A cold clear night in Cambridgeshire and my first visit to the GlassWorld Stadium, home of Histon FC and temporary home of Cambridge City. Cambridge, famous for the university and punting on the river, also appears to be completely inundated with cyclists. I haven't seen this many people riding bikes since I was in Amsterdam. Not that this is a bad thing. It should be encouraged everywhere.
Unfortunately for me, I never made it to Milton Road, Cambridge's previous home. I say unfortunately because, from all accounts, Milton Road was a great place to watch football and one of the noisier grounds thanks to the Shed End support. Still, at least Cambridge City still exists after a few years of uncertainty. The club is now run by a supporters trust and looks to have a much brighter future. See http://www.cambridgecityfc.com/ for more information.
Having recently made it as high as the National Conference, Histon have facilities to match that level. The ground has covered areas on all four sides with the main stand and the opposite side both being predominently seating areas. Behind both goals are fairly large covered standing areas. The main stand, being raised well above the playing surface, gives a great view of the game. The capacity is listed as 4,300 but tonight there were just 241 hardy souls braving the winter air to see Cambridge City take on Stourbridge. At this point I shoudl add that there were a fair few Black Country accents around. A pretty good turnout for the Glassboys on a cold Wednesday night.
Stourbridge were going into the game on the back of an 11 game winning streak (admittedly 7 of these have been cup matches) and the 9-0 demolition of Chippenham in their last away league game. I was fairly certain that this game wouldn't end in a similar scoreline. Cambridge, although not prolific scorers have been tight at the back all season, conceding only 11 in the league up to this point.
Cambridge had by far the better of the first half. Apart from an early Drew Canavan effort, Stourbridge didn't trouble Barrett in the home goal. Nick Beasant, son of former Womble Dave, had a couple of chances for Cambridge and should really have put his side in front. However, at the break, it was still all square at 0-0 and could only get better as a game.
Stourbridge actually started the brighter of the two in the second half but went behind to a set-piece in the 53rd minute. A right wing corner was powered home by the head of centre-half and captain Lee Chaffey.
Roly Agbor came on for Jordan Fitzpatrick and almost immediately had a hand in the equaliser. It was Agbor's rolled pass to Sean Geddes that set up the speculative effort from out side the box. A small deflection bamboozled the home keeper and it was 1-1.
From that point onwards the game was fairly even. Stourbridge probably shaded possession but the game could easily have gone either way.
Then Cambridge brought on Josh Dawkins. In the 81st minute he went on a run that took him to within 20-25 yards of the Stourbridge goal and thundered an absolute rocket past Coleman into the top corner. It was the sort of shot that no goalkeeper stops and was well worthy of being a match winner.
Stourbridge pressed hard for an equaliser but, ultimately, the long run had to come to an end. Maybe the sheer number of cup matches has finally caught up with the players. They certainly didn't look as sharp as they had done in recent weeks. Or maybe it was just a ploy to give Stevenage boss, Graham Westley, a false sense of security?
Either way, in my opinion, Cambridge just about deserved the win and looked a far better team than when I saw them go down 3-0 at Chesham a few weeks ago.
Twitter feeds:
Cambridge City - @cambridgecityfc
Stourbridge - @sfcoffical
Histon FC - @HistonFC
Unfortunately for me, I never made it to Milton Road, Cambridge's previous home. I say unfortunately because, from all accounts, Milton Road was a great place to watch football and one of the noisier grounds thanks to the Shed End support. Still, at least Cambridge City still exists after a few years of uncertainty. The club is now run by a supporters trust and looks to have a much brighter future. See http://www.cambridgecityfc.com/ for more information.
Having recently made it as high as the National Conference, Histon have facilities to match that level. The ground has covered areas on all four sides with the main stand and the opposite side both being predominently seating areas. Behind both goals are fairly large covered standing areas. The main stand, being raised well above the playing surface, gives a great view of the game. The capacity is listed as 4,300 but tonight there were just 241 hardy souls braving the winter air to see Cambridge City take on Stourbridge. At this point I shoudl add that there were a fair few Black Country accents around. A pretty good turnout for the Glassboys on a cold Wednesday night.
Stourbridge were going into the game on the back of an 11 game winning streak (admittedly 7 of these have been cup matches) and the 9-0 demolition of Chippenham in their last away league game. I was fairly certain that this game wouldn't end in a similar scoreline. Cambridge, although not prolific scorers have been tight at the back all season, conceding only 11 in the league up to this point.
Cambridge had by far the better of the first half. Apart from an early Drew Canavan effort, Stourbridge didn't trouble Barrett in the home goal. Nick Beasant, son of former Womble Dave, had a couple of chances for Cambridge and should really have put his side in front. However, at the break, it was still all square at 0-0 and could only get better as a game.
Stourbridge actually started the brighter of the two in the second half but went behind to a set-piece in the 53rd minute. A right wing corner was powered home by the head of centre-half and captain Lee Chaffey.
Roly Agbor came on for Jordan Fitzpatrick and almost immediately had a hand in the equaliser. It was Agbor's rolled pass to Sean Geddes that set up the speculative effort from out side the box. A small deflection bamboozled the home keeper and it was 1-1.
From that point onwards the game was fairly even. Stourbridge probably shaded possession but the game could easily have gone either way.
Then Cambridge brought on Josh Dawkins. In the 81st minute he went on a run that took him to within 20-25 yards of the Stourbridge goal and thundered an absolute rocket past Coleman into the top corner. It was the sort of shot that no goalkeeper stops and was well worthy of being a match winner.
Stourbridge pressed hard for an equaliser but, ultimately, the long run had to come to an end. Maybe the sheer number of cup matches has finally caught up with the players. They certainly didn't look as sharp as they had done in recent weeks. Or maybe it was just a ploy to give Stevenage boss, Graham Westley, a false sense of security?
Either way, in my opinion, Cambridge just about deserved the win and looked a far better team than when I saw them go down 3-0 at Chesham a few weeks ago.
Twitter feeds:
Cambridge City - @cambridgecityfc
Stourbridge - @sfcoffical
Histon FC - @HistonFC
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