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Post by unification on Mar 27, 2016 16:55:09 GMT
So onwards to Cambridge. Last league game before the JPT final and sans John Lundstram too (those hoping for a positive outcome to the appeal better start watching the skies for flying pigs).
As always, a win is really needed to just keep our noses ahead of the chasing pack. Plymouth's positive result on Friday, Bristol Rovers fabulous form and Accrington just not buggering off like we all want them to means our position isn't totally secure.
Cambridge aren't all that bad either and it doesn't seem all that long ago that we were thumped 5-1 there. Time to banish those ghosts and keep our generally positive form going.
COYY!
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Post by yellowgazza on Mar 27, 2016 17:11:46 GMT
1-1 draw written all over it, any ideas of a decent pub before hand?
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Post by bigfella72 on Mar 27, 2016 17:23:58 GMT
So onwards to Cambridge. Last league game before the JPT final and sans John Lundstram too (those hoping for a positive outcome to the appeal better start watching the skies for flying pigs). As always, a win is really needed to just keep our noses ahead of the chasing pack. Plymouth's positive result on Friday, Bristol Rovers fabulous form and Accrington just not buggering off like we all want them to means our position isn't totally secure. Cambridge aren't all that bad either and it doesn't seem all that long ago that we were thumped 5-1 there. Time to banish those ghosts and keep our generally positive form going. COYY! Hoping Rovers drop at least two points at Carlisle on Monday! Can't see anything but a home win for Plymouth at home to York and maybe Accy will drop points at Newport?
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Post by amershamdave on Mar 27, 2016 21:41:19 GMT
Oh, bugger! What a hard game to come across! Cambridge is a bit of a graveyard for us, isn't it! Nevertheless, I can see a famous win here for us, so.....Cambridge 2 Oxford United 3 (Skarz, Sercombe and Buchel with a penalty) Att; 4544 and 1444 Oxford fans. I can see strange events making the headlines here. The referee, Mr. U. Pratt, will make a right one of himself, by booking 9 players and sending off both goalkeepers. Overhead, a pigeon, being chased by an owl, will shit itself and lay an egg whilst flying. The egg will land on the crossbar and the game will be held up for 5 minutes, whilst someone cleans it off. A Cambridge fan will bring a Barbershop Quartet into the ground and they will sing bloody annoying songs throughout the proceedings. An Oxford fan, dressed as a dog, will run onto the pitch and dance around the half-way line. As he's being led off by the police, he will try to get the costume off, but break the zip. The police will think its a real dog and he will be taken away to be neutured. A Cambridge fan will let off a massive firework, which reaches number 3 on the Richter Scale. After 64 minutes, a real dog will run onto the pitch and bite the ref on his coccyx, then run off. Before the game, Skarz will get into a fight with Lundstram and start the game with a broken nose. Roofe will take a free kick and the ball will hit their defender in the scrotum, forcing him to have a sex change at half-time. MacDonald will start the game as a right-winger, but will change his politics afterwards and become a left-winger. One of their floodlights will fall down, due to strong winds and general bad construction. It will be replaced by 126 volunteers stood there, each holding torches. Their scoreboard, made by ACME computers, will explode after 78 minutes, and be replaced by 100 Oxford fans, who will sing the score as it progresses. Their fans will sing 'we won the boat race', but none of our fans will give a damn, because we're not that poncy. Four of our players will have nasty injuries during the game; Roofe will injure his scrotum, Sercombe will fracture his clavicle, Hylton will bruise his coccyx and Dunkley will go to head the ball, but miss and headbutt the crossbar. Buchel will go off injured and be replaced by Mrs. Slocombe, who will catch......a cold. That just about does it for me.
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Post by lodeyellow on Mar 27, 2016 22:20:00 GMT
1-1 draw written all over it, any ideas of a decent pub before hand? Unfortunately there aren't many decent pubs near the Abbey Stadium. The only one really is The Wrestlers a few hundred yards further west along Newmarket Road, which gets very busy on match days. Fans arriving by train could try The Live & Let Live (Mawson Road) or The Salisbury Arms (Tenison Road). I also like, a bit further afield, The Emperor (Hills Road) and The Cambridge Blue (Gwydir Street). Some of the pubs in King Street, such as the spacious Cambridge Brewhouse, are also worth a look. There's a large Wetherspoons (The Regal) in Regent Street. Cambridge's recent home record is almost as good as ours has been away, so it's going to be a challenging afternoon. Manager Shaun Derry is looking for a reaction from their poor display at Bristol Rovers on Friday. It's likely to be pretty windy when the game kicks off. I'll also go for a 1-1 draw.
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Post by sideshowrob on Mar 27, 2016 22:53:08 GMT
1-1 draw written all over it, any ideas of a decent pub before hand? The Tram Depot on Dover Street comes highly recommeded if you like real ale, Peroni and pizza. PS. There is also a 10% discount for CAMRA members Mr Beasley.
