Report

The YMCA continued their serene progress in the Cup competitions this season as they scored a comfortable away victory at Ickleton in this re-arranged Royston Scaffolding Cup third round tie.  During the week there was no guarantee that there would be a YM team to travel as manager Andi Thwaites was without several regulars.  The injury list is long with Alf Faux, Rob Scott, Craig Alexander and Dan Sewell all regulars currently on the treatment table.  Add to that the unavailability of Neil Ralf and Gavin King and resources were stretched to breaking point, in fact by Friday there were only 9 willing names in the pot.  The last minute signing of striker Stuart Ferguson and arm twisting of defender Andy George meant that there would be a team of 11 to travel at least. 

Getting those 11 to Ickleton was the next obstacle, luckily 5 brave men as well as all the kit managed to wedge themselves into Nick Taylor’s Renault Clio ensuring that all 11 made it to the by now familiar venue in good time.  If YM manager Thwaites thought he was struggling then his problems were put into perspective by the hosts.  With all of his players in attendance Thwaites found out that the opposition only had 8 at the ground.  Indeed by the scheduled kick-off time there still was not the full 11, but with the start of play delayed by 10 or so minutes the home side did eventually make quorum.

With the slightly chaotic build up enjoyed by the hosts and the patched up nature of their visitors it was hardly surprising that the opening exchanges were pretty scrappy.  Neither side showed too much quality early on but slowly theCambridgeside started to string a few passes together and look the more likely to break the deadlock.  Chris Hanwell and debutant Stuart Ferguson were both looking lively and were being well supported by a midfield unit playing some nice stuff.  Right full back Paul Sagar was bombing on at every opportunity, half chances came and went but the visitors did not capitalise on their good start.

The hosts also settled down and enjoyed a good period of play themselves but they were gifted an opening goal by stand in goalkeeper Thwaites.  With regular goalkeeper Dan Sewell injured Thwaites has stepped into the breach in the last couple of weeks but has rarely looked comfortable.  As a YM attack broke down the home side got forward and a ball was sprayed wide to their left.  The winger seemed to have put in a fairly harmless cross which Thwaites rose to claim.  He seemed to get his feet tangled up though and could only help the ball towards his goal where a home player had gambled on the mistake and was left with the easiest of finishes.  The goal galvanised the home side and they enjoyed a much stronger showing thereafter, knocking the ball around with much more confidence but on the whole the YM back line stood up well.  One effort from distance was spilled by Thwaites but he claimed it at the second attempt with a striker bearing down on him.  Thwaites then decided to make a tactical switch, swapping full back Sagar with right wingerJoe Tearle.  Sagar had shown great energy getting forward in the early exchanges whilst Tearle’s experience at the back was always going to be put to good use with the pressure from the home side increasing.

At the other endFergusonnearly levelled things up; he nipped in well and took the ball around the goalkeeper only for the angle to run out on him as he found only the side netting.  With the half-time whistle looming large Chris Hanwell almost got on the score sheet too after a weak effort from Sagar was spilled by the home custodian.  Despite Hanwell reacting quickly the home goalkeeper just gathered himself sharply enough to avert the danger meaning the hosts would stay 1-0 up going into the break.

The message was largely positive at the break with Thwaites feeling that patience would be the key, with fitness and a bit of quality bound to come to the fore.  It was the hosts that started the second half the brighter though as the Cambridge side took time to settle again and a couple of decent breaks were stifled with some last ditch defending.  It was from one such home break that the YM forced their way back into the game.  As an Ickleton attack was thwarted the ball fell to Sagar on about the half way line with not a lot by way of support ahead of him the full back turned winger set off on a mazy run rounding a few defenders in the process.  Before too long he was bearing down on the home goal and was upended by a tackle from behind which denied him of the inevitable goal he was about to score.  Luckily the referee was in close attendance and pointed to the spot.  Debutant Ferguson seemed to win the game of rock, paper, scissors with Chris Hanwell and Joe Melbourne and as a result assumed penalty duty.  His effort from 12 yards was very assured and he stroked it home to level things up.

