Cambridge Calamity
- David Ingham
- 6 days ago
- 4 min read
Cambridge (H) - EFL League 2 - 22nd November 2025
After last week’s fruitless sojourn south the prospect of a trip to Holker Street warmed my cockles. Although I’d deemed it the start of ‘big coat’ season, the sunshine that greeted me when parking up at Asda persuaded me to leave my hat and gloves behind. Save them for December or you won’t feel the benefit. Into the Fanzone and talk centred on that morning’s Ashes capitulation, mixed with the reaction to the team sheet coming in. Talk of false dawns, quality levels, was it the personnel or the tactics that need to be put right. Common ground across both codes.
Williams in for Canavan, what looked to be persistence with two up top, a call up for Winterbottom in place of the concussion-protocol’d Stanway and Mahoney recalled to add an extra body going forward. Despite four clean sheets in a row and six wins from their last six visits to Furness, Cambridge arrived at the Theatre of Pillars with no goal to their name in the last three league outings, no away goal since mid-September and no away win since August. How you look at those stats probably indicates your mindset. You either approached the ground with a spring in your step, awaiting them being put to the sword or you trudged in thinking ‘wouldn’t it be bloody typical Barrow if we got beat’. We shall see.
Backed by a decent following from the Fens, our visitors started the brighter although clear cut chances were few and far between. On 11 minutes Winterbottom saved after Jackson gave the ball away and ten minutes later the visitors wasted a lovely cross from the right flank by heading wide at the far post. In the meantime we had created *checks notes* nothing. Our shape was actually a reversion to the lone central striker with Gordon and Mahoney supporting rather than Gordon and Hemmings hunting as a pair but it wasn’t having the desired effect.
On 30 minutes the best chance of the match so far - and for us, the whole 90 - as a corner was met by an unmarked Harper. He nodded down but wide - a gilt edged chance wasted. You have to score from free headers like that and teams like us who struggle for goals definitely can’t be wasting them. But we did. Bugger.
On 42 we created another decent chance. Whitfield, Hemmings and Mahoney combined smartly but the cross in was met by Newby whose shot was well wide.
We went in at half time on level pegging and I hoped it would give Whing chance to sort out the shape/personnel/both. The prematch talk of being front footed had yielded precisely zero shots on target. But! We usually manage to eke out one decent half per game and that wasn’t it, surely?
As the half had progressed, Gordon, tireless as ever, was dropping deeper and wider in the hunt for the ball, Mahoney regressed to his natural habitat, stood on the halfway line, side on, more often than not going sideways or backwards rather than forward. Harper and McCann again struggled to get a hold of the game in midfield and dictate play. What change could have been made? Go back to a front two? Adu-Poku or Fletcher on for Mahoney? Canavan in the back 3, Jackson at right wing back and put Whitfield behind the strikers? Plenty of options, would any of them have made a difference? Dunno.
After the half time break - and the rejigged and improved entertainment - an unchanged team came out onto a now rain-soaked pitch, hopefully on the march to three points. Well, that hope didn’t last too long. On 49 minutes, Brophy dropped deep to pick up the ball and drove forward into a huge empty space. We failed to clear the danger and Mpanzu capitalised.
We tried to reply but it was more of a ‘Sorry-can’t make work drinks after all, son’s come down with something’ text than a full on battle charge. Ten minutes after the goal, Hemmings fashioned a half chance on the turn before another ten or minutes passed before Williams stepped out of midfield, took aim and promptly tested the resilience of the Cross Bar windows. He’s better than that….but not today.
Our shape was becoming increasingly ragged with huge holes in midfield but we still managed to create one last great chance to level. A good cross from deep from Jackson was half punched away, it fell to Adu-Poku who blazed over. 7 minutes of injury time went up and almost immediately hope was snuffed out for good. A marauding man in black escaping three challenges down the left before crossing in and again Mpanzu was on hand to rifle the ball in with enough pace that Winterbottom could merely deflect it into the net.
A rapidly emptying main stand revealed not just the lettering beneath their collective arses but the fraying relationship between a fanbase that hasn’t seen a home win for two months and a sockless gaffer who was engaged in debate of some sort with a departing fan. I’m guessing it wasn’t a highbrow back and forth about the merits of a high press or a box in midfield.
There was time for one final half chance as Fletcher forced his way through a muddle in the middle but was denied by Eastwood, intent on keeping that sheet clean for a fifth game in a row.
“How shit must you be - we’re winning away” enquired the visiting Cantabrigians and to be honest, I still don’t know the answer to that question. We’re a team that can go to top of the table Walsall, defend resolutely and be clinical on the counter but we’re also a team that can give up goals like we did yesterday. Maybe that’s part and parcel of team who will finish around 17th and whilst it’s always good to keep a level head and some long term perspective, it’s difficult to do that in the moment. Walking out of the ground with the PA at earsplitting volume did nothing to lighten the mood either. Let people mope in peace, please.
So, Newport next. A team with a solitary home point to their name this season and a club that have rolled the genius/disaster dice with the appointment of the managerial novice Christian Fuchs. Going back to the question of mindset, are you backing the away win or 1-0, Garner to score?
No pressure lads.