{ the forum }
 
An independent supporters' website dedicated to Mansfield Town FC

Cambridge preview for Saturday

Discuss all things Stags and Football League Two, and share stuff using our BBCodes.
Forum rules
Please read the Posting Rules before participating. Posting on the forums is subject to adhering to these.
Also, see the Guidelines for Posting. Moderators may sometimes tidy posts which do not follow these customs.

Cambridge preview for Saturday

Postby Sweden Stag » Fri Feb 19, 2021 11:16 am

Following the bitter 2-3 home defeat against Bolton last Wednesday, the Stags are on a revenge mission for that reverse when current League Two leaders Cambridge United visit One Call Stadium on Saturday.

Last season’s away fixture at Cambridge was the Stags’ first one in the new decade and was to be a revenge mission as Cambridge United won at One Call to a heavy 4-0 scoreline in mid-September 2019 with three goals coming very late on. That game, if any, perfectly summed the 2019-20 season for the Stags. In the first half, the Stags did everything but score, and in the second half, an early red card turned the game. At the very end, the Stags had a great chance to equalize. Instead, Cambridge sealed the game with a three-goal blitz. In the end at Cambridg, the Stags came back from 2-1 down to seal a 3-2 victory thanks to a Maynard hat-trick against a Cambridge then fielding three ex-Stags, two of them having played in Sweden (George Taft and Reggie Lambe). That victory also meant that the Stags are unbeaten in five consecutive visits to Cambridge, a sequence which was bettered in early December 2020 when the Stags sealed their then second consecutive away victory (and their fourth consecutive in all competitions) thanks to a Jamie Reid strike midway through the second half. That result is also proof that anyone can beat anyone on their day in this season’s League Two.

Cambridge are also the side the Stags have faced on most occasions in preview history and the fixture on Saturday is the 28th previewed on in League games beginning with the epic one at Cambridge in September 2003 (see more below). Add to that, two FA Cup games in December 2014.

In the BSP, Cambridge were one of five sides facing the Stags in all Stags’five seasons outside the FL. The others were Barrow, Forest Green, Kidderminster and Wrexham, all now playing or have played in the FL as Forest Green were the first FL visitors to Mansfield in 2017-18. That alone said a lot about the team turnover in the BSP over the years. And no team that played Cambridge in their 2004-05 relegation season have been continuously playing in League Two since then, not even Rochdale. That also speaks volumes as Accrington, BSP champions in Cambridge's first out of nine seasons there, were the longest-serving League Two member continuously until their 2017-18 League Two championship campaign. Longest now surviving League Two outfit are Morecambe, a side Cambridge routed at their place early on this season.

But last Saturday, Cambridge could only manage a goal-less home draw against struggling Southend, and in their latest away fixture, Cambridge were routed at Salford to a heavy 4-1 scoreline.

Since Cambridge’s League Two comeback via the playoffs in 2014, they had reached three consecutive top-half finishes without reaching the playoffs. Their boss in early January 2020 was Colin Calderwood, an ex-Stag as a player, as was Martin Ling, who bossed Cambridge about a decade ago in the Conf. But after a string of poor results, Calderwood had to go in late January and was replaced by Mark Bonner.

The home game against Cambridge on February 16, 2013, proved to be a pointer for the remainder of the Stags’ season then, ending in a 3-1 Stags victory. Little did the previewer (and other Stags fans as well) know then that this particular fixture was to be the first in a famous 12-match winning run which catapulted the Stags from just outside the playoff zone into pole position a month later, finally securing the FL return as champions on April 20, 2013.

Yet, penalties and injury-time goals have been two major ingredients in Stags v Cambridge clashes during the time of Stagsnet previewing on games starting with an epic one (see below). The settings have also been about missed and converted spot-kicks.

Two games at Cambridge stand out in particular:

* September 27, 2003. The Stags lead 1-0 at half-time but had two players red-carded. Early in the second half, Cambridge are awarded a penalty. But Walker saw his kick saved by Kevin Pilkington. A few minutes later, nine-men Stags /against 11-men Cambridge/ are favoured from the spot. Liam Lawrence converts and shoots the Stags 2-0 up in an unbelievable fixture.

* April 5, 2010. Injury-time penalties at the stand of 2-2. Cambridge converted theirs to 3-2, but with virtually the last kick of the game, the Stags were awarded a pen, but missed theirs and lost.

A spot-kick was also essential in the Stags winning mixture at Field Mill during the third season of the Stags’ BSP stay. Parker converted one on the hour-mark to the only goal of the game on August 28, 2010, penalty conceded by Jennings (later stations Wrexham, Morecambe and Cheltenham to name a few), sent off in that sequence. And at Cambridge, the Stags notched their biggest-ever win in any league fixture between the sides, as the Stags ran riot in the second half, eventually winning 5-1 in a game with several well-taken goals, including Cambridge's. Jennings also played for the Stags in February 2013 against one of his previous clubs.

On March 10, 2009, Cambridge were lucky to win in injury-time, and on April 3, 2004, the U's equalized in the 90th minute at Field Mill.

Below are some facts on Cambridge United:

When Cambridge United had their first-ever taste of league football in 1970-71 after being elected at the expense of Bradford Park Avenue, they fielded two ex-Stags players. But none of them figured in Cambridge’s first-ever league game, a 1-1 home draw against Lincoln on August 15, 1970.

The ex-Stags were two forwards: John Gregson (74+2 sub games for the Stags, five goals), who figured in Cambridge’s first-ever league win, a 3-1 at home to Oldham on August 29, 1970, and Ivan Hollett, who started his league career at the Stags with 99 games and 40 goals to his credit before going to the arch-rivals Chesterfield (65 goals in 157 games for the Spireites). During the 1970-71 season, Hollett came to Cambridge from Crewe and was to be their top league scorer with 11 goals in 29 games. But those two players were no more on United’s books when the teams faced each other for the first time in the 1972-73 season.

The Stags won their home game early on (the fourth of five straight wins from the start of that season 3-1 (Stags: Fairbrother, Longhorn, Walker; Cambridge: Lill, attendance: 5,216), and the return game at Cambridge was to be a promotion decider at Abbey Stadium.

No wonder then that the game on April 28, 1973, attracted Cambridge’s highest home crowd that season, 10,542! At the end of that day, Cambridge won 3-2 (Cambridge scorers Walton 2, Ross pen, Stags scorers McCaffrey, Dudley Roberts) and gained promotion instead of the Stags. Even then, a penalty was awarded and converted.

That this promotion decider provided goals, was no surprise. Cambridge netted in all Division Four games bar five while the Stags scored in all bar eight, including the first twenty-one games until a 2-0 defeat at Workington on December 9, 1972, the same Workington side that ended a Cambridge run of fourteen games without defeat due to a 5-1 mauling in Cumbria a fortnight earlier.

Some of the Stags players figuring at Cambridge in April 1973 were to play prominent parts in promotion campaigns and a solitary Division 2 season to come: Kevin Bird and goalie Rod Arnold, both appearing in Stags colours for more than a decade. The Stags coach then, Frank Marshall, was a year later taken to Sweden on recommendation by George Raynor, a former Stags player which guided the Swedish National team into the 1958 World Cup Final against Brazil. Marshall settled in the Halmstad area where he within five years steered IS Halmia into the Swedish equivalent to Premier League in the same year as the Stags played their solitary Division Two campaign, in 1978. By the way, Marshall passed away in Halmstad a few years ago.

But 12 months after the first-ever Cambridge FL promotion, Cambridge were back in the basement and that 1974-75 Stags first-ever championship season saw the first FA-Cup tie between the sides. A 3rd round tie at Field Mill saw the Stags through with a Ray Clarke strike in front of 10486 on January 4, 1975. A brief view of the stats show that the sides had up to September 27, 2003, each had won six home games out of eight, and a draw and an away win each, and the last meeting prior to the 2003-04 season produced the most goals scored as Cambridge won their home game on March 20, 1999 with 7-2. Arjan van Heusden was the Cambridge goalie in that fixture.

After the 2-4 away defeat on October 5, 1985, the Stags won four games on the trot to go top of the old fourth division while the 2-2 draw at Field Mill on September 18, 1990, was the Stags solitary home point in the first seven games of the 1990-91 season, and the Stags have scored in every league game bar four between the sides.

An epic encounter between the sides was played at Abbey Stadium on September 27, 2003. The Stags had opened the scoring through Disley halfway through the first half. Then Christie and Day were red-carded before the closure of the first half. Many, including myself internet-checking the game while on my newspaper covering the final day of my local FA 2003 season, wondered if the Stags should hold on? Regarding the penalties, see above. The Stagsnet report began with "Unbelievable stuff". Quite correctly, and more than that.

The September 2003 result was typical of Cambridge’s odd results that 2003-04 season. The “U’s” lost ten home games that season, only surpassed on the final day by Southend, and won fewer at headquarters than any other side, while their away record was better than the ones achieved by two of the promoted sides, Torquay and Huddersfield, and on goal difference, one goal worse than the one of the Stags.

At Mansfield, Cambridge had before the 2011-12 season only won once. This happened in the 1998-99 season, the latest Cambridge promotion one as a league club.

Another interesting fact is that both sides have had a Colin Foster in their league line-up. While the Stags had one during the mid-seventies Championship seasons and the 1977-78 solitary season in the old 2nd division, Cambridge had one some twenty years later.

Cambridge were up to the 2011-12 season the only BSP club having missed out on a FL return by losing two consecutive playoff finals. Both were to Devon clubs, Exeter in 2008 and Torquay the following year. Luton became the second one that 2011-12 campaign. But in the 2013-14 season, it was third time lucky for Cambridge regarding playoff finals. A 2-1 victory against Gateshead ensured Cambridge's FL return after nine seasons outside the FL following relegation and a 10-point deduction in 2005.

In the second of the Stags’ two promotion campaigns during the 1970’s, Cambridge were crowned Division Four champions, then went straight through the third to play six consecutive campaigns at second level. In 1982-83, Cambridge played 12 home games without conceding a goal, while in 1983, the “U”s played 31 games without winning before beating Newcastle 1-0 at home on April 28, 1984. Fact is that Newcastle have played against Cambridge in all their eight seasons at second level, including 1991-92 and 1992-93 respectively.

One of the players having appeared for both sides managed to figure for THREE different BSP sides in the 2009-10 season. Prior to playing for the Stags and Cambridge, Jon Challinor managed five games for Forest Green at the very start of that campaign. Challinor also played for Cambridge in the 1-1 draw at Field Mill in 2008. Another player having appeared for both sides is much-travelled BSP hot-shot Daryl Clare, who in fact blew more cold than hot during his stay at Field Mill. He did the same at Cambridge and was later on released by Alfreton. Another one is Tom Shaw who came to Cambridge from Kidderminster and played three games for the Stags at the very end of the 2008-09 campaign, of those two were seen by the previewer (Woking away and Altrincham at home). Yet another one is Rob Duffy, overlooked during the time of the BSP previews between the sides. Fact is that he played nine games for Cambridge prior to joining Oxford a few seasons before coming to the Stags. Mark Peters and Ben Sedgemore are two other players appearing for both sides.In both cases, they figured for Cambridge during their early BSP years. Lewis Price, who kept the Stags goal at the very end of their FL comeback campaign, was Cambridge custodian for six games during the 2004-05 campaign in which Cambridge United were relegated from the FL, while Craig Westcarr figured for Cambridge in their first season outside the FL in 2005-06 on 31 occasions, scoring eight goals then.

In the 2014-15 season, the sides clashed in the FA Cup second round. A 90th minute Cambridge equalizer at home set up a replay at One Call Stadium, which Cambridge won. Eventually, Cambridge reached the fourth round, managing a replay against Manchester United.

Three players having represented both sides have played in Sweden. George Taft (who played a dozen games in Sweden for Karlstad BK in 2012) was last term in his second Cambridge spell, while Daniel Carr left Karlstad BK at the end of the Swedish calendar year campaign of 2017 after scoring eight goals. Reggie Lambe played for Nyköpings BIS in 2014 before coming to the Stags. The whereabouts of Lambe is currently unknown to the previewer, while Taft has for Bolton this term. The whereabouts of Carr was mentioned in the FA Cup preview against Dagenham & Redbridge a few days before our latest fixture at Cambridge, in which ex-Stag Paul Digby featured for the U’s.

Greg Taylor played eight games for the Stags late on in the 2012-13 season but has since then represented Cambridge and followed them back into the League in 2014, having featured in over 270 National League and EFL fixtures since then, an incredible feat. Add to that, 21 FA Cup games, including both against the Stags in 2014-15 and subsequently, both against Manchester United in the fourth round then. Meanwhile, Mal Benning is the current longest-serving current Stags player with over 200 games in all competitions since 2015.

One ex-Cambridge boss who has managed in Sweden (Championship level at Västerås SK, PL level at AIK), is Richard Money, whose first Cambridge game was a 4-1 victory against the Stags at headquarters in October 2012.

Played for both sides: Blair Adams, Danny Andrew, Nathan Arnold, Matty Blair, Jamie Campbell, Daniel Carr, Jon Challinor, Neville Chamberlain, Daryl Clare, Paul Connor, Robbie Cooke, Digger Daley, Paul Digby, Rob Duffy, Efon Elad, Scott Eustace, Scott Garner, Gerald Graham, John Gregson, Kevin Griffin, Ivan Hollett, Kyle Howkins, Johnny Hunt, James Jennings, Reggie Lambe, David Lyon, Neil MacKenzie, George Maris, Kieran Murtagh, Tom Naylor, Mark Peters, Lewis Price, Jason Rees, Ben Sedgemore, Tom Shaw, Matt Somner, James Spencer, George Taft, Greg Taylor, Colin Toon, Arjan van Heusden, Craig Westcarr.

More on recent Cambridge games in the match centre for the corresponding season.

Stats file:

Home: P 21, W 11, D 7, L 3, GF 28, GA 21
Away: P 22, W 7, D 5, L 10, GF 37, GA 44

Season Home Date Away Date

1972-73 3-1 1972-08-30 2-3 1973-04-28 Div 4 (old)
1974-75 2-1 1975-03-07 2-2 1974-09-24 Div 4 (old)
1985-86 2-0 1986-03-08 2-4 1985-10-05 Div 4 (old)
1990-91 2-2 1990-09-18 1-2 1991-02-01 Div 3 (old)
1995-96 2-1 1996-01-23 2-0 1996-03-23 Div 3
1996-97 1-0 1997-03-01 1-2 1996-03-12 Div 3
1997-98 3-2 1997-10-11 0-2 1998-02-28 Div 3
1998-99 1-3 1998-10-31 2-7 1999-03-20 Div 3
2003-04 1-1 2004-04-03 2-1 2003-09-27 Div 3
2004-05 0-0 2005-01-11 2-2 2004-09-11 League 2
2008-09 1-1 2008-09-20 1-2 2009-03-10 BSP
2009-10 2-1 2009-12-28 2-3 2010-04-05 BSP
2010-11 1-0 2010-08-28 5-1 2010-12-28 BSP
2011-12 1-2 2011-11-05 2-1 2012-03-06 BSP
2012-13 3-1 2013-02-16 1-4 2012-10-06 BSP
2014-15 0-0 2014-10-18 1-3 2015-04-18 League 2
2015-16 0-0 2016-05-07 1-1 2015-12-19 League 2
2016-17 0-0 2016-09-03 3-1 2017-01-21 League 2
2017-18 2-1 2017-09-23 0-0 2018-01-13 League 2
2018-19 1-0 2019-04-06 1-1 2018-09-22 League 2
2019-20 0-4 2019-09-17 3-2 2020-01-01 League 2
2020-21 (at Cambridge) 1-0 2020-12-02 League 2

FA Cup

1974-75 1-0 1975-01-04 (at Field Mill) FA Cup 3rd round
2014-15 2-2 2014-12-06 (at Cambridge) FA Cup 2nd round
2014-15 0-1 2014-12-16 (at One Call Stadium) FA Cup 2nd round replay

Time to bounce back after the Bolton reverse. Come on Mansfield!
Stockholm, July 4, 2008, 15.00 GMT. Good news came, K.H. gone. March 1, 2012. Ground purchased.
Sweden Stag
Assistant Manager
Assistant Manager
 
Posts: 1156
Joined: Thu Aug 06, 2009 2:21 pm
Location: Karlstad, Sweden

Re: Cambridge preview for Saturday

Postby Random Hero » Fri Feb 19, 2021 12:07 pm

Sweden Stag wrote:Following the bitter 2-3 home defeat against Bolton last Wednesday, the Stags are on a revenge mission for that reverse when current League Two leaders Cambridge United visit One Call Stadium on Saturday.

Last season’s away fixture at Cambridge was the Stags’ first one in the new decade and was to be a revenge mission as Cambridge United won at One Call to a heavy 4-0 scoreline in mid-September 2019 with three goals coming very late on. That game, if any, perfectly summed the 2019-20 season for the Stags. In the first half, the Stags did everything but score, and in the second half, an early red card turned the game. At the very end, the Stags had a great chance to equalize. Instead, Cambridge sealed the game with a three-goal blitz. In the end at Cambridg, the Stags came back from 2-1 down to seal a 3-2 victory thanks to a Maynard hat-trick against a Cambridge then fielding three ex-Stags, two of them having played in Sweden (George Taft and Reggie Lambe). That victory also meant that the Stags are unbeaten in five consecutive visits to Cambridge, a sequence which was bettered in early December 2020 when the Stags sealed their then second consecutive away victory (and their fourth consecutive in all competitions) thanks to a Jamie Reid strike midway through the second half. That result is also proof that anyone can beat anyone on their day in this season’s League Two.