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Post by lodeyellow on Mar 28, 2016 6:50:46 GMT
Our local paper, the Cambridge News, has just come through the door. They usually have very good match previews, but disappointingly there's hardly any coverage of today's game. As expected, most of the sports pages are given over to the university's win in the men's Boat Race yesterday. The football correspondent can't resist a reference to it in his opening paragraph:
"Cambridge United will be out to secure the bragging rights for the city when they take on Oxford United at the Abbey following the mixed results in yesterday's Cancer Research UK Boat Races. With it honours even following the Light Blues' victory in the men's race but defeat in the women's, United will be hoping to do their bit against the city's traditional rivals."
This is followed by some predictable quotes from voluble manager Shaun Derry:
"It's a great game and one of those games you want to play in. I've said to the boys 'this Easter period is fantastic', but if you don't want to play in them there's something wrong with you ... Oxford will come to Cambridge with all the joys of being one of the teams at the top end of the league, and they'll bring so many fans that it will make for a good afternoon. We've got to make sure we put on a better performance than we did at Bristol Rovers to get something out of it ..."
Weather watch: The rain we had overnight has stopped, but it's forecast to start again at around 10 o'clock and carry on until about 3. Also the winds are expected to strengthen, reaching a peak of 54 m.p.h. at around 11 o'clock, and then dropping to around 20 m.ph. by the start of the game.
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Post by The Fence End on Mar 28, 2016 8:03:43 GMT
Sounds like the conditions may make it impossible to play football, it's going to be a lottery as to who plays the conditions best.
It's a must win I reckon.
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Post by harrycarry on Mar 28, 2016 8:21:26 GMT
We have still not reached the must win games. Try to relax everyone.
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Post by mcf86 on Mar 28, 2016 8:30:03 GMT
With our away form it's Cambridge who should -and probably are, quietly, worried about us. Coming to the business end of the season, Lundstram suspended, shot himself in the foot, players battle weary and Supporters getting jittery. Now is not the time to doubt, backed by another great following -the Yellows can reward them with a convincing display that sees Oxford scupper Cambridge.
Cambridge 1 Oxford Utd 2.
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Post by outsidethebox on Mar 28, 2016 8:52:21 GMT
With O'Dowda, Kenny & Lunny out and a shift with 10 men on Good Friday I think we will struggle. Go on, prove me wrong!
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Post by lincolnyellow1 on Mar 28, 2016 8:53:06 GMT
Setting off shortly, the weather is awful in Lincoln, heavy rain, very windy and cold, let's hope it clears up soon. I seem to remember a mixed bag of results playing at the Abbey Stadiun over the years with one certainly to erase last season. 4 points needed over the bank holiday period so that point against Stevenage means we need a win this afternoon or we will be in danger of occupying the 4th spot in the league as we kick off our showpiece at Wembley next Sunday which would be a real set back and a dent to our confidence. . Cambridge - 0 OXFORD UTD - 2 (Waring, MacDonald) At - 4784 (1321 yellows)
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Post by dubaiyellow on Mar 28, 2016 8:55:54 GMT
Sounds like the conditions may make it impossible to play football, it's going to be a lottery as to who plays the conditions best. It's a must win I reckon. Not a must win but if we lose and others win today and Saturday we could be going to Wembley and be sat back in the play offs! Also regarding conditions, so far this season its the other teams that have adapted best so if the conditions are not good then the team needs to get wise, toughen up, batten down the hatches and fight for every everything today. Hopefully, as well, our defence doesn't make any more silly mistakes like Saturday, Wright imo, was clearly at fault for the goal in not tracking his man. Okay im done with the negatives now, on the plus side, we are fantastic away from home, Saturday wasn't a disaster considering we played with 10 men for 75mins and if we win today 4pts from the two games is a good return. think it'll be tight, an unlikely 1-0 will do - Roofe
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Post by Pete Burrett on Mar 28, 2016 9:05:16 GMT
I was thinking in terms of four points over Easter being a good return, although I envisaged a win against Stevenage and a draw at Cambridge. Given our temporary weaknesses, and despite our impressive away form, I think it'll be 1-1 today.
Rovers might drop points at Carlisle, but can't see beyond a Plymouth win at home to York, so our lead over third place could be down to two points by 17.00. Not a disaster and I would expect normal service to be resumed with wins at Crawley then home to Luton.
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Post by eighteen93 on Mar 28, 2016 9:22:49 GMT
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Post by ttg17 on Mar 28, 2016 9:26:50 GMT
I was working myself up a bit over this one, thinking how the loss of O'Dowda fundamentally hinders our ability to swiftly counterattack, which has been crucial away from home, how the loss of Kenny means that our back 4 doesn't look as solid, and how the loss of Lunny means that we won't have our big midfield playmaker. As has been mentioned earlier, and something I hadn't considered but will surely play a factor, we also played 75 mins with 10 men three days ago - players like sercombe, hylton and macca must be shattered.
