York City 2-0 Cambridge Utd. 4/10/03

[MarkW]

If Cambridge manager, John Taylor is honest in his post match interview, he won't blame his players for todays 2-0 reverse. He won't blame the conditions or even the referee. No, his team lost this match due to the inspirational form of City goalkeeper, Mark Ovendale and simple bad luck!

Cambridge have firmly banished the ghost of their long ball reputation of years past and looked a well-balanced side, who moved the ball quickly, to feet and often with penetrating accuracy. Fortunately, they met a resolute City defence and a goalkeeper who has surely won over any doubters amongst the City faithful. Today, Ovendale was simply inspired and probably deserved two man of the match awards, rather than the customary one he received.

The opening eight minutes of the match saw four clear cut chances, three to the visitors and one to City.

Firstly, a Tudor cross was met by the head of Cambridge frontman Luke Gutteridge and the ball just passed the right hand post with Ovendale stranded. With City fans still discussing their teams good fortune however, the ball was in the Cambridge net. A high swirling cross from Cooper was ineffectively cleared to Merris and when his drilled cross was stabbed in by Lee Bullock from a three yards out, City were a goal to the good. The next frantic five minutes saw Cambridge hit the bar when a clever Kitson chip just failed to dip in time and then a stupendous one handed reflex save from Ovendale to deny Kitson again. This from a bullet header inside the six yard box. Kitson looked astonished that the ball wasn't in the back of the net and then had the good grace to duly applaud the City keeper for his miracle!

The game then settled down somewhat after that and York managed to put together some passing movements of their own. A nice move between Bullock and home debutant Crowe saw Nogan put through on twenty minutes, but he was marginally offside. Then the impressive Hope met a Brass cross inside the Cambridge area, producing a fine one handed save from Marshall, but when the ball rebounded to Nogan, he should have done better than shooting wide from ten yards out with the keeper stranded.

Cambridge dominated possession for the remainder of the half as City dropped deeper. The York defence held firm however, with Wood and Hope having particularly good halves.

The second half started with almost total Cambridge domination, especially the first fifteen minutes when the City goal was under siege. The defence coped well however, assisted by some sure handling from Ovendale.

When Cambridge did break through on 58 minutes with a powerful Kitson shot, Ovendale was there again to parry. Two minutes later a mistake by Brass let in a Cambridge attacker clean on goal, but Merris dived in with an excellent tackle to save his captain's blushes. The visitors continued to press and City were well and truly against the ropes. A sweeping ten man Cambridge move was headed out for a corner in desperation by Merris as again Kitson waited to pounce.

Then on 63 minutes, Brackstone replaced the largely ineffective Nogan and was soon to make his mark on the match in the most spectacular way. Good work by Crowe on the City right flank saw the ball nudged through to Brackstone and with his first touch of the game the young midfielder clipped the ball from the far right edge of the penalty area. It curled, it flew, it arced and it dipped, ....then nestled into the left corner of the net! It was outrageous, it was probably a travesty, but it was 2-0!

Understandably, Cambridge were somewhat rocked and for a while City showed some decent interplay. An intelligent through ball from Bullock on 69 minutes fell just too long for Brackstone, as the keeper gathered on the edge of his area. Bullock, Crowe and Dunning were involved in the better City moves and at least for a while York got their passing game together.

On 75 mins however, the visitors were again denied only by the brilliance of Ovendale, as the City keeper bravely went down at the feet of Taylor. Minutes later he was again putting his body into the injury zone, this time to deny Tudor. Two more outstanding saves from Gutteridge and Opera and Cambridge were finally looking like a side who knew it wasn't their day.

In the 90th minute Merris tried to really pile on the Cambridge misery, but after beating a couple of defenders, his powerful shot was straight at the keeper.

The final whistle sounded seconds later and City gratefully accepted the three points. Brass knows his side won against the grain of the match, but win they did, hopefully putting the woeful Bury display behind them. Luck they had in abundance, but some of that luck was made Wales, Mr Ovendale was simply inspirational.


CROWD 3481 (361 away)


CITY PERFORMANCES.

OVENDALE (9):- A match winning display with several outstanding saves. Add to that, excellent handling and anticipation and I don't know why I didn't give the guy 10/10!

CROWE (7):- Good workmanlike performance. Spent most of the match on the right wing and held the ball up well.

COOPER (7):- One of his better games. Linked up well with Crowe and seemed to enjoy playing wider. Needs to get closer to attackers when defending.

BRASS (5):- Off form and made one or two nearly costly errors. Commitment as ever though, never in doubt.

BULLOCK (7):- Another solid display and another goal for the born-again striker.

NOGAN (5):- Substituted and did not really get into the game.

WARD (6):- Pretty solid and looks to have got a good understanding going with Merris and Dunning.

WOOD (8 ):- Starting to look a class act in defence. Always seems to make the correct decision and has time on the ball.

DUNNING (7):- Probably the pick of the midfielders once again. Gutsy display, winning a fair amount of ball.

HOPE (7):- Definitely one of his better games, especially in the first half. Tackled well and his height is crucial to our somewhat under-sized defence.

MERRIS (7):- Another good performance with a lot of telling tackles and last ditch interceptions.

SUB. BRACKSTONE (7) Played for 30 mins, deserves a decent score for that sublime goal alone! Looked lively, composed and could have scored twice.

SUB. GEORGE Played the last 15 mins. Not long enough to form opinion.

SUB. WILFORD Played last ten minutes. Not long enough to form opinion.



MAN OF MATCH. Ovendale without a doubt.



REFEREE:- A BATES 7/10 Pretty good match.
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York City;- 81 Not Out!!!