Cambridge are also the side the Stags have faced on most occasions in preview history and the fixture on Saturday is the 28th previewed on in League games beginning with the epic one at Cambridge in September 2003 (see more below). Add to that, two FA Cup games in December 2014.

In the BSP, Cambridge were one of five sides facing the Stags in all Stags’five seasons outside the FL. The others were Barrow, Forest Green, Kidderminster and Wrexham, all now playing or have played in the FL as Forest Green were the first FL visitors to Mansfield in 2017-18. That alone said a lot about the team turnover in the BSP over the years. And no team that played Cambridge in their 2004-05 relegation season have been continuously playing in League Two since then, not even Rochdale. That also speaks volumes as Accrington, BSP champions in Cambridge's first out of nine seasons there, were the longest-serving League Two member continuously until their 2017-18 League Two championship campaign. Longest now surviving League Two outfit are Morecambe, a side Cambridge routed at their place early on this season.

But last Saturday, Cambridge could only manage a goal-less home draw against struggling Southend, and in their latest away fixture, Cambridge were routed at Salford to a heavy 4-1 scoreline.

Since Cambridge’s League Two comeback via the playoffs in 2014, they had reached three consecutive top-half finishes without reaching the playoffs. Their boss in early January 2020 was Colin Calderwood, an ex-Stag as a player, as was Martin Ling, who bossed Cambridge about a decade ago in the Conf. But after a string of poor results, Calderwood had to go in late January and was replaced by Mark Bonner.

The home game against Cambridge on February 16, 2013, proved to be a pointer for the remainder of the Stags’ season then, ending in a 3-1 Stags victory. Little did the previewer (and other Stags fans as well) know then that this particular fixture was to be the first in a famous 12-match winning run which catapulted the Stags from just outside the playoff zone into pole position a month later, finally securing the FL return as champions on April 20, 2013.

Yet, penalties and injury-time goals have been two major ingredients in Stags v Cambridge clashes during the time of Stagsnet previewing on games starting with an epic one (see below). The settings have also been about missed and converted spot-kicks.

Two games at Cambridge stand out in particular:

* September 27, 2003. The Stags lead 1-0 at half-time but had two players red-carded. Early in the second half, Cambridge are awarded a penalty. But Walker saw his kick saved by Kevin Pilkington. A few minutes later, nine-men Stags /against 11-men Cambridge/ are favoured from the spot. Liam Lawrence converts and shoots the Stags 2-0 up in an unbelievable fixture.

* April 5, 2010. Injury-time penalties at the stand of 2-2. Cambridge converted theirs to 3-2, but with virtually the last kick of the game, the Stags were awarded a pen, but missed theirs and lost.

A spot-kick was also essential in the Stags winning mixture at Field Mill during the third season of the Stags’ BSP stay. Parker converted one on the hour-mark to the only goal of the game on August 28, 2010, penalty conceded by Jennings (later stations Wrexham, Morecambe and Cheltenham to name a few), sent off in that sequence. And at Cambridge, the Stags notched their biggest-ever win in any league fixture between the sides, as the Stags ran riot in the second half, eventually winning 5-1 in a game with several well-taken goals, including Cambridge's. Jennings also played for the Stags in February 2013 against one of his previous clubs.

On March 10, 2009, Cambridge were lucky to win in injury-time, and on April 3, 2004, the U's equalized in the 90th minute at Field Mill.

Below are some facts on Cambridge United:

When Cambridge United had their first-ever taste of league football in 1970-71 after being elected at the expense of Bradford Park Avenue, they fielded two ex-Stags players. But none of them figured in Cambridge’s first-ever league game, a 1-1 home draw against Lincoln on August 15, 1970.

The ex-Stags were two forwards: John Gregson (74+2 sub games for the Stags, five goals), who figured in Cambridge’s first-ever league win, a 3-1 at home to Oldham on August 29, 1970, and Ivan Hollett, who started his league career at the Stags with 99 games and 40 goals to his credit before going to the arch-rivals Chesterfield (65 goals in 157 games for the Spireites). During the 1970-71 season, Hollett came to Cambridge from Crewe and was to be their top league scorer with 11 goals in 29 games. But those two players were no more on United’s books when the teams faced each other for the first time in the 1972-73 season.

The Stags won their home game early on (the fourth of five straight wins from the start of that season 3-1 (Stags: Fairbrother, Longhorn, Walker; Cambridge: Lill, attendance: 5,216), and the return game at Cambridge was to be a promotion decider at Abbey Stadium.

No wonder then that the game on April 28, 1973, attracted Cambridge’s highest home crowd that season, 10,542! At the end of that day, Cambridge won 3-2 (Cambridge scorers Walton 2, Ross pen, Stags scorers McCaffrey, Dudley Roberts) and gained promotion instead of the Stags. Even then, a penalty was awarded and converted.

That this promotion decider provided goals, was no surprise. Cambridge netted in all Division Four games bar five while the Stags scored in all bar eight, including the first twenty-one games until a 2-0 defeat at Workington on December 9, 1972, the same Workington side that ended a Cambridge run of fourteen games without defeat due to a 5-1 mauling in Cumbria a fortnight earlier.

Some of the Stags players figuring at Cambridge in April 1973 were to play prominent parts in promotion campaigns and a solitary Division 2 season to come: Kevin Bird and goalie Rod Arnold, both appearing in Stags colours for more than a decade. The Stags coach then, Frank Marshall, was a year later taken to Sweden on recommendation by George Raynor, a former Stags player which guided the Swedish National team into the 1958 World Cup Final against Brazil. Marshall settled in the Halmstad area where he within five years steered IS Halmia into the Swedish equivalent to Premier League in the same year as the Stags played their solitary Division Two campaign, in 1978. By the way, Marshall passed away in Halmstad a few years ago.

But 12 months after the first-ever Cambridge FL promotion, Cambridge were back in the basement and that 1974-75 Stags first-ever championship season saw the first FA-Cup tie between the sides. A 3rd round tie at Field Mill saw the Stags through with a Ray Clarke strike in front of 10486 on January 4, 1975. A brief view of the stats show that the sides had up to September 27, 2003, each had won six home games out of eight, and a draw and an away win each, and the last meeting prior to the 2003-04 season produced the most goals scored as Cambridge won their home game on March 20, 1999 with 7-2. Arjan van Heusden was the Cambridge goalie in that fixture.

After the 2-4 away defeat on October 5, 1985, the Stags won four games on the trot to go top of the old fourth division while the 2-2 draw at Field Mill on September 18, 1990, was the Stags solitary home point in the first seven games of the 1990-91 season, and the Stags have scored in every league game bar four between the sides.

An epic encounter between the sides was played at Abbey Stadium on September 27, 2003. The Stags had opened the scoring through Disley halfway through the first half. Then Christie and Day were red-carded before the closure of the first half. Many, including myself internet-checking the game while on my newspaper covering the final day of my local FA 2003 season, wondered if the Stags should hold on? Regarding the penalties, see above. The Stagsnet report began with "Unbelievable stuff". Quite correctly, and more than that.

The September 2003 result was typical of Cambridge’s odd results that 2003-04 season. The “U’s” lost ten home games that season, only surpassed on the final day by Southend, and won fewer at headquarters than any other side, while their away record was better than the ones achieved by two of the promoted sides, Torquay and Huddersfield, and on goal difference, one goal worse than the one of the Stags.

At Mansfield, Cambridge had before the 2011-12 season only won once. This happened in the 1998-99 season, the latest Cambridge promotion one as a league club.

Another interesting fact is that both sides have had a Colin Foster in their league line-up. While the Stags had one during the mid-seventies Championship seasons and the 1977-78 solitary season in the old 2nd division, Cambridge had one some twenty years later.

Cambridge were up to the 2011-12 season the only BSP club having missed out on a FL return by losing two consecutive playoff finals. Both were to Devon clubs, Exeter in 2008 and Torquay the following year. Luton became the second one that 2011-12 campaign. But in the 2013-14 season, it was third time lucky for Cambridge regarding playoff finals. A 2-1 victory against Gateshead ensured Cambridge's FL return after nine seasons outside the FL following relegation and a 10-point deduction in 2005.

In the second of the Stags’ two promotion campaigns during the 1970’s, Cambridge were crowned Division Four champions, then went straight through the third to play six consecutive campaigns at second level. In 1982-83, Cambridge played 12 home games without conceding a goal, while in 1983, the “U”s played 31 games without winning before beating Newcastle 1-0 at home on April 28, 1984. Fact is that Newcastle have played against Cambridge in all their eight seasons at second level, including 1991-92 and 1992-93 respectively.

One of the players having appeared for both sides managed to figure for THREE different BSP sides in the 2009-10 season. Prior to playing for the Stags and Cambridge, Jon Challinor managed five games for Forest Green at the very start of that campaign. Challinor also played for Cambridge in the 1-1 draw at Field Mill in 2008. Another player having appeared for both sides is much-travelled BSP hot-shot Daryl Clare, who in fact blew more cold than hot during his stay at Field Mill. He did the same at Cambridge and was later on released by Alfreton. Another one is Tom Shaw who came to Cambridge from Kidderminster and played three games for the Stags at the very end of the 2008-09 campaign, of those two were seen by the previewer (Woking away and Altrincham at home). Yet another one is Rob Duffy, overlooked during the time of the BSP previews between the sides. Fact is that he played nine games for Cambridge prior to joining Oxford a few seasons before coming to the Stags. Mark Peters and Ben Sedgemore are two other players appearing for both sides.In both cases, they figured for Cambridge during their early BSP years. Lewis Price, who kept the Stags goal at the very end of their FL comeback campaign, was Cambridge custodian for six games during the 2004-05 campaign in which Cambridge United were relegated from the FL, while Craig Westcarr figured for Cambridge in their first season outside the FL in 2005-06 on 31 occasions, scoring eight goals then.

In the 2014-15 season, the sides clashed in the FA Cup second round. A 90th minute Cambridge equalizer at home set up a replay at One Call Stadium, which Cambridge won. Eventually, Cambridge reached the fourth round, managing a replay against Manchester United.

Three players having represented both sides have played in Sweden. George Taft (who played a dozen games in Sweden for Karlstad BK in 2012) was last term in his second Cambridge spell, while Daniel Carr left Karlstad BK at the end of the Swedish calendar year campaign of 2017 after scoring eight goals. Reggie Lambe played for Nyköpings BIS in 2014 before coming to the Stags. The whereabouts of Lambe is currently unknown to the previewer, while Taft has for Bolton this term. The whereabouts of Carr was mentioned in the FA Cup preview against Dagenham & Redbridge a few days before our latest fixture at Cambridge, in which ex-Stag Paul Digby featured for the U’s.

Greg Taylor played eight games for the Stags late on in the 2012-13 season but has since then represented Cambridge and followed them back into the League in 2014, having featured in over 270 National League and EFL fixtures since then, an incredible feat. Add to that, 21 FA Cup games, including both against the Stags in 2014-15 and subsequently, both against Manchester United in the fourth round then. Meanwhile, Mal Benning is the current longest-serving current Stags player with over 200 games in all competitions since 2015.

One ex-Cambridge boss who has managed in Sweden (Championship level at Västerås SK, PL level at AIK), is Richard Money, whose first Cambridge game was a 4-1 victory against the Stags at headquarters in October 2012.

Played for both sides: Blair Adams, Danny Andrew, Nathan Arnold, Matty Blair, Jamie Campbell, Daniel Carr, Jon Challinor, Neville Chamberlain, Daryl Clare, Paul Connor, Robbie Cooke, Digger Daley, Paul Digby, Rob Duffy, Efon Elad, Scott Eustace, Scott Garner, Gerald Graham, John Gregson, Kevin Griffin, Ivan Hollett, Kyle Howkins, Johnny Hunt, James Jennings, Reggie Lambe, David Lyon, Neil MacKenzie, George Maris, Kieran Murtagh, Tom Naylor, Mark Peters, Lewis Price, Jason Rees, Ben Sedgemore, Tom Shaw, Matt Somner, James Spencer, George Taft, Greg Taylor, Colin Toon, Arjan van Heusden, Craig Westcarr.

More on recent Cambridge games in the match centre for the corresponding season.

Stats file:

Home: P 21, W 11, D 7, L 3, GF 28, GA 21
Away: P 22, W 7, D 5, L 10, GF 37, GA 44

Season Home Date Away Date

1972-73 3-1 1972-08-30 2-3 1973-04-28 Div 4 (old)
1974-75 2-1 1975-03-07 2-2 1974-09-24 Div 4 (old)
1985-86 2-0 1986-03-08 2-4 1985-10-05 Div 4 (old)
1990-91 2-2 1990-09-18 1-2 1991-02-01 Div 3 (old)
1995-96 2-1 1996-01-23 2-0 1996-03-23 Div 3
1996-97 1-0 1997-03-01 1-2 1996-03-12 Div 3
1997-98 3-2 1997-10-11 0-2 1998-02-28 Div 3
1998-99 1-3 1998-10-31 2-7 1999-03-20 Div 3
2003-04 1-1 2004-04-03 2-1 2003-09-27 Div 3
2004-05 0-0 2005-01-11 2-2 2004-09-11 League 2
2008-09 1-1 2008-09-20 1-2 2009-03-10 BSP
2009-10 2-1 2009-12-28 2-3 2010-04-05 BSP
2010-11 1-0 2010-08-28 5-1 2010-12-28 BSP
2011-12 1-2 2011-11-05 2-1 2012-03-06 BSP
2012-13 3-1 2013-02-16 1-4 2012-10-06 BSP
2014-15 0-0 2014-10-18 1-3 2015-04-18 League 2
2015-16 0-0 2016-05-07 1-1 2015-12-19 League 2
2016-17 0-0 2016-09-03 3-1 2017-01-21 League 2
2017-18 2-1 2017-09-23 0-0 2018-01-13 League 2
2018-19 1-0 2019-04-06 1-1 2018-09-22 League 2
2019-20 0-4 2019-09-17 3-2 2020-01-01 League 2
2020-21 (at Cambridge) 1-0 2020-12-02 League 2

FA Cup

1974-75 1-0 1975-01-04 (at Field Mill) FA Cup 3rd round
2014-15 2-2 2014-12-06 (at Cambridge) FA Cup 2nd round
2014-15 0-1 2014-12-16 (at One Call Stadium) FA Cup 2nd round replay

Time to bounce back after the Bolton reverse. Come on Mansfield!


Great preview Svante
An der Elbe, werden Träume wahr
User avatar
Random Hero
Manager
Manager
 
Posts: 2719
Joined: Mon Aug 10, 2009 6:35 pm
Location: Volksparkstadion

Re: Cambridge preview for Saturday

Postby Captain Cunno » Fri Feb 19, 2021 12:16 pm

Sweden Stag wrote:Following the bitter 2-3 home defeat against Bolton last Wednesday, the Stags are on a revenge mission for that reverse when current League Two leaders Cambridge United visit One Call Stadium on Saturday.

Last season’s away fixture at Cambridge was the Stags’ first one in the new decade and was to be a revenge mission as Cambridge United won at One Call to a heavy 4-0 scoreline in mid-September 2019 with three goals coming very late on. That game, if any, perfectly summed the 2019-20 season for the Stags. In the first half, the Stags did everything but score, and in the second half, an early red card turned the game. At the very end, the Stags had a great chance to equalize. Instead, Cambridge sealed the game with a three-goal blitz. In the end at Cambridg, the Stags came back from 2-1 down to seal a 3-2 victory thanks to a Maynard hat-trick against a Cambridge then fielding three ex-Stags, two of them having played in Sweden (George Taft and Reggie Lambe). That victory also meant that the Stags are unbeaten in five consecutive visits to Cambridge, a sequence which was bettered in early December 2020 when the Stags sealed their then second consecutive away victory (and their fourth consecutive in all competitions) thanks to a Jamie Reid strike midway through the second half. That result is also proof that anyone can beat anyone on their day in this season’s League Two.

Cambridge are also the side the Stags have faced on most occasions in preview history and the fixture on Saturday is the 28th previewed on in League games beginning with the epic one at Cambridge in September 2003 (see more below). Add to that, two FA Cup games in December 2014.

In the BSP, Cambridge were one of five sides facing the Stags in all Stags’five seasons outside the FL. The others were Barrow, Forest Green, Kidderminster and Wrexham, all now playing or have played in the FL as Forest Green were the first FL visitors to Mansfield in 2017-18. That alone said a lot about the team turnover in the BSP over the years. And no team that played Cambridge in their 2004-05 relegation season have been continuously playing in League Two since then, not even Rochdale. That also speaks volumes as Accrington, BSP champions in Cambridge's first out of nine seasons there, were the longest-serving League Two member continuously until their 2017-18 League Two championship campaign. Longest now surviving League Two outfit are Morecambe, a side Cambridge routed at their place early on this season.

But last Saturday, Cambridge could only manage a goal-less home draw against struggling Southend, and in their latest away fixture, Cambridge were routed at Salford to a heavy 4-1 scoreline.

