauro's header into what was essentially an open goal. The second was a piece of magic from Shaq which was at quite an angle but managed to slide the ball under Forde's body (didn't he used to be a goalkeeper at Barnet?).

Cambridge made a triple substitution and then paid for it when one of their players went off - so they played the last fifteen minutes with ten men. Is this the third game in a row that Barnet have played ten men? Mauro scored again in the dying moments with a blast from six yards.

Clough, Santos and Nelson looked very comfortable at the back. They all seemed to trust Ross in goal so that's good. Cambridge got around Harry Taylor a few times but he generally had a good game. They had a brutish No. 9 but Cloughie sorted him out most of the time. Shaq ran his socks off, JCR twisted and turned, beat his opponent and quite often then beat himself, JAA caused some disruption the Cambridge defence. This is the first time I have seen Tarpey and he seemed quite short. Not sure how he is going to get on against big League 2 defenders.

Anyway, it was a good day to be supporting the Bees. Things look good for the future if we can get a fully fit squad. MOM has to be Mauro for his two goals and general good play.

[djhdjh]

The unsung hero for me was Jamal Campbell-Ryce. Always on the move to provide a free man in possession and covers wherever needs covering in defence allowing other players to make forward runs out of position with freedom - he's the man that really makes the system work.

Also a word for the three centre backs, up against a very big physical side they stood up and didn't give them much at all - it's no good pressing and forcing the long ball if you can't win the headers but they did. Other teams will get bullied into submission for sure.

Fantastic performance, great goals. If Vilhete starts providing goals from midfield, we really do have a team on our hands.

[jerroll]

Thoroughly enjoyable afternoon at THL, excellent team performance.

[Golf Delta]

http://www.skysports.com/watch/video/sp ... bridge-utd

[gafferbee]

It was great to see a smart, tough Football League win. Much more satsifying than the Luton match. It felt like the start of something.

I think the level of support has become entrenched. We've had many many years of false starts and dodgy football. Personally I reckon it will take time to get the support back. But if we are doing well around Christmas and afterwards they'll drift back. Remember how we sold out the HIve for the Conference win? They are out there, they'll just take a fair bit of wooing.

[ninestein]

I think you're right gafferbee. It will take time to get punters to come and watch us. Good football and results to match it are the real ingredients. Today was very good. The attendance against Exeter won't pull up any trees, but a result against them and another at Carlisle might start a shift towards getting those extra few 100 through the gate in our section. Stay away fans might start to really believe that this might actually be a decent season. And to think we've got this far already with so many players out.

[let_it_bee]

I really like the shape of the team at the moment and all of the players seem comfortable with it too. I don't think we really miss not having a midfield 'spoiler' at all. You can't ask any more from your team than a performance like that one today, with Shaq being the outstanding performer - none of the comical falling over that we saw in the 1st 2 home games, he covered every blade of grass and the finish for the 2nd goal was exquisite.
The one thing we need to eradicate is giving away cheap, needless free kicks in our own half, which is of course what led to their goal. Not long afterwards Fonguck did something similar on the other flank and it just invites trouble, especially against a team with Cambridge's obvious aerial threat. Apart from that I can't remember for a long time coming away from a game feeling so contented and even, dare I say it, excited about our prospects for the rest of the season.

[becbee]

Very entertaining match against a very physical team. The sort of match we might well have lost last season.
Just wish we'd scored that third goal a bit earlier, it was a bit nerve wracking towards the end.

Exeter are top of L2 with 16 points out of a possible 18 so will provide a challenge - but after Swindon and today, there's no reason why we can't be confident.

Very pleased - and surprised - to see Ricardo Santos back today. Fingers crossed for Dave Tarpey, it didn't look good.
Cambridge were lucky to escape punishment for that, even more so the elbow to Tutunda's face. He was livid about that, justifiably.

[amberforever]

Full credit to Ross the Boss, feels like the start of something really good at the club!

[Barnetchris]

Agreed I'm loving the way Rossi has got us playing, anybody want an experienced manager like Russell Slade still?, looks like he's feeling the heat already at Grimsby.

[LoudmouthBFC]

Barnet F.C. 3 v Cambridge United F.C. 1 | Stick to boat racing | (09/09/17) Matchday Vlog

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40eG_V4j0FY