Barrow Circle the Drain in Cambridge
- 2 days ago
- 6 min read
Cambridge (A) - EFL League 2 - 25th April 2026
Barrow succumbed to a miserable defeat against Cambridge United which, when combined with Bobby Kamwa's 108th minute winner for Newport County against Oldham Athletic, meant our final day remit against Newport went from a highly improbable sizeable victory to not mathematically, but to all intents and purposes, relegated from EFL League Two following six seasons at this level.
Sam Foley made four changes to the side which slumped at home against Walsall a week earlier, Josh Gordon returning after being ineligible against his parent club, Jack Thompson and Kane Hemmings unexpectedly coming in from the wilderness and a start for Charlie Raglan following a long injury lay-off. The selection tombola continued and whilst Foley's team selection was a clear belt-and-braces, hold-out-for-a-goalless-draw type mentality, a mixture of players not being good enough or sharp enough (despite being medically fit to play) meant it was very much a case of trying to replicate what happened on Good Friday at MK Dons.
Cambridge are a tougher proposition and a wounded animal, having lost at home for only the second time this season as recently as Tuesday evening against Grimsby, there will surely be a reaction planned. They have, however, only won one of their last five games as they try and stagger over the line to secure automatic promotion, and are very much missing their talismanic striker S Lavery as they look to do away with the Bluebirds and end the season on a high note. As is customary, a load of men in football kits walked out onto a grassed surface, a sold-out Abbey Stadium looking resplendent in the sunshine. 260-odd Barrovians, who really ought to deserve better, also looking resplendent under a hot tin roof, gave our beleaguered anti-heroes their usual brilliant backing as the action got underway for the penultimate time this season.
Not loads to report in the opening exchanges, Cambridge no doubt dominating play with Sullay Kaikai striking a number of efforts on goal before departing injured after 21 minutes to be replaced by James Brophy, who also looked incredibly handy and, along with Ball (the man, not the ball), tested Stanway shortly afterwards. At the other end, a Charlie McCann free kick missed the target before a missed interception from Kane Hemmings allowed a Cambridge player to whip a tempting ball to the far post, headed across goal by Liam Bennett and bundled home by Ben Knight, bugger.
A response of sorts materialised with Josh Gordon heading wide from a cross by marauding right wing back Jack Thompson before some more lax defending allowed Ben Knight a clear shot at goal, which he promptly ballooned over the bar, before Stanway saved one of his headers and we all went off for a lovely half time in the sun. A special shout out to the Proper Pissers still present in the Cambridge away end, think the old Popular Side bogs but complete with a roof, harking back to an age when we were a proper country and we all had proper pisses and none of this woke looking at your phone nonsense. Get them listed with Historic England.
The second half got underway with Barrow inevitably attacking the end they were defending in the first half, as is usually the case. Barrow continued to toil for the opening ten minutes or so before defender James Gibbons unleashed a screamer past Wyll Stanway, a man who I had admittedly not heard of until U's fans were vocally registering their displeasure at him being left out of the EFL team of the year on Twitter. We have conceded some shambolic goals this season but this was most certainly not one of them, this is a side a cut above most of what we've faced in League Two this season and there's no real shame or misfortune involved. Pelly Ruddock Mpanzu barely had to get out of second gear in truth.
Here comes a blunt rotation of substitutions, Whitfield, Fletcher and Newby replacing McCann, Smith and Joe Anderson respectively, and we did improve marginally upon their arrival. Fletcher holding the ball up and actually completing passes to his teammates, and Whitfield, although clearly lacking sharpness, did whip some reasonable balls into the penalty area. Maybe there are some small signs buried somewhere in the rubble where a 2026/27 Barrow vintage has these two lads front and centre. That is, however, a conversation for another day and the bar is presently on the floor.
Cambridge went 3-0 up in the 74th minute as a corner was palmed into his own net by Wyll Stanway and that was that. Whilst Stanway has been compromised by the absolute garbage immediately in front of him, the idea of giving him his first full season as a first choice goalkeeper at this level in this squad has aged like blue cheese next to a radiator and hasn't really been fair. On his day he is fantastic and he has shown that away at Crewe and Milton Keynes respectively. However, when a season starts to go tits up in the way this one has, the absence of Paul Farman, or a Paul Farman type figure, to support Stanway and the defence is one in a long list of fatal blows to our season.
So the final 15 minutes whittled away, oh look, there's Jovan Malcolm for the crack, nothing happens, the final whistle blows with news that it would take an improbable effort to survive on the final day, albeit with 18 minutes of injury time at Rodney Parade to elapse first. There could be nothing more dull than providing an in-depth analysis of which players came over to applaud and which didn't, and whether or not one should or should not reciprocate said applause. The realisation and the devastation started to sink in, pardon my French, but we've royally fu**ed this.
Upon leaving the ground we looked for home comforts, a body of water next to the ground fondly reminded us of Ormsgill Reservoir, with one of our local legends pointing out the lack of a Tally Ho nearby. However, a broken-down coach being ambushed by Cambridge hoodlums was the icing on the cake, our fans deserved better. A stand-off engineered for TikTok whilst stunned pensioners looked on in abject horror, whilst the Local Constabulary dramatically sped up Newmarket Road, sirens on, to belatedly deal with the situation after the horse had bolted. Sirens, alarm bells, notifications, there had been a goal at Rodney Parade; Newport had seen off ten-man Oldham with a goal in the 108th minute.
This meant our improbable, yet not impossible, final day task became relegation confirmed, albeit not mathematically, but to all intents and purposes. A mixture of natural disappointment and a sigh of relief as I walked forlornly back into a sun-kissed Cambridge city centre, the setting firmly at odds with the dire predicament that my football club find themselves in. There will be no shortage of analysis, post-mortems and moving tributes to our time in the football league and what has precisely gone wrong and where. What I'll say for now is that heads need to roll, our demise this season wasn't through inevitability, it was through incompetence. There need to be profound changes at this football club this summer, the model we have implemented since Hornby (& co) is not fit for purpose. Whilst we are grateful for their stewardship, the game has moved on; we have been in the football league for six years with little to show for it whilst clubs with less going for them have left us in their wake.
Anyway, it will all draw to a conclusion in what will certainly be one of our strangest games in recent years, relegation all but confirmed, coming up against a side that are probably safe. Think dystopian garden party meets pre-season friendly vibes but for some reason there's a load of Welsh people there. Given the players still under contract, it will unfortunately not be the last time we see many of them.
The summer, however, gives us a big opportunity (albeit with hands tied behind our backs) to set things right, all of the big decisions we have got wrong this season need to be the right ones now. It's over to you, Paul Hornby.
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