Since Cambridge’s League Two comeback via the playoffs in 2014, they had reached three consecutive top-half finishes without reaching the playoffs. Their boss in early January 2020 was Colin Calderwood, an ex-Stag as a player, as was Martin Ling, who bossed Cambridge about a decade ago in the Conf. But after a string of poor results, Calderwood had to go in late January and was replaced by Mark Bonner.

The home game against Cambridge on February 16, 2013, proved to be a pointer for the remainder of the Stags’ season then, ending in a 3-1 Stags victory. Little did the previewer (and other Stags fans as well) know then that this particular fixture was to be the first in a famous 12-match winning run which catapulted the Stags from just outside the playoff zone into pole position a month later, finally securing the FL return as champions on April 20, 2013.

Yet, penalties and injury-time goals have been two major ingredients in Stags v Cambridge clashes during the time of Stagsnet previewing on games starting with an epic one (see below). The settings have also been about missed and converted spot-kicks.

Two games at Cambridge stand out in particular:

* September 27, 2003. The Stags lead 1-0 at half-time but had two players red-carded. Early in the second half, Cambridge are awarded a penalty. But Walker saw his kick saved by Kevin Pilkington. A few minutes later, nine-men Stags /against 11-men Cambridge/ are favoured from the spot. Liam Lawrence converts and shoots the Stags 2-0 up in an unbelievable fixture.

* April 5, 2010. Injury-time penalties at the stand of 2-2. Cambridge converted theirs to 3-2, but with virtually the last kick of the game, the Stags were awarded a pen, but missed theirs and lost.

A spot-kick was also essential in the Stags winning mixture at Field Mill during the third season of the Stags’ BSP stay. Parker converted one on the hour-mark to the only goal of the game on August 28, 2010, penalty conceded by Jennings (later stations Wrexham, Morecambe and Cheltenham to name a few), sent off in that sequence. And at Cambridge, the Stags notched their biggest-ever win in any league fixture between the sides, as the Stags ran riot in the second half, eventually winning 5-1 in a game with several well-taken goals, including Cambridge's. Jennings also played for the Stags in February 2013 against one of his previous clubs.

On March 10, 2009, Cambridge were lucky to win in injury-time, and on April 3, 2004, the U's equalized in the 90th minute at Field Mill.

Below are some facts on Cambridge United:

When Cambridge United had their first-ever taste of league football in 1970-71 after being elected at the expense of Bradford Park Avenue, they fielded two ex-Stags players. But none of them figured in Cambridge’s first-ever league game, a 1-1 home draw against Lincoln on August 15, 1970.

The ex-Stags were two forwards: John Gregson (74+2 sub games for the Stags, five goals), who figured in Cambridge’s first-ever league win, a 3-1 at home to Oldham on August 29, 1970, and Ivan Hollett, who started his league career at the Stags with 99 games and 40 goals to his credit before going to the arch-rivals Chesterfield (65 goals in 157 games for the Spireites). During the 1970-71 season, Hollett came to Cambridge from Crewe and was to be their top league scorer with 11 goals in 29 games. But those two players were no more on United’s books when the teams faced each other for the first time in the 1972-73 season.

The Stags won their home game early on (the fourth of five straight wins from the start of that season 3-1 (Stags: Fairbrother, Longhorn, Walker; Cambridge: Lill, attendance: 5,216), and the return game at Cambridge was to be a promotion decider at Abbey Stadium.

No wonder then that the game on April 28, 1973, attracted Cambridge’s highest home crowd that season, 10,542! At the end of that day, Cambridge won 3-2 (Cambridge scorers Walton 2, Ross pen, Stags scorers McCaffrey, Dudley Roberts) and gained promotion instead of the Stags. Even then, a penalty was awarded and converted.

That this promotion decider provided goals, was no surprise. Cambridge netted in all Division Four games bar five while the Stags scored in all bar eight, including the first twenty-one games until a 2-0 defeat at Workington on December 9, 1972, the same Workington side that ended a Cambridge run of fourteen games without defeat due to a 5-1 mauling in Cumbria a fortnight earlier.

Some of the Stags players figuring at Cambridge in April 1973 were to play prominent parts in promotion campaigns and a solitary Division 2 season to come: Kevin Bird and goalie Rod Arnold, both appearing in Stags colours for more than a decade. The Stags coach then, Frank Marshall, was a year later taken to Sweden on recommendation by George Raynor, a former Stags player which guided the Swedish National team into the 1958 World Cup Final against Brazil. Marshall settled in the Halmstad area where he within five years steered IS Halmia into the Swedish equivalent to Premier League in the same year as the Stags played their solitary Division Two campaign, in 1978. By the way, Marshall passed away in Halmstad a few years ago.

But 12 months after the first-ever Cambridge FL promotion, Cambridge were back in the basement and that 1974-75 Stags first-ever championship season saw the first FA-Cup tie between the sides. A 3rd round tie at Field Mill saw the Stags through with a Ray Clarke strike in front of 10486 on January 4, 1975. A brief view of the stats show that the sides had up to September 27, 2003, each had won six home games out of eight, and a draw and an away win each, and the last meeting prior to the 2003-04 season produced the most goals scored as Cambridge won their home game on March 20, 1999 with 7-2. Arjan van Heusden was the Cambridge goalie in that fixture.

After the 2-4 away defeat on October 5, 1985, the Stags won four games on the trot to go top of the old fourth division while the 2-2 draw at Field Mill on September 18, 1990, was the Stags solitary home point in the first seven games of the 1990-91 season, and the Stags have scored in every league game bar four between the sides.

An epic encounter between the sides was played at Abbey Stadium on September 27, 2003. The Stags had opened the scoring through Disley halfway through the first half. Then Christie and Day were red-carded before the closure of the first half. Many, including myself internet-checking the game while on my newspaper covering the final day of my local FA 2003 season, wondered if the Stags should hold on? Regarding the penalties, see above. The Stagsnet report began with "Unbelievable stuff". Quite correctly, and more than that.

The September 2003 result was typical of Cambridge’s odd results that 2003-04 season. The “U’s” lost ten home games that season, only surpassed on the final day by Southend, and won fewer at headquarters than any other side, while their away record was better than the ones achieved by two of the promoted sides, Torquay and Huddersfield, and on goal difference, one goal worse than the one of the Stags.

At Mansfield, Cambridge had before the 2011-12 season only won once. This happened in the 1998-99 season, the latest Cambridge promotion one as a league club.

Another interesting fact is that both sides have had a Colin Foster in their league line-up. While the Stags had one during the mid-seventies Championship seasons and the 1977-78 solitary season in the old 2nd division, Cambridge had one some twenty years later.

Cambridge were up to the 2011-12 season the only BSP club having missed out on a FL return by losing two consecutive playoff finals. Both were to Devon clubs, Exeter in 2008 and Torquay the following year. Luton became the second one that 2011-12 campaign. But in the 2013-14 season, it was third time lucky for Cambridge regarding playoff finals. A 2-1 victory against Gateshead ensured Cambridge's FL return after nine seasons outside the FL following relegation and a 10-point deduction in 2005.

In the second of the Stags’ two promotion campaigns during the 1970’s, Cambridge were crowned Division Four champions, then went straight through the third to play six consecutive campaigns at second level. In 1982-83, Cambridge played 12 home games without conceding a goal, while in 1983, the “U”s played 31 games without winning before beating Newcastle 1-0 at home on April 28, 1984. Fact is that Newcastle have played against Cambridge in all their eight seasons at second level, including 1991-92 and 1992-93 respectively.

One of the players having appeared for both sides managed to figure for THREE different BSP sides in the 2009-10 season. Prior to playing for the Stags and Cambridge, Jon Challinor managed five games for Forest Green at the very start of that campaign. Challinor also played for Cambridge in the 1-1 draw at Field Mill in 2008. Another player having appeared for both sides is much-travelled BSP hot-shot Daryl Clare, who in fact blew more cold than hot during his stay at Field Mill. He did the same at Cambridge and was later on released by Alfreton. Another one is Tom Shaw who came to Cambridge from Kidderminster and played three games for the Stags at the very end of the 2008-09 campaign, of those two were seen by the previewer (Woking away and Altrincham at home). Yet another one is Rob Duffy, overlooked during the time of the BSP previews between the sides. Fact is that he played nine games for Cambridge prior to joining Oxford a few seasons before coming to the Stags. Mark Peters and Ben Sedgemore are two other players appearing for both sides.In both cases, they figured for Cambridge during their early BSP years. Lewis Price, who kept the Stags goal at the very end of their FL comeback campaign, was Cambridge custodian for six games during the 2004-05 campaign in which Cambridge United were relegated from the FL, while Craig Westcarr figured for Cambridge in their first season outside the FL in 2005-06 on 31 occasions, scoring eight goals then.

In the 2014-15 season, the sides clashed in the FA Cup second round. A 90th minute Cambridge equalizer at home set up a replay at One Call Stadium, which Cambridge won. Eventually, Cambridge reached the fourth round, managing a replay against Manchester United.

Three players having represented both sides have played in Sweden. George Taft (who played a dozen games in Sweden for Karlstad BK in 2012) was last term in his second Cambridge spell, while Daniel Carr left Karlstad BK at the end of the Swedish calendar year campaign of 2017 after scoring eight goals. Reggie Lambe played for Nyköpings BIS in 2014 before coming to the Stags. The whereabouts of Lambe is currently unknown to the previewer, while Taft has for Bolton this term. The whereabouts of Carr was mentioned in the FA Cup preview against Dagenham & Redbridge a few days before our latest fixture at Cambridge, in which ex-Stag Paul Digby featured for the U’s.

Greg Taylor played eight games for the Stags late on in the 2012-13 season but has since then represented Cambridge and followed them back into the League in 2014, having featured in over 270 National League and EFL fixtures since then, an incredible feat. Add to that, 21 FA Cup games, including both against the Stags in 2014-15 and subsequently, both against Manchester United in the fourth round then. Meanwhile, Mal Benning is the current longest-serving current Stags player with over 200 games in all competitions since 2015.

One ex-Cambridge boss who has managed in Sweden (Championship level at Västerås SK, PL level at AIK), is Richard Money, whose first Cambridge game was a 4-1 victory against the Stags at headquarters in October 2012.

Played for both sides: Blair Adams, Danny Andrew, Nathan Arnold, Matty Blair, Jamie Campbell, Daniel Carr, Jon Challinor, Neville Chamberlain, Daryl Clare, Paul Connor, Robbie Cooke, Digger Daley, Paul Digby, Rob Duffy, Efon Elad, Scott Eustace, Scott Garner, Gerald Graham, John Gregson, Kevin Griffin, Ivan Hollett, Kyle Howkins, Johnny Hunt, James Jennings, Reggie Lambe, David Lyon, Neil MacKenzie, George Maris, Kieran Murtagh, Tom Naylor, Mark Peters, Lewis Price, Jason Rees, Ben Sedgemore, Tom Shaw, Matt Somner, James Spencer, George Taft, Greg Taylor, Colin Toon, Arjan van Heusden, Craig Westcarr.

More on recent Cambridge games in the match centre for the corresponding season.

Stats file:

Home: P 21, W 11, D 7, L 3, GF 28, GA 21
Away: P 22, W 7, D 5, L 10, GF 37, GA 44

Season Home Date Away Date

1972-73 3-1 1972-08-30 2-3 1973-04-28 Div 4 (old)
1974-75 2-1 1975-03-07 2-2 1974-09-24 Div 4 (old)
1985-86 2-0 1986-03-08 2-4 1985-10-05 Div 4 (old)
1990-91 2-2 1990-09-18 1-2 1991-02-01 Div 3 (old)
1995-96 2-1 1996-01-23 2-0 1996-03-23 Div 3
1996-97 1-0 1997-03-01 1-2 1996-03-12 Div 3
1997-98 3-2 1997-10-11 0-2 1998-02-28 Div 3
1998-99 1-3 1998-10-31 2-7 1999-03-20 Div 3
2003-04 1-1 2004-04-03 2-1 2003-09-27 Div 3
2004-05 0-0 2005-01-11 2-2 2004-09-11 League 2
2008-09 1-1 2008-09-20 1-2 2009-03-10 BSP
2009-10 2-1 2009-12-28 2-3 2010-04-05 BSP
2010-11 1-0 2010-08-28 5-1 2010-12-28 BSP
2011-12 1-2 2011-11-05 2-1 2012-03-06 BSP
2012-13 3-1 2013-02-16 1-4 2012-10-06 BSP
2014-15 0-0 2014-10-18 1-3 2015-04-18 League 2
2015-16 0-0 2016-05-07 1-1 2015-12-19 League 2
2016-17 0-0 2016-09-03 3-1 2017-01-21 League 2
2017-18 2-1 2017-09-23 0-0 2018-01-13 League 2
2018-19 1-0 2019-04-06 1-1 2018-09-22 League 2
2019-20 0-4 2019-09-17 3-2 2020-01-01 League 2
2020-21 (at Cambridge) 1-0 2020-12-02 League 2

FA Cup

1974-75 1-0 1975-01-04 (at Field Mill) FA Cup 3rd round
2014-15 2-2 2014-12-06 (at Cambridge) FA Cup 2nd round
2014-15 0-1 2014-12-16 (at One Call Stadium) FA Cup 2nd round replay

Time to bounce back after the Bolton reverse. Come on Mansfield!


Excellent work Svante !
These are my opinions , if you don't like them I have others...
User avatar
Captain Cunno
Manager
Manager
 
Posts: 5773
Joined: Thu Aug 06, 2009 1:23 pm

Re: Cambridge preview for Saturday

Postby PEAR CIDER » Fri Feb 19, 2021 12:37 pm

Sweden Stag wrote:Following the bitter 2-3 home defeat against Bolton last Wednesday, the Stags are on a revenge mission for that reverse when current League Two leaders Cambridge United visit One Call Stadium on Saturday.

Last season’s away fixture at Cambridge was the Stags’ first one in the new decade and was to be a revenge mission as Cambridge United won at One Call to a heavy 4-0 scoreline in mid-September 2019 with three goals coming very late on. That game, if any, perfectly summed the 2019-20 season for the Stags. In the first half, the Stags did everything but score, and in the second half, an early red card turned the game. At the very end, the Stags had a great chance to equalize. Instead, Cambridge sealed the game with a three-goal blitz. In the end at Cambridg, the Stags came back from 2-1 down to seal a 3-2 victory thanks to a Maynard hat-trick against a Cambridge then fielding three ex-Stags, two of them having played in Sweden (George Taft and Reggie Lambe). That victory also meant that the Stags are unbeaten in five consecutive visits to Cambridge, a sequence which was bettered in early December 2020 when the Stags sealed their then second consecutive away victory (and their fourth consecutive in all competitions) thanks to a Jamie Reid strike midway through the second half. That result is also proof that anyone can beat anyone on their day in this season’s League Two.

Cambridge are also the side the Stags have faced on most occasions in preview history and the fixture on Saturday is the 28th previewed on in League games beginning with the epic one at Cambridge in September 2003 (see more below). Add to that, two FA Cup games in December 2014.

In the BSP, Cambridge were one of five sides facing the Stags in all Stags’five seasons outside the FL. The others were Barrow, Forest Green, Kidderminster and Wrexham, all now playing or have played in the FL as Forest Green were the first FL visitors to Mansfield in 2017-18. That alone said a lot about the team turnover in the BSP over the years. And no team that played Cambridge in their 2004-05 relegation season have been continuously playing in League Two since then, not even Rochdale. That also speaks volumes as Accrington, BSP champions in Cambridge's first out of nine seasons there, were the longest-serving League Two member continuously until their 2017-18 League Two championship campaign. Longest now surviving League Two outfit are Morecambe, a side Cambridge routed at their place early on this season.

But last Saturday, Cambridge could only manage a goal-less home draw against struggling Southend, and in their latest away fixture, Cambridge were routed at Salford to a heavy 4-1 scoreline.

Since Cambridge’s League Two comeback via the playoffs in 2014, they had reached three consecutive top-half finishes without reaching the playoffs. Their boss in early January 2020 was Colin Calderwood, an ex-Stag as a player, as was Martin Ling, who bossed Cambridge about a decade ago in the Conf. But after a string of poor results, Calderwood had to go in late January and was replaced by Mark Bonner.

The home game against Cambridge on February 16, 2013, proved to be a pointer for the remainder of the Stags’ season then, ending in a 3-1 Stags victory. Little did the previewer (and other Stags fans as well) know then that this particular fixture was to be the first in a famous 12-match winning run which catapulted the Stags from just outside the playoff zone into pole position a month later, finally securing the FL return as champions on April 20, 2013.

Yet, penalties and injury-time goals have been two major ingredients in Stags v Cambridge clashes during the time of Stagsnet previewing on games starting with an epic one (see below). The settings have also been about missed and converted spot-kicks.

Two games at Cambridge stand out in particular:

* September 27, 2003. The Stags lead 1-0 at half-time but had two players red-carded. Early in the second half, Cambridge are awarded a penalty. But Walker saw his kick saved by Kevin Pilkington. A few minutes later, nine-men Stags /against 11-men Cambridge/ are favoured from the spot. Liam Lawrence converts and shoots the Stags 2-0 up in an unbelievable fixture.

* April 5, 2010. Injury-time penalties at the stand of 2-2. Cambridge converted theirs to 3-2, but with virtually the last kick of the game, the Stags were awarded a pen, but missed theirs and lost.

