Blues Footballers Smash Worcester

The Blues Footballers put four past Worcester 2nds in an exciting Cup semi-final. Read more here.

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Cambridge 4 – 0 University of Worcester 2nds

The Blues eased through to the final of the BUCS Midlands Cup with a comfortable 4-0 victory over a combative Worcester University Second Team.

Amidst tricky conditions on a sloped, wet and boggy pitch, the Blues put in a consummate showing to silence the travelling Worcester WAGs, whose choice of sideline refreshments (crates of Carlsberg) suggested that they were not overly confident of their boyfriends upsetting the home team.

The opening 20 minutes were scrappy, the ball spending little time on the deck. Centre halves James ‘LL Cool J’ (Ladies Love Cool James) Day and Danny Gwyther were on top form at the back, while the Blues’ pacy centre-forward Matt Stock caused havoc at the other end. The Blues failed to capitalise on this dominance though, Day missing a shocker of a header from inside the 6-yard box after a superb diagonal free kick and Stock himself slicing a weak left-footed effort wide from 10 yards out.

The Blues continued to assert pressure as the half wore on, spending almost the entire period in the Worcester half. Keeper Stu Ferguson was little more than an observer as the visitors were forced into a series of harmless long-range efforts. Worcester continued to be frustrated by Cambridge’s defensive line-up and this inevitably boiled over, their number 10 – dubbed ‘Jurassic Centre Half’ by the Blues bench – making some filthy challenges.

It took the Blues until the half-hour mark to get on the scoreboard, Hylands claiming a well-deserved goal. Latching onto a superb ball from left-back Maynard, Hylands cheekily poked the ball around the Worcester keeper to quieten the boisterous Worcester supporters and send the Blues fans into frenzy. The teams went into half-time with the score at 1-0 to the Blues.

The Blues celebrate after breaking the deadlock.

The Blues came out after the interval bolstered by a team-talk from captain Johnson, scoring a further 3 goals to kill the tie. The back four remained in complete control throughout, with full-backs ‘Sparky’ Johnson and ‘Scrappy’ Maynard looking increasingly comfortable.

Nonetheless, the Blues did not increase their advantage until nearly an hour had passed. The second goal was, however, worth the wait. Gwyther unleashed a screaming diagonal volley after a Blues corner was only half cleared to him on the edge of the box. He immediately turned and ran to the Worcester sideline, shouting “try giving it all that jip now!”. Gwyther claims that his strike is guaranteed to be featured on BBC Sport’s ‘Goals of the Week’. Few on the touchline could disagree.

The third goal arrived just 5 minutes later, as the impressive Danny Kerrigan, on to replace Gotch, knocked the ball  into Stock in the box after clever work to beat the Worcester right-back. Stock’s smart turn/dummy/ miscontrolled touch allowed him to beat ‘Jurassic’ before coolly slotting the ball home to all but end the contest.

Sensing the game was over, the Blues eased off, preferring to knock the ball around the midfield. ‘Italian’ maestro ‘Paolo’ Hartley particularly impressed, looking like a young Andrea Pirlo (albeit lacking the flowing locks and perma-tan).

The final ten minutes saw the Blues up the tempo once again, the period yielding a fourth goal as well as a stunning fingertip save by Ferguson, who stretched full-length to tip a well-struck free kick onto the bar. The fourth goal came after clever work from Kerrigan, who beat everyone’s favourite dinosaur defender before squaring the ball to Amos who, despite his best efforts to scoop his attempt over, somehow contrived to knock the ball into the open goal from 2 yards out.

The Blues now progress to the BUCS Midlands Cup Final after this impressive and fiery display, which one Worcester player described in the following terms “They smashed us. I couldn’t believe how good they were – it was all one-touch stuff.”

CUAFC are proudly sponsored by Cantab Capital Partners.

For The Tab’s photos from the game, click here.