TheCambridgeside were by now very much in the ascendancy, with so much of their bright attacking play coming through Sagar on the right hand side.  He was giving the Ickleton left back a torrid morning knocking the ball past him and running at will.  It was fitting therefore when he opened his account for the YMCA to make it 2-1 to the visitors.  The circumstances of the goal were similar to that of the home side’s opener.  A cross from the left from Chris Hanwell was dropped by the home goalkeeper at the near post and Sagar was on hand to finish.  His celebration had more than a hint of a ‘bemused Jesus’ about it with not just the goalscorer but his team mates pulling confused faces!  It was not long until Sagar was in the action again as he and Chris Hanwell chased down a back pass and the miscued clearance fell to Sagar, his first touch was unusually good but the home goalkeeper made amends for his shoddy clearance by stopping bravely at Sagar’s feet.

The visitors would not have to wait long for a third goal though and it was an effort of real quality when it did come.  A corner from the right was swung into a dangerous area by Marcus Hanwell where he found his brother Chris.  Despite having escaped his marker the older Hanwell still had plenty to do.  As per usual though he made the seemingly impossible look all too easy and produced a scissor kick finish from 8 yards to give the score line a whiff of comfort.  He might have added a fourth shortly afterwards as Sagar broke again and found himself in on goal, unselfishly he squared for Hanwell who lifted his effort over the advancing goalkeeper but just wide of the target.

To their credit the home side rallied and refused to throw in the towel.  Following the third goal the YM lost their shape somewhat as the game became more stretched and frenetic.  The visitors could not keep hold of the ball and Ickleton turned the screw in search of a way back into the game.  One break resulted in Andy George being forced to acrobatically turn a goal bound effort round the post from a yard or two with Thwaites in goal beaten.  How the defender managed to flick the ball around the post remains a bit of a mystery as the laws of physics seemed to be thrown out of the window.  How ever he managed to do it though the score line stayed at 3-1.

The last ditch intervention from George was brought into sharper focus as the visitors broke away to add a fourth goal and kill the tie off once and for all.  It was, predictably Sagar who was the architect again as he drilled a cross into the centre of the area where Stuart Ferguson was on hand to turn the ball home smartly to claim his second of the game.  Still the home side probed in search of a morale boosting second goal but after being let down by their ‘keeper in the first period the YM back line were in no mood to take the chance in the second meaning Thwaites was mainly left fielding long balls into the box as those in front of him dealt with the rest.

It was another impressive win for the Chesterton based side who stretched their unbeaten run to five games.  They will go into next week’s massive game against fellow Division 1B strugglers Cambridge Fire & Rescue high on confidence.  Despite struggling for numbers today Thwaites’ side produced a resolute display matching battling qualities with a touch of quality that won them the game.  The manager was delighted with the way things went saying afterwards.

“It was pretty tough in patches today but we stood up well and earned the right to play some football.  We scored four and might have got a couple more and but for my blunder we would have kept a clean sheet too.  It was a real team effort today and everybody played their part.  I was delighted with the debut performance from Stuart (Ferguson) up top and was glad he got a couple of goals, he must be fairly persuasive too, as to wrestle a penalty of both Mellers (Joe Melbourne) and Chrissy Hanwell is no mean feat!”

Thwaites reserved special praise for his makeshift winger Paul Sagar though adding.

“I thought he was superb today, his energy alone meant his full back had a horrible morning.  I thought the switching of him from right back to right wing was a master stroke! Joe Tearlesettled into the back line perfectly and showed great composure in there, that allowed Paul to get forward and express himself and he did that in spades.  As everyone else on the pitch seemed to be tiring he just got stronger and I was glad he got the vital second goal as his all round performance today warranted that reward.”