A spot-kick was also essential in the Stags winning mixture at Field Mill during the third season of the Stags’ BSP stay. Parker converted one on the hour-mark to the only goal of the game on August 28, 2010, penalty conceded by Jennings (later stations Wrexham, Morecambe and Cheltenham to name a few), sent off in that sequence. And at Cambridge, the Stags notched their biggest-ever win in any league fixture between the sides, as the Stags ran riot in the second half, eventually winning 5-1 in a game with several well-taken goals, including Cambridge's. Jennings also played for the Stags in February 2013 against one of his previous clubs.

On March 10, 2009, Cambridge were lucky to win in injury-time, and on April 3, 2004, the U's equalized in the 90th minute at Field Mill.

Below are some facts on Cambridge United:

When Cambridge United had their first-ever taste of league football in 1970-71 after being elected at the expense of Bradford Park Avenue, they fielded two ex-Stags players. But none of them figured in Cambridge’s first-ever league game, a 1-1 home draw against Lincoln on August 15, 1970.

The ex-Stags were two forwards: John Gregson (74+2 sub games for the Stags, five goals), who figured in Cambridge’s first-ever league win, a 3-1 at home to Oldham on August 29, 1970, and Ivan Hollett, who started his league career at the Stags with 99 games and 40 goals to his credit before going to the arch-rivals Chesterfield (65 goals in 157 games for the Spireites). During the 1970-71 season, Hollett came to Cambridge from Crewe and was to be their top league scorer with 11 goals in 29 games. But those two players were no more on United’s books when the teams faced each other for the first time in the 1972-73 season.

The Stags won their home game early on (the fourth of five straight wins from the start of that season 3-1 (Stags: Fairbrother, Longhorn, Walker; Cambridge: Lill, attendance: 5,216), and the return game at Cambridge was to be a promotion decider at Abbey Stadium.

No wonder then that the game on April 28, 1973, attracted Cambridge’s highest home crowd that season, 10,542! At the end of that day, Cambridge won 3-2 (Cambridge scorers Walton 2, Ross pen, Stags scorers McCaffrey, Dudley Roberts) and gained promotion instead of the Stags. Even then, a penalty was awarded and converted.

That this promotion decider provided goals, was no surprise. Cambridge netted in all Division Four games bar five while the Stags scored in all bar eight, including the first twenty-one games until a 2-0 defeat at Workington on December 9, 1972, the same Workington side that ended a Cambridge run of fourteen games without defeat due to a 5-1 mauling in Cumbria a fortnight earlier.

Some of the Stags players figuring at Cambridge in April 1973 were to play prominent parts in promotion campaigns and a solitary Division 2 season to come: Kevin Bird and goalie Rod Arnold, both appearing in Stags colours for more than a decade. The Stags coach then, Frank Marshall, was a year later taken to Sweden on recommendation by George Raynor, a former Stags player which guided the Swedish National team into the 1958 World Cup Final against Brazil. Marshall settled in the Halmstad area where he within five years steered IS Halmia into the Swedish equivalent to Premier League in the same year as the Stags played their solitary Division Two campaign, in 1978. By the way, Marshall passed away in Halmstad a few years ago.

But 12 months after the first-ever Cambridge FL promotion, Cambridge were back in the basement and that 1974-75 Stags first-ever championship season saw the first FA-Cup tie between the sides. A 3rd round tie at Field Mill saw the Stags through with a Ray Clarke strike in front of 10486 on January 4, 1975. A brief view of the stats show that the sides had up to September 27, 2003, each had won six home games out of eight, and a draw and an away win each, and the last meeting prior to the 2003-04 season produced the most goals scored as Cambridge won their home game on March 20, 1999 with 7-2. Arjan van Heusden was the Cambridge goalie in that fixture.

After the 2-4 away defeat on October 5, 1985, the Stags won four games on the trot to go top of the old fourth division while the 2-2 draw at Field Mill on September 18, 1990, was the Stags solitary home point in the first seven games of the 1990-91 season, and the Stags have scored in every league game bar four between the sides.

An epic encounter between the sides was played at Abbey Stadium on September 27, 2003. The Stags had opened the scoring through Disley halfway through the first half. Then Christie and Day were red-carded before the closure of the first half. Many, including myself internet-checking the game while on my newspaper covering the final day of my local FA 2003 season, wondered if the Stags should hold on? Regarding the penalties, see above. The Stagsnet report began with "Unbelievable stuff". Quite correctly, and more than that.

The September 2003 result was typical of Cambridge’s odd results that 2003-04 season. The “U’s” lost ten home games that season, only surpassed on the final day by Southend, and won fewer at headquarters than any other side, while their away record was better than the ones achieved by two of the promoted sides, Torquay and Huddersfield, and on goal difference, one goal worse than the one of the Stags.

At Mansfield, Cambridge had before the 2011-12 season only won once. This happened in the 1998-99 season, the latest Cambridge promotion one as a league club.

Another interesting fact is that both sides have had a Colin Foster in their league line-up. While the Stags had one during the mid-seventies Championship seasons and the 1977-78 solitary season in the old 2nd division, Cambridge had one some twenty years later.

Cambridge were up to the 2011-12 season the only BSP club having missed out on a FL return by losing two consecutive playoff finals. Both were to Devon clubs, Exeter in 2008 and Torquay the following year. Luton became the second one that 2011-12 campaign. But in the 2013-14 season, it was third time lucky for Cambridge regarding playoff finals. A 2-1 victory against Gateshead ensured Cambridge's FL return after nine seasons outside the FL following relegation and a 10-point deduction in 2005.

In the second of the Stags’ two promotion campaigns during the 1970’s, Cambridge were crowned Division Four champions, then went straight through the third to play six consecutive campaigns at second level. In 1982-83, Cambridge played 12 home games without conceding a goal, while in 1983, the “U”s played 31 games without winning before beating Newcastle 1-0 at home on April 28, 1984. Fact is that Newcastle have played against Cambridge in all their eight seasons at second level, including 1991-92 and 1992-93 respectively.

One of the players having appeared for both sides managed to figure for THREE different BSP sides in the 2009-10 season. Prior to playing for the Stags and Cambridge, Jon Challinor managed five games for Forest Green at the very start of that campaign. Challinor also played for Cambridge in the 1-1 draw at Field Mill in 2008. Another player having appeared for both sides is much-travelled BSP hot-shot Daryl Clare, who in fact blew more cold than hot during his stay at Field Mill. He did the same at Cambridge and was later on released by Alfreton. Another one is Tom Shaw who came to Cambridge from Kidderminster and played three games for the Stags at the very end of the 2008-09 campaign, of those two were seen by the previewer (Woking away and Altrincham at home). Yet another one is Rob Duffy, overlooked during the time of the BSP previews between the sides. Fact is that he played nine games for Cambridge prior to joining Oxford a few seasons before coming to the Stags. Mark Peters and Ben Sedgemore are two other players appearing for both sides.In both cases, they figured for Cambridge during their early BSP years. Lewis Price, who kept the Stags goal at the very end of their FL comeback campaign, was Cambridge custodian for six games during the 2004-05 campaign in which Cambridge United were relegated from the FL, while Craig Westcarr figured for Cambridge in their first season outside the FL in 2005-06 on 31 occasions, scoring eight goals then.

In the 2014-15 season, the sides clashed in the FA Cup second round. A 90th minute Cambridge equalizer at home set up a replay at One Call Stadium, which Cambridge won. Eventually, Cambridge reached the fourth round, managing a replay against Manchester United.

Three players having represented both sides have played in Sweden. George Taft (who played a dozen games in Sweden for Karlstad BK in 2012) was last term in his second Cambridge spell, while Daniel Carr left Karlstad BK at the end of the Swedish calendar year campaign of 2017 after scoring eight goals. Reggie Lambe played for Nyköpings BIS in 2014 before coming to the Stags. The whereabouts of Lambe is currently unknown to the previewer, while Taft has for Bolton this term. The whereabouts of Carr was mentioned in the FA Cup preview against Dagenham & Redbridge a few days before our latest fixture at Cambridge, in which ex-Stag Paul Digby featured for the U’s.

Greg Taylor played eight games for the Stags late on in the 2012-13 season but has since then represented Cambridge and followed them back into the League in 2014, having featured in over 270 National League and EFL fixtures since then, an incredible feat. Add to that, 21 FA Cup games, including both against the Stags in 2014-15 and subsequently, both against Manchester United in the fourth round then. Meanwhile, Mal Benning is the current longest-serving current Stags player with over 200 games in all competitions since 2015.

One ex-Cambridge boss who has managed in Sweden (Championship level at Västerås SK, PL level at AIK), is Richard Money, whose first Cambridge game was a 4-1 victory against the Stags at headquarters in October 2012.

Played for both sides: Blair Adams, Danny Andrew, Nathan Arnold, Matty Blair, Jamie Campbell, Daniel Carr, Jon Challinor, Neville Chamberlain, Daryl Clare, Paul Connor, Robbie Cooke, Digger Daley, Paul Digby, Rob Duffy, Efon Elad, Scott Eustace, Scott Garner, Gerald Graham, John Gregson, Kevin Griffin, Ivan Hollett, Kyle Howkins, Johnny Hunt, James Jennings, Reggie Lambe, David Lyon, Neil MacKenzie, George Maris, Kieran Murtagh, Tom Naylor, Mark Peters, Lewis Price, Jason Rees, Ben Sedgemore, Tom Shaw, Matt Somner, James Spencer, George Taft, Greg Taylor, Colin Toon, Arjan van Heusden, Craig Westcarr.

More on recent Cambridge games in the match centre for the corresponding season.

Stats file:

Home: P 21, W 11, D 7, L 3, GF 28, GA 21
Away: P 22, W 7, D 5, L 10, GF 37, GA 44

Season Home Date Away Date

1972-73 3-1 1972-08-30 2-3 1973-04-28 Div 4 (old)
1974-75 2-1 1975-03-07 2-2 1974-09-24 Div 4 (old)
1985-86 2-0 1986-03-08 2-4 1985-10-05 Div 4 (old)
1990-91 2-2 1990-09-18 1-2 1991-02-01 Div 3 (old)
1995-96 2-1 1996-01-23 2-0 1996-03-23 Div 3
1996-97 1-0 1997-03-01 1-2 1996-03-12 Div 3
1997-98 3-2 1997-10-11 0-2 1998-02-28 Div 3
1998-99 1-3 1998-10-31 2-7 1999-03-20 Div 3
2003-04 1-1 2004-04-03 2-1 2003-09-27 Div 3
2004-05 0-0 2005-01-11 2-2 2004-09-11 League 2
2008-09 1-1 2008-09-20 1-2 2009-03-10 BSP
2009-10 2-1 2009-12-28 2-3 2010-04-05 BSP
2010-11 1-0 2010-08-28 5-1 2010-12-28 BSP
2011-12 1-2 2011-11-05 2-1 2012-03-06 BSP
2012-13 3-1 2013-02-16 1-4 2012-10-06 BSP
2014-15 0-0 2014-10-18 1-3 2015-04-18 League 2
2015-16 0-0 2016-05-07 1-1 2015-12-19 League 2
2016-17 0-0 2016-09-03 3-1 2017-01-21 League 2
2017-18 2-1 2017-09-23 0-0 2018-01-13 League 2
2018-19 1-0 2019-04-06 1-1 2018-09-22 League 2
2019-20 0-4 2019-09-17 3-2 2020-01-01 League 2
2020-21 (at Cambridge) 1-0 2020-12-02 League 2

FA Cup

1974-75 1-0 1975-01-04 (at Field Mill) FA Cup 3rd round
2014-15 2-2 2014-12-06 (at Cambridge) FA Cup 2nd round
2014-15 0-1 2014-12-16 (at One Call Stadium) FA Cup 2nd round replay

Time to bounce back after the Bolton reverse. Come on Mansfield!


Why can't I remember Greg Taylor playing 8 games for us?
PEAR CIDER
Manager
Manager
 
Posts: 6164
Joined: Wed Jun 13, 2012 11:04 am

Re: Cambridge preview for Saturday

Postby HitchcocksShins » Fri Feb 19, 2021 12:40 pm

Random Hero wrote:
Sweden Stag wrote:Following the bitter 2-3 home defeat against Bolton last Wednesday, the Stags are on a revenge mission for that reverse when current League Two leaders Cambridge United visit One Call Stadium on Saturday.

Last season’s away fixture at Cambridge was the Stags’ first one in the new decade and was to be a revenge mission as Cambridge United won at One Call to a heavy 4-0 scoreline in mid-September 2019 with three goals coming very late on. That game, if any, perfectly summed the 2019-20 season for the Stags. In the first half, the Stags did everything but score, and in the second half, an early red card turned the game. At the very end, the Stags had a great chance to equalize. Instead, Cambridge sealed the game with a three-goal blitz. In the end at Cambridg, the Stags came back from 2-1 down to seal a 3-2 victory thanks to a Maynard hat-trick against a Cambridge then fielding three ex-Stags, two of them having played in Sweden (George Taft and Reggie Lambe). That victory also meant that the Stags are unbeaten in five consecutive visits to Cambridge, a sequence which was bettered in early December 2020 when the Stags sealed their then second consecutive away victory (and their fourth consecutive in all competitions) thanks to a Jamie Reid strike midway through the second half. That result is also proof that anyone can beat anyone on their day in this season’s League Two.

Cambridge are also the side the Stags have faced on most occasions in preview history and the fixture on Saturday is the 28th previewed on in League games beginning with the epic one at Cambridge in September 2003 (see more below). Add to that, two FA Cup games in December 2014.

In the BSP, Cambridge were one of five sides facing the Stags in all Stags’five seasons outside the FL. The others were Barrow, Forest Green, Kidderminster and Wrexham, all now playing or have played in the FL as Forest Green were the first FL visitors to Mansfield in 2017-18. That alone said a lot about the team turnover in the BSP over the years. And no team that played Cambridge in their 2004-05 relegation season have been continuously playing in League Two since then, not even Rochdale. That also speaks volumes as Accrington, BSP champions in Cambridge's first out of nine seasons there, were the longest-serving League Two member continuously until their 2017-18 League Two championship campaign. Longest now surviving League Two outfit are Morecambe, a side Cambridge routed at their place early on this season.

But last Saturday, Cambridge could only manage a goal-less home draw against struggling Southend, and in their latest away fixture, Cambridge were routed at Salford to a heavy 4-1 scoreline.

Since Cambridge’s League Two comeback via the playoffs in 2014, they had reached three consecutive top-half finishes without reaching the playoffs. Their boss in early January 2020 was Colin Calderwood, an ex-Stag as a player, as was Martin Ling, who bossed Cambridge about a decade ago in the Conf. But after a string of poor results, Calderwood had to go in late January and was replaced by Mark Bonner.

The home game against Cambridge on February 16, 2013, proved to be a pointer for the remainder of the Stags’ season then, ending in a 3-1 Stags victory. Little did the previewer (and other Stags fans as well) know then that this particular fixture was to be the first in a famous 12-match winning run which catapulted the Stags from just outside the playoff zone into pole position a month later, finally securing the FL return as champions on April 20, 2013.

Yet, penalties and injury-time goals have been two major ingredients in Stags v Cambridge clashes during the time of Stagsnet previewing on games starting with an epic one (see below). The settings have also been about missed and converted spot-kicks.

Two games at Cambridge stand out in particular:

* September 27, 2003. The Stags lead 1-0 at half-time but had two players red-carded. Early in the second half, Cambridge are awarded a penalty. But Walker saw his kick saved by Kevin Pilkington. A few minutes later, nine-men Stags /against 11-men Cambridge/ are favoured from the spot. Liam Lawrence converts and shoots the Stags 2-0 up in an unbelievable fixture.

* April 5, 2010. Injury-time penalties at the stand of 2-2. Cambridge converted theirs to 3-2, but with virtually the last kick of the game, the Stags were awarded a pen, but missed theirs and lost.

A spot-kick was also essential in the Stags winning mixture at Field Mill during the third season of the Stags’ BSP stay. Parker converted one on the hour-mark to the only goal of the game on August 28, 2010, penalty conceded by Jennings (later stations Wrexham, Morecambe and Cheltenham to name a few), sent off in that sequence. And at Cambridge, the Stags notched their biggest-ever win in any league fixture between the sides, as the Stags ran riot in the second half, eventually winning 5-1 in a game with several well-taken goals, including Cambridge's. Jennings also played for the Stags in February 2013 against one of his previous clubs.

On March 10, 2009, Cambridge were lucky to win in injury-time, and on April 3, 2004, the U's equalized in the 90th minute at Field Mill.

Below are some facts on Cambridge United:

When Cambridge United had their first-ever taste of league football in 1970-71 after being elected at the expense of Bradford Park Avenue, they fielded two ex-Stags players. But none of them figured in Cambridge’s first-ever league game, a 1-1 home draw against Lincoln on August 15, 1970.

The ex-Stags were two forwards: John Gregson (74+2 sub games for the Stags, five goals), who figured in Cambridge’s first-ever league win, a 3-1 at home to Oldham on August 29, 1970, and Ivan Hollett, who started his league career at the Stags with 99 games and 40 goals to his credit before going to the arch-rivals Chesterfield (65 goals in 157 games for the Spireites). During the 1970-71 season, Hollett came to Cambridge from Crewe and was to be their top league scorer with 11 goals in 29 games. But those two players were no more on United’s books when the teams faced each other for the first time in the 1972-73 season.