But then i thought - is this team that is likely to start today not essentially the same team that won so impressively at wimbledon? we didn't have callum or Lunny there, and still managed to pick up an impressive result. From my recollection, kenny didn't have a great game that day either, so we've shown we can do it away from home without our rb being on form.
Cambridge are an inferior team to wimbledon, and have a mixed bag of results at home. they seem to put away the teams they probably should do (yeovil, dagenham recently, for example) but struggle against the better teams (losses to accrington and wimbledon at home since we last played them, although they did beat wycombe a few weeks back, which isn't to be sniffed at, and have beaten northampton at home this year). Four home wins from their last 5 sounds impressive, but when you consider three of those wins were against yeovil, york and daghenam, and that the latter they beat 1-0 with a penalty in the last 10 minutes, and that the loss was to exeter, the stat loses some of the gloss.
I think we're good enough on the road not to lose this one. However, i think the fatigue from Friday will get to us, especially second half, and although we'll be solid at the back, i can't see us forcing too much going forward. could maybe sneak it. will be a tense final quarter of an hour either way.
all in all, this has been a very long winded way of saying i reckon it'll be a gritty draw, maybe 0-0, with a moment of madness or magic having the capacity to win it.
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Post by sideshowrob on Mar 28, 2016 9:29:44 GMT
Wimbledon v Portsmouth has been postponed due to a waterlogged pitch. It was due to kick off at 12:45. I assume it's all systems go at Cambridge?
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Post by concretebob on Mar 28, 2016 9:33:59 GMT
A win of any sort today please.
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Post by lodeyellow on Mar 28, 2016 9:37:53 GMT
Wimbledon v Portsmouth has been postponed due to a waterlogged pitch. It was due to kick off at 12:45. I assume it's all systems go at Cambridge? At the moment it appears to be. No news of any pitch inspection. The wind and rain don't seem as bad as forecast, at time of writing.
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Post by malcolmnl on Mar 28, 2016 9:45:17 GMT
Anybody know which stripe we'll be wearing? Anyway plenty of YYYEEESSS's in stock e.g.
COME ON YOU YELLOWS
YYYEEESSS
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Post by eighteen93 on Mar 28, 2016 9:48:48 GMT
Cambridge could also suffer from fatigue - they could only name five subs at Bristol R on Friday.
MacDonald was subbed off after an hour due to his booking - so he will be fresh and Hylts and Sercs can run all day. We could need Bowery's pace against their centre halves Legge and Coulson.
Maguire could also feature.
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Post by The Fence End on Mar 28, 2016 9:51:11 GMT
With our away form it's Cambridge who should -and probably are, quietly, worried about us. Coming to the business end of the season, Lundstram suspended, shot himself in the foot, players battle weary and Supporters getting jittery. Now is not the time to doubt, backed by another great following -the Yellows can reward them with a convincing display that sees Oxford scupper Cambridge. Cambridge 1 Oxford Utd 2. Let's hope so. I certainly fit into the jittery category this morning! Tough game in tough conditions ahead.
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Post by behindthegoal on Mar 28, 2016 10:01:41 GMT
Getting much much brighter here in Ox, lets hope the sun moving Cambridge way...still quite windy though.
Quite nervy about the game today..not going ,but will listen, Bristol seem to be on a roll just at the right time,is it against away at Carlisle?....jeez I hope they get nothing up there.
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Post by behindthegoal on Mar 28, 2016 10:02:53 GMT
Anybody know which stripe we'll be wearing? Anyway plenty of YYYEEESSS's in stock e.g. COME ON YOU YELLOWS YYYEEESSS prob black/red
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Post by lodeyellow on Mar 28, 2016 10:10:45 GMT
Getting much much brighter here in Ox, lets hope the sun moving Cambridge way...still quite windy though. Quite nervy about the game today..not going ,but will listen, Bristol seem to be on a roll just at the right time,is it against away at Carlisle?....jeez I hope they get nothing up there. The sun's coming out here in Cambridgeshire, too But don't let's get too excited just yet! (Yes, Rovers are at Carlisle.)
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Post by sarge on Mar 28, 2016 10:16:25 GMT
2-1 away win on a bog of a pitch, Ruffles and Waring
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Post by bazzer9461 on Mar 28, 2016 10:19:04 GMT
We need to start strong we have to win so i wil go for a 2 -0 win and dont care who scores.
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Post by steveo263 on Mar 28, 2016 11:34:31 GMT
We've just arrived in Cambridge, it's a bit blowy but nothing like last night. Let's hope for a good result.
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Post by oufcwaffle on Mar 28, 2016 11:35:53 GMT
Would love York to beat plymouth, or carlisle to beat rovers. Either way a win is a must I reckon however I think it will be a draw.
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Post by gottagetbetta on Mar 28, 2016 11:52:22 GMT
Got a very, very bad feeling about this game. Going to hide in the garden shed until it's all over.
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