The Stags won their home game early on (the fourth of five straight wins from the start of that season 3-1 (Stags: Fairbrother, Longhorn, Walker; Cambridge: Lill, attendance: 5,216), and the return game at Cambridge was to be a promotion decider at Abbey Stadium.

No wonder then that the game on April 28, 1973, attracted Cambridge’s highest home crowd that season, 10,542! At the end of that day, Cambridge won 3-2 (Cambridge scorers Walton 2, Ross pen, Stags scorers McCaffrey, Dudley Roberts) and gained promotion instead of the Stags. Even then, a penalty was awarded and converted.

That this promotion decider provided goals, was no surprise. Cambridge netted in all Division Four games bar five while the Stags scored in all bar eight, including the first twenty-one games until a 2-0 defeat at Workington on December 9, 1972, the same Workington side that ended a Cambridge run of fourteen games without defeat due to a 5-1 mauling in Cumbria a fortnight earlier.

Some of the Stags players figuring at Cambridge in April 1973 were to play prominent parts in promotion campaigns and a solitary Division 2 season to come: Kevin Bird and goalie Rod Arnold, both appearing in Stags colours for more than a decade. The Stags coach then, Frank Marshall, was a year later taken to Sweden on recommendation by George Raynor, a former Stags player which guided the Swedish National team into the 1958 World Cup Final against Brazil. Marshall settled in the Halmstad area where he within five years steered IS Halmia into the Swedish equivalent to Premier League in the same year as the Stags played their solitary Division Two campaign, in 1978. By the way, Marshall passed away in Halmstad a few years ago.

But 12 months after the first-ever Cambridge FL promotion, Cambridge were back in the basement and that 1974-75 Stags first-ever championship season saw the first FA-Cup tie between the sides. A 3rd round tie at Field Mill saw the Stags through with a Ray Clarke strike in front of 10486 on January 4, 1975. A brief view of the stats show that the sides had up to September 27, 2003, each had won six home games out of eight, and a draw and an away win each, and the last meeting prior to the 2003-04 season produced the most goals scored as Cambridge won their home game on March 20, 1999 with 7-2. Arjan van Heusden was the Cambridge goalie in that fixture.

After the 2-4 away defeat on October 5, 1985, the Stags won four games on the trot to go top of the old fourth division while the 2-2 draw at Field Mill on September 18, 1990, was the Stags solitary home point in the first seven games of the 1990-91 season, and the Stags have scored in every league game bar four between the sides.

An epic encounter between the sides was played at Abbey Stadium on September 27, 2003. The Stags had opened the scoring through Disley halfway through the first half. Then Christie and Day were red-carded before the closure of the first half. Many, including myself internet-checking the game while on my newspaper covering the final day of my local FA 2003 season, wondered if the Stags should hold on? Regarding the penalties, see above. The Stagsnet report began with "Unbelievable stuff". Quite correctly, and more than that.

The September 2003 result was typical of Cambridge’s odd results that 2003-04 season. The “U’s” lost ten home games that season, only surpassed on the final day by Southend, and won fewer at headquarters than any other side, while their away record was better than the ones achieved by two of the promoted sides, Torquay and Huddersfield, and on goal difference, one goal worse than the one of the Stags.

At Mansfield, Cambridge had before the 2011-12 season only won once. This happened in the 1998-99 season, the latest Cambridge promotion one as a league club.

Another interesting fact is that both sides have had a Colin Foster in their league line-up. While the Stags had one during the mid-seventies Championship seasons and the 1977-78 solitary season in the old 2nd division, Cambridge had one some twenty years later.

Cambridge were up to the 2011-12 season the only BSP club having missed out on a FL return by losing two consecutive playoff finals. Both were to Devon clubs, Exeter in 2008 and Torquay the following year. Luton became the second one that 2011-12 campaign. But in the 2013-14 season, it was third time lucky for Cambridge regarding playoff finals. A 2-1 victory against Gateshead ensured Cambridge's FL return after nine seasons outside the FL following relegation and a 10-point deduction in 2005.

In the second of the Stags’ two promotion campaigns during the 1970’s, Cambridge were crowned Division Four champions, then went straight through the third to play six consecutive campaigns at second level. In 1982-83, Cambridge played 12 home games without conceding a goal, while in 1983, the “U”s played 31 games without winning before beating Newcastle 1-0 at home on April 28, 1984. Fact is that Newcastle have played against Cambridge in all their eight seasons at second level, including 1991-92 and 1992-93 respectively.

One of the players having appeared for both sides managed to figure for THREE different BSP sides in the 2009-10 season. Prior to playing for the Stags and Cambridge, Jon Challinor managed five games for Forest Green at the very start of that campaign. Challinor also played for Cambridge in the 1-1 draw at Field Mill in 2008. Another player having appeared for both sides is much-travelled BSP hot-shot Daryl Clare, who in fact blew more cold than hot during his stay at Field Mill. He did the same at Cambridge and was later on released by Alfreton. Another one is Tom Shaw who came to Cambridge from Kidderminster and played three games for the Stags at the very end of the 2008-09 campaign, of those two were seen by the previewer (Woking away and Altrincham at home). Yet another one is Rob Duffy, overlooked during the time of the BSP previews between the sides. Fact is that he played nine games for Cambridge prior to joining Oxford a few seasons before coming to the Stags. Mark Peters and Ben Sedgemore are two other players appearing for both sides.In both cases, they figured for Cambridge during their early BSP years. Lewis Price, who kept the Stags goal at the very end of their FL comeback campaign, was Cambridge custodian for six games during the 2004-05 campaign in which Cambridge United were relegated from the FL, while Craig Westcarr figured for Cambridge in their first season outside the FL in 2005-06 on 31 occasions, scoring eight goals then.

In the 2014-15 season, the sides clashed in the FA Cup second round. A 90th minute Cambridge equalizer at home set up a replay at One Call Stadium, which Cambridge won. Eventually, Cambridge reached the fourth round, managing a replay against Manchester United.

Three players having represented both sides have played in Sweden. George Taft (who played a dozen games in Sweden for Karlstad BK in 2012) was last term in his second Cambridge spell, while Daniel Carr left Karlstad BK at the end of the Swedish calendar year campaign of 2017 after scoring eight goals. Reggie Lambe played for Nyköpings BIS in 2014 before coming to the Stags. The whereabouts of Lambe is currently unknown to the previewer, while Taft has for Bolton this term. The whereabouts of Carr was mentioned in the FA Cup preview against Dagenham & Redbridge a few days before our latest fixture at Cambridge, in which ex-Stag Paul Digby featured for the U’s.

Greg Taylor played eight games for the Stags late on in the 2012-13 season but has since then represented Cambridge and followed them back into the League in 2014, having featured in over 270 National League and EFL fixtures since then, an incredible feat. Add to that, 21 FA Cup games, including both against the Stags in 2014-15 and subsequently, both against Manchester United in the fourth round then. Meanwhile, Mal Benning is the current longest-serving current Stags player with over 200 games in all competitions since 2015.

One ex-Cambridge boss who has managed in Sweden (Championship level at Västerås SK, PL level at AIK), is Richard Money, whose first Cambridge game was a 4-1 victory against the Stags at headquarters in October 2012.

Played for both sides: Blair Adams, Danny Andrew, Nathan Arnold, Matty Blair, Jamie Campbell, Daniel Carr, Jon Challinor, Neville Chamberlain, Daryl Clare, Paul Connor, Robbie Cooke, Digger Daley, Paul Digby, Rob Duffy, Efon Elad, Scott Eustace, Scott Garner, Gerald Graham, John Gregson, Kevin Griffin, Ivan Hollett, Kyle Howkins, Johnny Hunt, James Jennings, Reggie Lambe, David Lyon, Neil MacKenzie, George Maris, Kieran Murtagh, Tom Naylor, Mark Peters, Lewis Price, Jason Rees, Ben Sedgemore, Tom Shaw, Matt Somner, James Spencer, George Taft, Greg Taylor, Colin Toon, Arjan van Heusden, Craig Westcarr.

More on recent Cambridge games in the match centre for the corresponding season.

Stats file:

Home: P 21, W 11, D 7, L 3, GF 28, GA 21
Away: P 22, W 7, D 5, L 10, GF 37, GA 44

Season Home Date Away Date

1972-73 3-1 1972-08-30 2-3 1973-04-28 Div 4 (old)
1974-75 2-1 1975-03-07 2-2 1974-09-24 Div 4 (old)
1985-86 2-0 1986-03-08 2-4 1985-10-05 Div 4 (old)
1990-91 2-2 1990-09-18 1-2 1991-02-01 Div 3 (old)
1995-96 2-1 1996-01-23 2-0 1996-03-23 Div 3
1996-97 1-0 1997-03-01 1-2 1996-03-12 Div 3
1997-98 3-2 1997-10-11 0-2 1998-02-28 Div 3
1998-99 1-3 1998-10-31 2-7 1999-03-20 Div 3
2003-04 1-1 2004-04-03 2-1 2003-09-27 Div 3
2004-05 0-0 2005-01-11 2-2 2004-09-11 League 2
2008-09 1-1 2008-09-20 1-2 2009-03-10 BSP
2009-10 2-1 2009-12-28 2-3 2010-04-05 BSP
2010-11 1-0 2010-08-28 5-1 2010-12-28 BSP
2011-12 1-2 2011-11-05 2-1 2012-03-06 BSP
2012-13 3-1 2013-02-16 1-4 2012-10-06 BSP
2014-15 0-0 2014-10-18 1-3 2015-04-18 League 2
2015-16 0-0 2016-05-07 1-1 2015-12-19 League 2
2016-17 0-0 2016-09-03 3-1 2017-01-21 League 2
2017-18 2-1 2017-09-23 0-0 2018-01-13 League 2
2018-19 1-0 2019-04-06 1-1 2018-09-22 League 2
2019-20 0-4 2019-09-17 3-2 2020-01-01 League 2
2020-21 (at Cambridge) 1-0 2020-12-02 League 2

FA Cup

1974-75 1-0 1975-01-04 (at Field Mill) FA Cup 3rd round
2014-15 2-2 2014-12-06 (at Cambridge) FA Cup 2nd round
2014-15 0-1 2014-12-16 (at One Call Stadium) FA Cup 2nd round replay

Time to bounce back after the Bolton reverse. Come on Mansfield!


Great preview Svante


I agree,
Thanks
twitter.com/SatiricalStag

"Couldn't you just stick to crayoning in poorly drawn pics?"
User avatar
HitchcocksShins
Manager
Manager
 
Posts: 3562
Joined: Wed Jan 16, 2013 12:17 am

Re: Cambridge preview for Saturday

Postby Random Hero » Fri Feb 19, 2021 12:42 pm

PEAR CIDER wrote:
Sweden Stag wrote:Following the bitter 2-3 home defeat against Bolton last Wednesday, the Stags are on a revenge mission for that reverse when current League Two leaders Cambridge United visit One Call Stadium on Saturday.

Last season’s away fixture at Cambridge was the Stags’ first one in the new decade and was to be a revenge mission as Cambridge United won at One Call to a heavy 4-0 scoreline in mid-September 2019 with three goals coming very late on. That game, if any, perfectly summed the 2019-20 season for the Stags. In the first half, the Stags did everything but score, and in the second half, an early red card turned the game. At the very end, the Stags had a great chance to equalize. Instead, Cambridge sealed the game with a three-goal blitz. In the end at Cambridg, the Stags came back from 2-1 down to seal a 3-2 victory thanks to a Maynard hat-trick against a Cambridge then fielding three ex-Stags, two of them having played in Sweden (George Taft and Reggie Lambe). That victory also meant that the Stags are unbeaten in five consecutive visits to Cambridge, a sequence which was bettered in early December 2020 when the Stags sealed their then second consecutive away victory (and their fourth consecutive in all competitions) thanks to a Jamie Reid strike midway through the second half. That result is also proof that anyone can beat anyone on their day in this season’s League Two.

Cambridge are also the side the Stags have faced on most occasions in preview history and the fixture on Saturday is the 28th previewed on in League games beginning with the epic one at Cambridge in September 2003 (see more below). Add to that, two FA Cup games in December 2014.

In the BSP, Cambridge were one of five sides facing the Stags in all Stags’five seasons outside the FL. The others were Barrow, Forest Green, Kidderminster and Wrexham, all now playing or have played in the FL as Forest Green were the first FL visitors to Mansfield in 2017-18. That alone said a lot about the team turnover in the BSP over the years. And no team that played Cambridge in their 2004-05 relegation season have been continuously playing in League Two since then, not even Rochdale. That also speaks volumes as Accrington, BSP champions in Cambridge's first out of nine seasons there, were the longest-serving League Two member continuously until their 2017-18 League Two championship campaign. Longest now surviving League Two outfit are Morecambe, a side Cambridge routed at their place early on this season.

But last Saturday, Cambridge could only manage a goal-less home draw against struggling Southend, and in their latest away fixture, Cambridge were routed at Salford to a heavy 4-1 scoreline.

Since Cambridge’s League Two comeback via the playoffs in 2014, they had reached three consecutive top-half finishes without reaching the playoffs. Their boss in early January 2020 was Colin Calderwood, an ex-Stag as a player, as was Martin Ling, who bossed Cambridge about a decade ago in the Conf. But after a string of poor results, Calderwood had to go in late January and was replaced by Mark Bonner.

The home game against Cambridge on February 16, 2013, proved to be a pointer for the remainder of the Stags’ season then, ending in a 3-1 Stags victory. Little did the previewer (and other Stags fans as well) know then that this particular fixture was to be the first in a famous 12-match winning run which catapulted the Stags from just outside the playoff zone into pole position a month later, finally securing the FL return as champions on April 20, 2013.

Yet, penalties and injury-time goals have been two major ingredients in Stags v Cambridge clashes during the time of Stagsnet previewing on games starting with an epic one (see below). The settings have also been about missed and converted spot-kicks.

Two games at Cambridge stand out in particular:

* September 27, 2003. The Stags lead 1-0 at half-time but had two players red-carded. Early in the second half, Cambridge are awarded a penalty. But Walker saw his kick saved by Kevin Pilkington. A few minutes later, nine-men Stags /against 11-men Cambridge/ are favoured from the spot. Liam Lawrence converts and shoots the Stags 2-0 up in an unbelievable fixture.

* April 5, 2010. Injury-time penalties at the stand of 2-2. Cambridge converted theirs to 3-2, but with virtually the last kick of the game, the Stags were awarded a pen, but missed theirs and lost.

A spot-kick was also essential in the Stags winning mixture at Field Mill during the third season of the Stags’ BSP stay. Parker converted one on the hour-mark to the only goal of the game on August 28, 2010, penalty conceded by Jennings (later stations Wrexham, Morecambe and Cheltenham to name a few), sent off in that sequence. And at Cambridge, the Stags notched their biggest-ever win in any league fixture between the sides, as the Stags ran riot in the second half, eventually winning 5-1 in a game with several well-taken goals, including Cambridge's. Jennings also played for the Stags in February 2013 against one of his previous clubs.

On March 10, 2009, Cambridge were lucky to win in injury-time, and on April 3, 2004, the U's equalized in the 90th minute at Field Mill.

Below are some facts on Cambridge United:

When Cambridge United had their first-ever taste of league football in 1970-71 after being elected at the expense of Bradford Park Avenue, they fielded two ex-Stags players. But none of them figured in Cambridge’s first-ever league game, a 1-1 home draw against Lincoln on August 15, 1970.

The ex-Stags were two forwards: John Gregson (74+2 sub games for the Stags, five goals), who figured in Cambridge’s first-ever league win, a 3-1 at home to Oldham on August 29, 1970, and Ivan Hollett, who started his league career at the Stags with 99 games and 40 goals to his credit before going to the arch-rivals Chesterfield (65 goals in 157 games for the Spireites). During the 1970-71 season, Hollett came to Cambridge from Crewe and was to be their top league scorer with 11 goals in 29 games. But those two players were no more on United’s books when the teams faced each other for the first time in the 1972-73 season.

The Stags won their home game early on (the fourth of five straight wins from the start of that season 3-1 (Stags: Fairbrother, Longhorn, Walker; Cambridge: Lill, attendance: 5,216), and the return game at Cambridge was to be a promotion decider at Abbey Stadium.

No wonder then that the game on April 28, 1973, attracted Cambridge’s highest home crowd that season, 10,542! At the end of that day, Cambridge won 3-2 (Cambridge scorers Walton 2, Ross pen, Stags scorers McCaffrey, Dudley Roberts) and gained promotion instead of the Stags. Even then, a penalty was awarded and converted.

That this promotion decider provided goals, was no surprise. Cambridge netted in all Division Four games bar five while the Stags scored in all bar eight, including the first twenty-one games until a 2-0 defeat at Workington on December 9, 1972, the same Workington side that ended a Cambridge run of fourteen games without defeat due to a 5-1 mauling in Cumbria a fortnight earlier.

Some of the Stags players figuring at Cambridge in April 1973 were to play prominent parts in promotion campaigns and a solitary Division 2 season to come: Kevin Bird and goalie Rod Arnold, both appearing in Stags colours for more than a decade. The Stags coach then, Frank Marshall, was a year later taken to Sweden on recommendation by George Raynor, a former Stags player which guided the Swedish National team into the 1958 World Cup Final against Brazil. Marshall settled in the Halmstad area where he within five years steered IS Halmia into the Swedish equivalent to Premier League in the same year as the Stags played their solitary Division Two campaign, in 1978. By the way, Marshall passed away in Halmstad a few years ago.

But 12 months after the first-ever Cambridge FL promotion, Cambridge were back in the basement and that 1974-75 Stags first-ever championship season saw the first FA-Cup tie between the sides. A 3rd round tie at Field Mill saw the Stags through with a Ray Clarke strike in front of 10486 on January 4, 1975. A brief view of the stats show that the sides had up to September 27, 2003, each had won six home games out of eight, and a draw and an away win each, and the last meeting prior to the 2003-04 season produced the most goals scored as Cambridge won their home game on March 20, 1999 with 7-2. Arjan van Heusden was the Cambridge goalie in that fixture.

After the 2-4 away defeat on October 5, 1985, the Stags won four games on the trot to go top of the old fourth division while the 2-2 draw at Field Mill on September 18, 1990, was the Stags solitary home point in the first seven games of the 1990-91 season, and the Stags have scored in every league game bar four between the sides.

An epic encounter between the sides was played at Abbey Stadium on September 27, 2003. The Stags had opened the scoring through Disley halfway through the first half. Then Christie and Day were red-carded before the closure of the first half. Many, including myself internet-checking the game while on my newspaper covering the final day of my local FA 2003 season, wondered if the Stags should hold on? Regarding the penalties, see above. The Stagsnet report began with "Unbelievable stuff". Quite correctly, and more than that.

The September 2003 result was typical of Cambridge’s odd results that 2003-04 season. The “U’s” lost ten home games that season, only surpassed on the final day by Southend, and won fewer at headquarters than any other side, while their away record was better than the ones achieved by two of the promoted sides, Torquay and Huddersfield, and on goal difference, one goal worse than the one of the Stags.

At Mansfield, Cambridge had before the 2011-12 season only won once. This happened in the 1998-99 season, the latest Cambridge promotion one as a league club.

Another interesting fact is that both sides have had a Colin Foster in their league line-up. While the Stags had one during the mid-seventies Championship seasons and the 1977-78 solitary season in the old 2nd division, Cambridge had one some twenty years later.

Cambridge were up to the 2011-12 season the only BSP club having missed out on a FL return by losing two consecutive playoff finals. Both were to Devon clubs, Exeter in 2008 and Torquay the following year. Luton became the second one that 2011-12 campaign. But in the 2013-14 season, it was third time lucky for Cambridge regarding playoff finals. A 2-1 victory against Gateshead ensured Cambridge's FL return after nine seasons outside the FL following relegation and a 10-point deduction in 2005.

In the second of the Stags’ two promotion campaigns during the 1970’s, Cambridge were crowned Division Four champions, then went straight through the third to play six consecutive campaigns at second level. In 1982-83, Cambridge played 12 home games without conceding a goal, while in 1983, the “U”s played 31 games without winning before beating Newcastle 1-0 at home on April 28, 1984. Fact is that Newcastle have played against Cambridge in all their eight seasons at second level, including 1991-92 and 1992-93 respectively.

One of the players having appeared for both sides managed to figure for THREE different BSP sides in the 2009-10 season. Prior to playing for the Stags and Cambridge, Jon Challinor managed five games for Forest Green at the very start of that campaign. Challinor also played for Cambridge in the 1-1 draw at Field Mill in 2008. Another player having appeared for both sides is much-travelled BSP hot-shot Daryl Clare, who in fact blew more cold than hot during his stay at Field Mill. He did the same at Cambridge and was later on released by Alfreton. Another one is Tom Shaw who came to Cambridge from Kidderminster and played three games for the Stags at the very end of the 2008-09 campaign, of those two were seen by the previewer (Woking away and Altrincham at home). Yet another one is Rob Duffy, overlooked during the time of the BSP previews between the sides. Fact is that he played nine games for Cambridge prior to joining Oxford a few seasons before coming to the Stags. Mark Peters and Ben Sedgemore are two other players appearing for both sides.In both cases, they figured for Cambridge during their early BSP years. Lewis Price, who kept the Stags goal at the very end of their FL comeback campaign, was Cambridge custodian for six games during the 2004-05 campaign in which Cambridge United were relegated from the FL, while Craig Westcarr figured for Cambridge in their first season outside the FL in 2005-06 on 31 occasions, scoring eight goals then.

In the 2014-15 season, the sides clashed in the FA Cup second round. A 90th minute Cambridge equalizer at home set up a replay at One Call Stadium, which Cambridge won. Eventually, Cambridge reached the fourth round, managing a replay against Manchester United.

Three players having represented both sides have played in Sweden. George Taft (who played a dozen games in Sweden for Karlstad BK in 2012) was last term in his second Cambridge spell, while Daniel Carr left Karlstad BK at the end of the Swedish calendar year campaign of 2017 after scoring eight goals. Reggie Lambe played for Nyköpings BIS in 2014 before coming to the Stags. The whereabouts of Lambe is currently unknown to the previewer, while Taft has for Bolton this term. The whereabouts of Carr was mentioned in the FA Cup preview against Dagenham & Redbridge a few days before our latest fixture at Cambridge, in which ex-Stag Paul Digby featured for the U’s.

Greg Taylor played eight games for the Stags late on in the 2012-13 season but has since then represented Cambridge and followed them back into the League in 2014, having featured in over 270 National League and EFL fixtures since then, an incredible feat. Add to that, 21 FA Cup games, including both against the Stags in 2014-15 and subsequently, both against Manchester United in the fourth round then. Meanwhile, Mal Benning is the current longest-serving current Stags player with over 200 games in all competitions since 2015.

One ex-Cambridge boss who has managed in Sweden (Championship level at Västerås SK, PL level at AIK), is Richard Money, whose first Cambridge game was a 4-1 victory against the Stags at headquarters in October 2012.

Played for both sides: Blair Adams, Danny Andrew, Nathan Arnold, Matty Blair, Jamie Campbell, Daniel Carr, Jon Challinor, Neville Chamberlain, Daryl Clare, Paul Connor, Robbie Cooke, Digger Daley, Paul Digby, Rob Duffy, Efon Elad, Scott Eustace, Scott Garner, Gerald Graham, John Gregson, Kevin Griffin, Ivan Hollett, Kyle Howkins, Johnny Hunt, James Jennings, Reggie Lambe, David Lyon, Neil MacKenzie, George Maris, Kieran Murtagh, Tom Naylor, Mark Peters, Lewis Price, Jason Rees, Ben Sedgemore, Tom Shaw, Matt Somner, James Spencer, George Taft, Greg Taylor, Colin Toon, Arjan van Heusden, Craig Westcarr.

More on recent Cambridge games in the match centre for the corresponding season.

Stats file:

Home: P 21, W 11, D 7, L 3, GF 28, GA 21
Away: P 22, W 7, D 5, L 10, GF 37, GA 44

Season Home Date Away Date

1972-73 3-1 1972-08-30 2-3 1973-04-28 Div 4 (old)
1974-75 2-1 1975-03-07 2-2 1974-09-24 Div 4 (old)
1985-86 2-0 1986-03-08 2-4 1985-10-05 Div 4 (old)
1990-91 2-2 1990-09-18 1-2 1991-02-01 Div 3 (old)
1995-96 2-1 1996-01-23 2-0 1996-03-23 Div 3
1996-97 1-0 1997-03-01 1-2 1996-03-12 Div 3
1997-98 3-2 1997-10-11 0-2 1998-02-28 Div 3
1998-99 1-3 1998-10-31 2-7 1999-03-20 Div 3
2003-04 1-1 2004-04-03 2-1 2003-09-27 Div 3
2004-05 0-0 2005-01-11 2-2 2004-09-11 League 2
2008-09 1-1 2008-09-20 1-2 2009-03-10 BSP
2009-10 2-1 2009-12-28 2-3 2010-04-05 BSP
2010-11 1-0 2010-08-28 5-1 2010-12-28 BSP
2011-12 1-2 2011-11-05 2-1 2012-03-06 BSP
2012-13 3-1 2013-02-16 1-4 2012-10-06 BSP
2014-15 0-0 2014-10-18 1-3 2015-04-18 League 2
2015-16 0-0 2016-05-07 1-1 2015-12-19 League 2
2016-17 0-0 2016-09-03 3-1 2017-01-21 League 2
2017-18 2-1 2017-09-23 0-0 2018-01-13 League 2
2018-19 1-0 2019-04-06 1-1 2018-09-22 League 2
2019-20 0-4 2019-09-17 3-2 2020-01-01 League 2
2020-21 (at Cambridge) 1-0 2020-12-02 League 2

FA Cup

1974-75 1-0 1975-01-04 (at Field Mill) FA Cup 3rd round
2014-15 2-2 2014-12-06 (at Cambridge) FA Cup 2nd round
2014-15 0-1 2014-12-16 (at One Call Stadium) FA Cup 2nd round replay

Time to bounce back after the Bolton reverse. Come on Mansfield!


Why can't I remember Greg Taylor playing 8 games for us?


Think he was a full back?
An der Elbe, werden Träume wahr
User avatar
Random Hero
Manager
Manager
 
Posts: 2719
Joined: Mon Aug 10, 2009 6:35 pm
Location: Volksparkstadion

Re: Cambridge preview for Saturday

Postby PEAR CIDER » Fri Feb 19, 2021 12:47 pm

Random Hero wrote:
PEAR CIDER wrote:
Sweden Stag wrote:Following the bitter 2-3 home defeat against Bolton last Wednesday, the Stags are on a revenge mission for that reverse when current League Two leaders Cambridge United visit One Call Stadium on Saturday.

Last season’s away fixture at Cambridge was the Stags’ first one in the new decade and was to be a revenge mission as Cambridge United won at One Call to a heavy 4-0 scoreline in mid-September 2019 with three goals coming very late on. That game, if any, perfectly summed the 2019-20 season for the Stags. In the first half, the Stags did everything but score, and in the second half, an early red card turned the game. At the very end, the Stags had a great chance to equalize. Instead, Cambridge sealed the game with a three-goal blitz. In the end at Cambridg, the Stags came back from 2-1 down to seal a 3-2 victory thanks to a Maynard hat-trick against a Cambridge then fielding three ex-Stags, two of them having played in Sweden (George Taft and Reggie Lambe). That victory also meant that the Stags are unbeaten in five consecutive visits to Cambridge, a sequence which was bettered in early December 2020 when the Stags sealed their then second consecutive away victory (and their fourth consecutive in all competitions) thanks to a Jamie Reid strike midway through the second half. That result is also proof that anyone can beat anyone on their day in this season’s League Two.

Cambridge are also the side the Stags have faced on most occasions in preview history and the fixture on Saturday is the 28th previewed on in League games beginning with the epic one at Cambridge in September 2003 (see more below). Add to that, two FA Cup games in December 2014.

In the BSP, Cambridge were one of five sides facing the Stags in all Stags’five seasons outside the FL. The others were Barrow, Forest Green, Kidderminster and Wrexham, all now playing or have played in the FL as Forest Green were the first FL visitors to Mansfield in 2017-18. That alone said a lot about the team turnover in the BSP over the years. And no team that played Cambridge in their 2004-05 relegation season have been continuously playing in League Two since then, not even Rochdale. That also speaks volumes as Accrington, BSP champions in Cambridge's first out of nine seasons there, were the longest-serving League Two member continuously until their 2017-18 League Two championship campaign. Longest now surviving League Two outfit are Morecambe, a side Cambridge routed at their place early on this season.

But last Saturday, Cambridge could only manage a goal-less home draw against struggling Southend, and in their latest away fixture, Cambridge were routed at Salford to a heavy 4-1 scoreline.

Since Cambridge’s League Two comeback via the playoffs in 2014, they had reached three consecutive top-half finishes without reaching the playoffs. Their boss in early January 2020 was Colin Calderwood, an ex-Stag as a player, as was Martin Ling, who bossed Cambridge about a decade ago in the Conf. But after a string of poor results, Calderwood had to go in late January and was replaced by Mark Bonner.

The home game against Cambridge on February 16, 2013, proved to be a pointer for the remainder of the Stags’ season then, ending in a 3-1 Stags victory. Little did the previewer (and other Stags fans as well) know then that this particular fixture was to be the first in a famous 12-match winning run which catapulted the Stags from just outside the playoff zone into pole position a month later, finally securing the FL return as champions on April 20, 2013.

Yet, penalties and injury-time goals have been two major ingredients in Stags v Cambridge clashes during the time of Stagsnet previewing on games starting with an epic one (see below). The settings have also been about missed and converted spot-kicks.

Two games at Cambridge stand out in particular:

* September 27, 2003. The Stags lead 1-0 at half-time but had two players red-carded. Early in the second half, Cambridge are awarded a penalty. But Walker saw his kick saved by Kevin Pilkington. A few minutes later, nine-men Stags /against 11-men Cambridge/ are favoured from the spot. Liam Lawrence converts and shoots the Stags 2-0 up in an unbelievable fixture.

* April 5, 2010. Injury-time penalties at the stand of 2-2. Cambridge converted theirs to 3-2, but with virtually the last kick of the game, the Stags were awarded a pen, but missed theirs and lost.

A spot-kick was also essential in the Stags winning mixture at Field Mill during the third season of the Stags’ BSP stay. Parker converted one on the hour-mark to the only goal of the game on August 28, 2010, penalty conceded by Jennings (later stations Wrexham, Morecambe and Cheltenham to name a few), sent off in that sequence. And at Cambridge, the Stags notched their biggest-ever win in any league fixture between the sides, as the Stags ran riot in the second half, eventually winning 5-1 in a game with several well-taken goals, including Cambridge's. Jennings also played for the Stags in February 2013 against one of his previous clubs.

On March 10, 2009, Cambridge were lucky to win in injury-time, and on April 3, 2004, the U's equalized in the 90th minute at Field Mill.

Below are some facts on Cambridge United:

When Cambridge United had their first-ever taste of league football in 1970-71 after being elected at the expense of Bradford Park Avenue, they fielded two ex-Stags players. But none of them figured in Cambridge’s first-ever league game, a 1-1 home draw against Lincoln on August 15, 1970.

The ex-Stags were two forwards: John Gregson (74+2 sub games for the Stags, five goals), who figured in Cambridge’s first-ever league win, a 3-1 at home to Oldham on August 29, 1970, and Ivan Hollett, who started his league career at the Stags with 99 games and 40 goals to his credit before going to the arch-rivals Chesterfield (65 goals in 157 games for the Spireites). During the 1970-71 season, Hollett came to Cambridge from Crewe and was to be their top league scorer with 11 goals in 29 games. But those two players were no more on United’s books when the teams faced each other for the first time in the 1972-73 season.

The Stags won their home game early on (the fourth of five straight wins from the start of that season 3-1 (Stags: Fairbrother, Longhorn, Walker; Cambridge: Lill, attendance: 5,216), and the return game at Cambridge was to be a promotion decider at Abbey Stadium.

No wonder then that the game on April 28, 1973, attracted Cambridge’s highest home crowd that season, 10,542! At the end of that day, Cambridge won 3-2 (Cambridge scorers Walton 2, Ross pen, Stags scorers McCaffrey, Dudley Roberts) and gained promotion instead of the Stags. Even then, a penalty was awarded and converted.

That this promotion decider provided goals, was no surprise. Cambridge netted in all Division Four games bar five while the Stags scored in all bar eight, including the first twenty-one games until a 2-0 defeat at Workington on December 9, 1972, the same Workington side that ended a Cambridge run of fourteen games without defeat due to a 5-1 mauling in Cumbria a fortnight earlier.

Some of the Stags players figuring at Cambridge in April 1973 were to play prominent parts in promotion campaigns and a solitary Division 2 season to come: Kevin Bird and goalie Rod Arnold, both appearing in Stags colours for more than a decade. The Stags coach then, Frank Marshall, was a year later taken to Sweden on recommendation by George Raynor, a former Stags player which guided the Swedish National team into the 1958 World Cup Final against Brazil. Marshall settled in the Halmstad area where he within five years steered IS Halmia into the Swedish equivalent to Premier League in the same year as the Stags played their solitary Division Two campaign, in 1978. By the way, Marshall passed away in Halmstad a few years ago.

But 12 months after the first-ever Cambridge FL promotion, Cambridge were back in the basement and that 1974-75 Stags first-ever championship season saw the first FA-Cup tie between the sides. A 3rd round tie at Field Mill saw the Stags through with a Ray Clarke strike in front of 10486 on January 4, 1975. A brief view of the stats show that the sides had up to September 27, 2003, each had won six home games out of eight, and a draw and an away win each, and the last meeting prior to the 2003-04 season produced the most goals scored as Cambridge won their home game on March 20, 1999 with 7-2. Arjan van Heusden was the Cambridge goalie in that fixture.

After the 2-4 away defeat on October 5, 1985, the Stags won four games on the trot to go top of the old fourth division while the 2-2 draw at Field Mill on September 18, 1990, was the Stags solitary home point in the first seven games of the 1990-91 season, and the Stags have scored in every league game bar four between the sides.

An epic encounter between the sides was played at Abbey Stadium on September 27, 2003. The Stags had opened the scoring through Disley halfway through the first half. Then Christie and Day were red-carded before the closure of the first half. Many, including myself internet-checking the game while on my newspaper covering the final day of my local FA 2003 season, wondered if the Stags should hold on? Regarding the penalties, see above. The Stagsnet report began with "Unbelievable stuff". Quite correctly, and more than that.

The September 2003 result was typical of Cambridge’s odd results that 2003-04 season. The “U’s” lost ten home games that season, only surpassed on the final day by Southend, and won fewer at headquarters than any other side, while their away record was better than the ones achieved by two of the promoted sides, Torquay and Huddersfield, and on goal difference, one goal worse than the one of the Stags.

At Mansfield, Cambridge had before the 2011-12 season only won once. This happened in the 1998-99 season, the latest Cambridge promotion one as a league club.

Another interesting fact is that both sides have had a Colin Foster in their league line-up. While the Stags had one during the mid-seventies Championship seasons and the 1977-78 solitary season in the old 2nd division, Cambridge had one some twenty years later.

Cambridge were up to the 2011-12 season the only BSP club having missed out on a FL return by losing two consecutive playoff finals. Both were to Devon clubs, Exeter in 2008 and Torquay the following year. Luton became the second one that 2011-12 campaign. But in the 2013-14 season, it was third time lucky for Cambridge regarding playoff finals. A 2-1 victory against Gateshead ensured Cambridge's FL return after nine seasons outside the FL following relegation and a 10-point deduction in 2005.

In the second of the Stags’ two promotion campaigns during the 1970’s, Cambridge were crowned Division Four champions, then went straight through the third to play six consecutive campaigns at second level. In 1982-83, Cambridge played 12 home games without conceding a goal, while in 1983, the “U”s played 31 games without winning before beating Newcastle 1-0 at home on April 28, 1984. Fact is that Newcastle have played against Cambridge in all their eight seasons at second level, including 1991-92 and 1992-93 respectively.

One of the players having appeared for both sides managed to figure for THREE different BSP sides in the 2009-10 season. Prior to playing for the Stags and Cambridge, Jon Challinor managed five games for Forest Green at the very start of that campaign. Challinor also played for Cambridge in the 1-1 draw at Field Mill in 2008. Another player having appeared for both sides is much-travelled BSP hot-shot Daryl Clare, who in fact blew more cold than hot during his stay at Field Mill. He did the same at Cambridge and was later on released by Alfreton. Another one is Tom Shaw who came to Cambridge from Kidderminster and played three games for the Stags at the very end of the 2008-09 campaign, of those two were seen by the previewer (Woking away and Altrincham at home). Yet another one is Rob Duffy, overlooked during the time of the BSP previews between the sides. Fact is that he played nine games for Cambridge prior to joining Oxford a few seasons before coming to the Stags. Mark Peters and Ben Sedgemore are two other players appearing for both sides.In both cases, they figured for Cambridge during their early BSP years. Lewis Price, who kept the Stags goal at the very end of their FL comeback campaign, was Cambridge custodian for six games during the 2004-05 campaign in which Cambridge United were relegated from the FL, while Craig Westcarr figured for Cambridge in their first season outside the FL in 2005-06 on 31 occasions, scoring eight goals then.

In the 2014-15 season, the sides clashed in the FA Cup second round. A 90th minute Cambridge equalizer at home set up a replay at One Call Stadium, which Cambridge won. Eventually, Cambridge reached the fourth round, managing a replay against Manchester United.

Three players having represented both sides have played in Sweden. George Taft (who played a dozen games in Sweden for Karlstad BK in 2012) was last term in his second Cambridge spell, while Daniel Carr left Karlstad BK at the end of the Swedish calendar year campaign of 2017 after scoring eight goals. Reggie Lambe played for Nyköpings BIS in 2014 before coming to the Stags. The whereabouts of Lambe is currently unknown to the previewer, while Taft has for Bolton this term. The whereabouts of Carr was mentioned in the FA Cup preview against Dagenham & Redbridge a few days before our latest fixture at Cambridge, in which ex-Stag Paul Digby featured for the U’s.

Greg Taylor played eight games for the Stags late on in the 2012-13 season but has since then represented Cambridge and followed them back into the League in 2014, having featured in over 270 National League and EFL fixtures since then, an incredible feat. Add to that, 21 FA Cup games, including both against the Stags in 2014-15 and subsequently, both against Manchester United in the fourth round then. Meanwhile, Mal Benning is the current longest-serving current Stags player with over 200 games in all competitions since 2015.

One ex-Cambridge boss who has managed in Sweden (Championship level at Västerås SK, PL level at AIK), is Richard Money, whose first Cambridge game was a 4-1 victory against the Stags at headquarters in October 2012.

Played for both sides: Blair Adams, Danny Andrew, Nathan Arnold, Matty Blair, Jamie Campbell, Daniel Carr, Jon Challinor, Neville Chamberlain, Daryl Clare, Paul Connor, Robbie Cooke, Digger Daley, Paul Digby, Rob Duffy, Efon Elad, Scott Eustace, Scott Garner, Gerald Graham, John Gregson, Kevin Griffin, Ivan Hollett, Kyle Howkins, Johnny Hunt, James Jennings, Reggie Lambe, David Lyon, Neil MacKenzie, George Maris, Kieran Murtagh, Tom Naylor, Mark Peters, Lewis Price, Jason Rees, Ben Sedgemore, Tom Shaw, Matt Somner, James Spencer, George Taft, Greg Taylor, Colin Toon, Arjan van Heusden, Craig Westcarr.

More on recent Cambridge games in the match centre for the corresponding season.

Stats file:

Home: P 21, W 11, D 7, L 3, GF 28, GA 21
Away: P 22, W 7, D 5, L 10, GF 37, GA 44

Season Home Date Away Date

1972-73 3-1 1972-08-30 2-3 1973-04-28 Div 4 (old)
1974-75 2-1 1975-03-07 2-2 1974-09-24 Div 4 (old)
1985-86 2-0 1986-03-08 2-4 1985-10-05 Div 4 (old)
1990-91 2-2 1990-09-18 1-2 1991-02-01 Div 3 (old)
1995-96 2-1 1996-01-23 2-0 1996-03-23 Div 3
1996-97 1-0 1997-03-01 1-2 1996-03-12 Div 3
1997-98 3-2 1997-10-11 0-2 1998-02-28 Div 3
1998-99 1-3 1998-10-31 2-7 1999-03-20 Div 3
2003-04 1-1 2004-04-03 2-1 2003-09-27 Div 3
2004-05 0-0 2005-01-11 2-2 2004-09-11 League 2
2008-09 1-1 2008-09-20 1-2 2009-03-10 BSP
2009-10 2-1 2009-12-28 2-3 2010-04-05 BSP
2010-11 1-0 2010-08-28 5-1 2010-12-28 BSP
2011-12 1-2 2011-11-05 2-1 2012-03-06 BSP
2012-13 3-1 2013-02-16 1-4 2012-10-06 BSP
2014-15 0-0 2014-10-18 1-3 2015-04-18 League 2
2015-16 0-0 2016-05-07 1-1 2015-12-19 League 2
2016-17 0-0 2016-09-03 3-1 2017-01-21 League 2
2017-18 2-1 2017-09-23 0-0 2018-01-13 League 2
2018-19 1-0 2019-04-06 1-1 2018-09-22 League 2
2019-20 0-4 2019-09-17 3-2 2020-01-01 League 2
2020-21 (at Cambridge) 1-0 2020-12-02 League 2

FA Cup

1974-75 1-0 1975-01-04 (at Field Mill) FA Cup 3rd round
2014-15 2-2 2014-12-06 (at Cambridge) FA Cup 2nd round
2014-15 0-1 2014-12-16 (at One Call Stadium) FA Cup 2nd round replay

Time to bounce back after the Bolton reverse. Come on Mansfield!


Why can't I remember Greg Taylor playing 8 games for us?


Think he was a full back?


AH i remember. It's crazy how long ago this actually was now.
PEAR CIDER
Manager
Manager
 
Posts: 6164
Joined: Wed Jun 13, 2012 11:04 am

Re: Cambridge preview for Saturday

Postby Random Hero » Fri Feb 19, 2021 12:49 pm

PEAR CIDER wrote:
Random Hero wrote:
PEAR CIDER wrote:
Sweden Stag wrote:Following the bitter 2-3 home defeat against Bolton last Wednesday, the Stags are on a revenge mission for that reverse when current League Two leaders Cambridge United visit One Call Stadium on Saturday.

Last season’s away fixture at Cambridge was the Stags’ first one in the new decade and was to be a revenge mission as Cambridge United won at One Call to a heavy 4-0 scoreline in mid-September 2019 with three goals coming very late on. That game, if any, perfectly summed the 2019-20 season for the Stags. In the first half, the Stags did everything but score, and in the second half, an early red card turned the game. At the very end, the Stags had a great chance to equalize. Instead, Cambridge sealed the game with a three-goal blitz. In the end at Cambridg, the Stags came back from 2-1 down to seal a 3-2 victory thanks to a Maynard hat-trick against a Cambridge then fielding three ex-Stags, two of them having played in Sweden (George Taft and Reggie Lambe). That victory also meant that the Stags are unbeaten in five consecutive visits to Cambridge, a sequence which was bettered in early December 2020 when the Stags sealed their then second consecutive away victory (and their fourth consecutive in all competitions) thanks to a Jamie Reid strike midway through the second half. That result is also proof that anyone can beat anyone on their day in this season’s League Two.

Cambridge are also the side the Stags have faced on most occasions in preview history and the fixture on Saturday is the 28th previewed on in League games beginning with the epic one at Cambridge in September 2003 (see more below). Add to that, two FA Cup games in December 2014.

In the BSP, Cambridge were one of five sides facing the Stags in all Stags’five seasons outside the FL. The others were Barrow, Forest Green, Kidderminster and Wrexham, all now playing or have played in the FL as Forest Green were the first FL visitors to Mansfield in 2017-18. That alone said a lot about the team turnover in the BSP over the years. And no team that played Cambridge in their 2004-05 relegation season have been continuously playing in League Two since then, not even Rochdale. That also speaks volumes as Accrington, BSP champions in Cambridge's first out of nine seasons there, were the longest-serving League Two member continuously until their 2017-18 League Two championship campaign. Longest now surviving League Two outfit are Morecambe, a side Cambridge routed at their place early on this season.

But last Saturday, Cambridge could only manage a goal-less home draw against struggling Southend, and in their latest away fixture, Cambridge were routed at Salford to a heavy 4-1 scoreline.

Since Cambridge’s League Two comeback via the playoffs in 2014, they had reached three consecutive top-half finishes without reaching the playoffs. Their boss in early January 2020 was Colin Calderwood, an ex-Stag as a player, as was Martin Ling, who bossed Cambridge about a decade ago in the Conf. But after a string of poor results, Calderwood had to go in late January and was replaced by Mark Bonner.

The home game against Cambridge on February 16, 2013, proved to be a pointer for the remainder of the Stags’ season then, ending in a 3-1 Stags victory. Little did the previewer (and other Stags fans as well) know then that this particular fixture was to be the first in a famous 12-match winning run which catapulted the Stags from just outside the playoff zone into pole position a month later, finally securing the FL return as champions on April 20, 2013.

Yet, penalties and injury-time goals have been two major ingredients in Stags v Cambridge clashes during the time of Stagsnet previewing on games starting with an epic one (see below). The settings have also been about missed and converted spot-kicks.

Two games at Cambridge stand out in particular:

* September 27, 2003. The Stags lead 1-0 at half-time but had two players red-carded. Early in the second half, Cambridge are awarded a penalty. But Walker saw his kick saved by Kevin Pilkington. A few minutes later, nine-men Stags /against 11-men Cambridge/ are favoured from the spot. Liam Lawrence converts and shoots the Stags 2-0 up in an unbelievable fixture.

* April 5, 2010. Injury-time penalties at the stand of 2-2. Cambridge converted theirs to 3-2, but with virtually the last kick of the game, the Stags were awarded a pen, but missed theirs and lost.

A spot-kick was also essential in the Stags winning mixture at Field Mill during the third season of the Stags’ BSP stay. Parker converted one on the hour-mark to the only goal of the game on August 28, 2010, penalty conceded by Jennings (later stations Wrexham, Morecambe and Cheltenham to name a few), sent off in that sequence. And at Cambridge, the Stags notched their biggest-ever win in any league fixture between the sides, as the Stags ran riot in the second half, eventually winning 5-1 in a game with several well-taken goals, including Cambridge's. Jennings also played for the Stags in February 2013 against one of his previous clubs.

On March 10, 2009, Cambridge were lucky to win in injury-time, and on April 3, 2004, the U's equalized in the 90th minute at Field Mill.

Below are some facts on Cambridge United:

When Cambridge United had their first-ever taste of league football in 1970-71 after being elected at the expense of Bradford Park Avenue, they fielded two ex-Stags players. But none of them figured in Cambridge’s first-ever league game, a 1-1 home draw against Lincoln on August 15, 1970.

The ex-Stags were two forwards: John Gregson (74+2 sub games for the Stags, five goals), who figured in Cambridge’s first-ever league win, a 3-1 at home to Oldham on August 29, 1970, and Ivan Hollett, who started his league career at the Stags with 99 games and 40 goals to his credit before going to the arch-rivals Chesterfield (65 goals in 157 games for the Spireites). During the 1970-71 season, Hollett came to Cambridge from Crewe and was to be their top league scorer with 11 goals in 29 games. But those two players were no more on United’s books when the teams faced each other for the first time in the 1972-73 season.

The Stags won their home game early on (the fourth of five straight wins from the start of that season 3-1 (Stags: Fairbrother, Longhorn, Walker; Cambridge: Lill, attendance: 5,216), and the return game at Cambridge was to be a promotion decider at Abbey Stadium.

No wonder then that the game on April 28, 1973, attracted Cambridge’s highest home crowd that season, 10,542! At the end of that day, Cambridge won 3-2 (Cambridge scorers Walton 2, Ross pen, Stags scorers McCaffrey, Dudley Roberts) and gained promotion instead of the Stags. Even then, a penalty was awarded and converted.

That this promotion decider provided goals, was no surprise. Cambridge netted in all Division Four games bar five while the Stags scored in all bar eight, including the first twenty-one games until a 2-0 defeat at Workington on December 9, 1972, the same Workington side that ended a Cambridge run of fourteen games without defeat due to a 5-1 mauling in Cumbria a fortnight earlier.

Some of the Stags players figuring at Cambridge in April 1973 were to play prominent parts in promotion campaigns and a solitary Division 2 season to come: Kevin Bird and goalie Rod Arnold, both appearing in Stags colours for more than a decade. The Stags coach then, Frank Marshall, was a year later taken to Sweden on recommendation by George Raynor, a former Stags player which guided the Swedish National team into the 1958 World Cup Final against Brazil. Marshall settled in the Halmstad area where he within five years steered IS Halmia into the Swedish equivalent to Premier League in the same year as the Stags played their solitary Division Two campaign, in 1978. By the way, Marshall passed away in Halmstad a few years ago.

But 12 months after the first-ever Cambridge FL promotion, Cambridge were back in the basement and that 1974-75 Stags first-ever championship season saw the first FA-Cup tie between the sides. A 3rd round tie at Field Mill saw the Stags through with a Ray Clarke strike in front of 10486 on January 4, 1975. A brief view of the stats show that the sides had up to September 27, 2003, each had won six home games out of eight, and a draw and an away win each, and the last meeting prior to the 2003-04 season produced the most goals scored as Cambridge won their home game on March 20, 1999 with 7-2. Arjan van Heusden was the Cambridge goalie in that fixture.

After the 2-4 away defeat on October 5, 1985, the Stags won four games on the trot to go top of the old fourth division while the 2-2 draw at Field Mill on September 18, 1990, was the Stags solitary home point in the first seven games of the 1990-91 season, and the Stags have scored in every league game bar four between the sides.

An epic encounter between the sides was played at Abbey Stadium on September 27, 2003. The Stags had opened the scoring through Disley halfway through the first half. Then Christie and Day were red-carded before the closure of the first half. Many, including myself internet-checking the game while on my newspaper covering the final day of my local FA 2003 season, wondered if the Stags should hold on? Regarding the penalties, see above. The Stagsnet report began with "Unbelievable stuff". Quite correctly, and more than that.

The September 2003 result was typical of Cambridge’s odd results that 2003-04 season. The “U’s” lost ten home games that season, only surpassed on the final day by Southend, and won fewer at headquarters than any other side, while their away record was better than the ones achieved by two of the promoted sides, Torquay and Huddersfield, and on goal difference, one goal worse than the one of the Stags.

At Mansfield, Cambridge had before the 2011-12 season only won once. This happened in the 1998-99 season, the latest Cambridge promotion one as a league club.

Another interesting fact is that both sides have had a Colin Foster in their league line-up. While the Stags had one during the mid-seventies Championship seasons and the 1977-78 solitary season in the old 2nd division, Cambridge had one some twenty years later.

Cambridge were up to the 2011-12 season the only BSP club having missed out on a FL return by losing two consecutive playoff finals. Both were to Devon clubs, Exeter in 2008 and Torquay the following year. Luton became the second one that 2011-12 campaign. But in the 2013-14 season, it was third time lucky for Cambridge regarding playoff finals. A 2-1 victory against Gateshead ensured Cambridge's FL return after nine seasons outside the FL following relegation and a 10-point deduction in 2005.

In the second of the Stags’ two promotion campaigns during the 1970’s, Cambridge were crowned Division Four champions, then went straight through the third to play six consecutive campaigns at second level. In 1982-83, Cambridge played 12 home games without conceding a goal, while in 1983, the “U”s played 31 games without winning before beating Newcastle 1-0 at home on April 28, 1984. Fact is that Newcastle have played against Cambridge in all their eight seasons at second level, including 1991-92 and 1992-93 respectively.

One of the players having appeared for both sides managed to figure for THREE different BSP sides in the 2009-10 season. Prior to playing for the Stags and Cambridge, Jon Challinor managed five games for Forest Green at the very start of that campaign. Challinor also played for Cambridge in the 1-1 draw at Field Mill in 2008. Another player having appeared for both sides is much-travelled BSP hot-shot Daryl Clare, who in fact blew more cold than hot during his stay at Field Mill. He did the same at Cambridge and was later on released by Alfreton. Another one is Tom Shaw who came to Cambridge from Kidderminster and played three games for the Stags at the very end of the 2008-09 campaign, of those two were seen by the previewer (Woking away and Altrincham at home). Yet another one is Rob Duffy, overlooked during the time of the BSP previews between the sides. Fact is that he played nine games for Cambridge prior to joining Oxford a few seasons before coming to the Stags. Mark Peters and Ben Sedgemore are two other players appearing for both sides.In both cases, they figured for Cambridge during their early BSP years. Lewis Price, who kept the Stags goal at the very end of their FL comeback campaign, was Cambridge custodian for six games during the 2004-05 campaign in which Cambridge United were relegated from the FL, while Craig Westcarr figured for Cambridge in their first season outside the FL in 2005-06 on 31 occasions, scoring eight goals then.

In the 2014-15 season, the sides clashed in the FA Cup second round. A 90th minute Cambridge equalizer at home set up a replay at One Call Stadium, which Cambridge won. Eventually, Cambridge reached the fourth round, managing a replay against Manchester United.

Three players having represented both sides have played in Sweden. George Taft (who played a dozen games in Sweden for Karlstad BK in 2012) was last term in his second Cambridge spell, while Daniel Carr left Karlstad BK at the end of the Swedish calendar year campaign of 2017 after scoring eight goals. Reggie Lambe played for Nyköpings BIS in 2014 before coming to the Stags. The whereabouts of Lambe is currently unknown to the previewer, while Taft has for Bolton this term. The whereabouts of Carr was mentioned in the FA Cup preview against Dagenham & Redbridge a few days before our latest fixture at Cambridge, in which ex-Stag Paul Digby featured for the U’s.

Greg Taylor played eight games for the Stags late on in the 2012-13 season but has since then represented Cambridge and followed them back into the League in 2014, having featured in over 270 National League and EFL fixtures since then, an incredible feat. Add to that, 21 FA Cup games, including both against the Stags in 2014-15 and subsequently, both against Manchester United in the fourth round then. Meanwhile, Mal Benning is the current longest-serving current Stags player with over 200 games in all competitions since 2015.

One ex-Cambridge boss who has managed in Sweden (Championship level at Västerås SK, PL level at AIK), is Richard Money, whose first Cambridge game was a 4-1 victory against the Stags at headquarters in October 2012.

Played for both sides: Blair Adams, Danny Andrew, Nathan Arnold, Matty Blair, Jamie Campbell, Daniel Carr, Jon Challinor, Neville Chamberlain, Daryl Clare, Paul Connor, Robbie Cooke, Digger Daley, Paul Digby, Rob Duffy, Efon Elad, Scott Eustace, Scott Garner, Gerald Graham, John Gregson, Kevin Griffin, Ivan Hollett, Kyle Howkins, Johnny Hunt, James Jennings, Reggie Lambe, David Lyon, Neil MacKenzie, George Maris, Kieran Murtagh, Tom Naylor, Mark Peters, Lewis Price, Jason Rees, Ben Sedgemore, Tom Shaw, Matt Somner, James Spencer, George Taft, Greg Taylor, Colin Toon, Arjan van Heusden, Craig Westcarr.

More on recent Cambridge games in the match centre for the corresponding season.

Stats file:

Home: P 21, W 11, D 7, L 3, GF 28, GA 21
Away: P 22, W 7, D 5, L 10, GF 37, GA 44

Season Home Date Away Date

1972-73 3-1 1972-08-30 2-3 1973-04-28 Div 4 (old)
1974-75 2-1 1975-03-07 2-2 1974-09-24 Div 4 (old)
1985-86 2-0 1986-03-08 2-4 1985-10-05 Div 4 (old)
1990-91 2-2 1990-09-18 1-2 1991-02-01 Div 3 (old)
1995-96 2-1 1996-01-23 2-0 1996-03-23 Div 3
1996-97 1-0 1997-03-01 1-2 1996-03-12 Div 3
1997-98 3-2 1997-10-11 0-2 1998-02-28 Div 3
1998-99 1-3 1998-10-31 2-7 1999-03-20 Div 3
2003-04 1-1 2004-04-03 2-1 2003-09-27 Div 3
2004-05 0-0 2005-01-11 2-2 2004-09-11 League 2
2008-09 1-1 2008-09-20 1-2 2009-03-10 BSP
2009-10 2-1 2009-12-28 2-3 2010-04-05 BSP
2010-11 1-0 2010-08-28 5-1 2010-12-28 BSP
2011-12 1-2 2011-11-05 2-1 2012-03-06 BSP
2012-13 3-1 2013-02-16 1-4 2012-10-06 BSP
2014-15 0-0 2014-10-18 1-3 2015-04-18 League 2
2015-16 0-0 2016-05-07 1-1 2015-12-19 League 2
2016-17 0-0 2016-09-03 3-1 2017-01-21 League 2
2017-18 2-1 2017-09-23 0-0 2018-01-13 League 2
2018-19 1-0 2019-04-06 1-1 2018-09-22 League 2
2019-20 0-4 2019-09-17 3-2 2020-01-01 League 2
2020-21 (at Cambridge) 1-0 2020-12-02 League 2

FA Cup

1974-75 1-0 1975-01-04 (at Field Mill) FA Cup 3rd round
2014-15 2-2 2014-12-06 (at Cambridge) FA Cup 2nd round
2014-15 0-1 2014-12-16 (at One Call Stadium) FA Cup 2nd round replay

Time to bounce back after the Bolton reverse. Come on Mansfield!


Why can't I remember Greg Taylor playing 8 games for us?


Think he was a full back?


AH i remember. It's crazy how long ago this actually was now.


Those years are very much a blur to me. :lol:
An der Elbe, werden Träume wahr
User avatar
Random Hero
Manager
Manager
 
Posts: 2719
Joined: Mon Aug 10, 2009 6:35 pm
Location: Volksparkstadion

Re: Cambridge preview for Saturday

Postby Captain Cunno » Fri Feb 19, 2021 12:50 pm

PEAR CIDER wrote:
Random Hero wrote:
PEAR CIDER wrote:
Sweden Stag wrote:Following the bitter 2-3 home defeat against Bolton last Wednesday, the Stags are on a revenge mission for that reverse when current League Two leaders Cambridge United visit One Call Stadium on Saturday.

Last season’s away fixture at Cambridge was the Stags’ first one in the new decade and was to be a revenge mission as Cambridge United won at One Call to a heavy 4-0 scoreline in mid-September 2019 with three goals coming very late on. That game, if any, perfectly summed the 2019-20 season for the Stags. In the first half, the Stags did everything but score, and in the second half, an early red card turned the game. At the very end, the Stags had a great chance to equalize. Instead, Cambridge sealed the game with a three-goal blitz. In the end at Cambridg, the Stags came back from 2-1 down to seal a 3-2 victory thanks to a Maynard hat-trick against a Cambridge then fielding three ex-Stags, two of them having played in Sweden (George Taft and Reggie Lambe). That victory also meant that the Stags are unbeaten in five consecutive visits to Cambridge, a sequence which was bettered in early December 2020 when the Stags sealed their then second consecutive away victory (and their fourth consecutive in all competitions) thanks to a Jamie Reid strike midway through the second half. That result is also proof that anyone can beat anyone on their day in this season’s League Two.

Cambridge are also the side the Stags have faced on most occasions in preview history and the fixture on Saturday is the 28th previewed on in League games beginning with the epic one at Cambridge in September 2003 (see more below). Add to that, two FA Cup games in December 2014.

In the BSP, Cambridge were one of five sides facing the Stags in all Stags’five seasons outside the FL. The others were Barrow, Forest Green, Kidderminster and Wrexham, all now playing or have played in the FL as Forest Green were the first FL visitors to Mansfield in 2017-18. That alone said a lot about the team turnover in the BSP over the years. And no team that played Cambridge in their 2004-05 relegation season have been continuously playing in League Two since then, not even Rochdale. That also speaks volumes as Accrington, BSP champions in Cambridge's first out of nine seasons there, were the longest-serving League Two member continuously until their 2017-18 League Two championship campaign. Longest now surviving League Two outfit are Morecambe, a side Cambridge routed at their place early on this season.

But last Saturday, Cambridge could only manage a goal-less home draw against struggling Southend, and in their latest away fixture, Cambridge were routed at Salford to a heavy 4-1 scoreline.

Since Cambridge’s League Two comeback via the playoffs in 2014, they had reached three consecutive top-half finishes without reaching the playoffs. Their boss in early January 2020 was Colin Calderwood, an ex-Stag as a player, as was Martin Ling, who bossed Cambridge about a decade ago in the Conf. But after a string of poor results, Calderwood had to go in late January and was replaced by Mark Bonner.

The home game against Cambridge on February 16, 2013, proved to be a pointer for the remainder of the Stags’ season then, ending in a 3-1 Stags victory. Little did the previewer (and other Stags fans as well) know then that this particular fixture was to be the first in a famous 12-match winning run which catapulted the Stags from just outside the playoff zone into pole position a month later, finally securing the FL return as champions on April 20, 2013.

Yet, penalties and injury-time goals have been two major ingredients in Stags v Cambridge clashes during the time of Stagsnet previewing on games starting with an epic one (see below). The settings have also been about missed and converted spot-kicks.

Two games at Cambridge stand out in particular:

* September 27, 2003. The Stags lead 1-0 at half-time but had two players red-carded. Early in the second half, Cambridge are awarded a penalty. But Walker saw his kick saved by Kevin Pilkington. A few minutes later, nine-men Stags /against 11-men Cambridge/ are favoured from the spot. Liam Lawrence converts and shoots the Stags 2-0 up in an unbelievable fixture.

* April 5, 2010. Injury-time penalties at the stand of 2-2. Cambridge converted theirs to 3-2, but with virtually the last kick of the game, the Stags were awarded a pen, but missed theirs and lost.

A spot-kick was also essential in the Stags winning mixture at Field Mill during the third season of the Stags’ BSP stay. Parker converted one on the hour-mark to the only goal of the game on August 28, 2010, penalty conceded by Jennings (later stations Wrexham, Morecambe and Cheltenham to name a few), sent off in that sequence. And at Cambridge, the Stags notched their biggest-ever win in any league fixture between the sides, as the Stags ran riot in the second half, eventually winning 5-1 in a game with several well-taken goals, including Cambridge's. Jennings also played for the Stags in February 2013 against one of his previous clubs.

On March 10, 2009, Cambridge were lucky to win in injury-time, and on April 3, 2004, the U's equalized in the 90th minute at Field Mill.

Below are some facts on Cambridge United:

When Cambridge United had their first-ever taste of league football in 1970-71 after being elected at the expense of Bradford Park Avenue, they fielded two ex-Stags players. But none of them figured in Cambridge’s first-ever league game, a 1-1 home draw against Lincoln on August 15, 1970.

The ex-Stags were two forwards: John Gregson (74+2 sub games for the Stags, five goals), who figured in Cambridge’s first-ever league win, a 3-1 at home to Oldham on August 29, 1970, and Ivan Hollett, who started his league career at the Stags with 99 games and 40 goals to his credit before going to the arch-rivals Chesterfield (65 goals in 157 games for the Spireites). During the 1970-71 season, Hollett came to Cambridge from Crewe and was to be their top league scorer with 11 goals in 29 games. But those two players were no more on United’s books when the teams faced each other for the first time in the 1972-73 season.

The Stags won their home game early on (the fourth of five straight wins from the start of that season 3-1 (Stags: Fairbrother, Longhorn, Walker; Cambridge: Lill, attendance: 5,216), and the return game at Cambridge was to be a promotion decider at Abbey Stadium.

No wonder then that the game on April 28, 1973, attracted Cambridge’s highest home crowd that season, 10,542! At the end of that day, Cambridge won 3-2 (Cambridge scorers Walton 2, Ross pen, Stags scorers McCaffrey, Dudley Roberts) and gained promotion instead of the Stags. Even then, a penalty was awarded and converted.

That this promotion decider provided goals, was no surprise. Cambridge netted in all Division Four games bar five while the Stags scored in all bar eight, including the first twenty-one games until a 2-0 defeat at Workington on December 9, 1972, the same Workington side that ended a Cambridge run of fourteen games without defeat due to a 5-1 mauling in Cumbria a fortnight earlier.

Some of the Stags players figuring at Cambridge in April 1973 were to play prominent parts in promotion campaigns and a solitary Division 2 season to come: Kevin Bird and goalie Rod Arnold, both appearing in Stags colours for more than a decade. The Stags coach then, Frank Marshall, was a year later taken to Sweden on recommendation by George Raynor, a former Stags player which guided the Swedish National team into the 1958 World Cup Final against Brazil. Marshall settled in the Halmstad area where he within five years steered IS Halmia into the Swedish equivalent to Premier League in the same year as the Stags played their solitary Division Two campaign, in 1978. By the way, Marshall passed away in Halmstad a few years ago.

But 12 months after the first-ever Cambridge FL promotion, Cambridge were back in the basement and that 1974-75 Stags first-ever championship season saw the first FA-Cup tie between the sides. A 3rd round tie at Field Mill saw the Stags through with a Ray Clarke strike in front of 10486 on January 4, 1975. A brief view of the stats show that the sides had up to September 27, 2003, each had won six home games out of eight, and a draw and an away win each, and the last meeting prior to the 2003-04 season produced the most goals scored as Cambridge won their home game on March 20, 1999 with 7-2. Arjan van Heusden was the Cambridge goalie in that fixture.

After the 2-4 away defeat on October 5, 1985, the Stags won four games on the trot to go top of the old fourth division while the 2-2 draw at Field Mill on September 18, 1990, was the Stags solitary home point in the first seven games of the 1990-91 season, and the Stags have scored in every league game bar four between the sides.

An epic encounter between the sides was played at Abbey Stadium on September 27, 2003. The Stags had opened the scoring through Disley halfway through the first half. Then Christie and Day were red-carded before the closure of the first half. Many, including myself internet-checking the game while on my newspaper covering the final day of my local FA 2003 season, wondered if the Stags should hold on? Regarding the penalties, see above. The Stagsnet report began with "Unbelievable stuff". Quite correctly, and more than that.

The September 2003 result was typical of Cambridge’s odd results that 2003-04 season. The “U’s” lost ten home games that season, only surpassed on the final day by Southend, and won fewer at headquarters than any other side, while their away record was better than the ones achieved by two of the promoted sides, Torquay and Huddersfield, and on goal difference, one goal worse than the one of the Stags.

At Mansfield, Cambridge had before the 2011-12 season only won once. This happened in the 1998-99 season, the latest Cambridge promotion one as a league club.

Another interesting fact is that both sides have had a Colin Foster in their league line-up. While the Stags had one during the mid-seventies Championship seasons and the 1977-78 solitary season in the old 2nd division, Cambridge had one some twenty years later.

Cambridge were up to the 2011-12 season the only BSP club having missed out on a FL return by losing two consecutive playoff finals. Both were to Devon clubs, Exeter in 2008 and Torquay the following year. Luton became the second one that 2011-12 campaign. But in the 2013-14 season, it was third time lucky for Cambridge regarding playoff finals. A 2-1 victory against Gateshead ensured Cambridge's FL return after nine seasons outside the FL following relegation and a 10-point deduction in 2005.

In the second of the Stags’ two promotion campaigns during the 1970’s, Cambridge were crowned Division Four champions, then went straight through the third to play six consecutive campaigns at second level. In 1982-83, Cambridge played 12 home games without conceding a goal, while in 1983, the “U”s played 31 games without winning before beating Newcastle 1-0 at home on April 28, 1984. Fact is that Newcastle have played against Cambridge in all their eight seasons at second level, including 1991-92 and 1992-93 respectively.

One of the players having appeared for both sides managed to figure for THREE different BSP sides in the 2009-10 season. Prior to playing for the Stags and Cambridge, Jon Challinor managed five games for Forest Green at the very start of that campaign. Challinor also played for Cambridge in the 1-1 draw at Field Mill in 2008. Another player having appeared for both sides is much-travelled BSP hot-shot Daryl Clare, who in fact blew more cold than hot during his stay at Field Mill. He did the same at Cambridge and was later on released by Alfreton. Another one is Tom Shaw who came to Cambridge from Kidderminster and played three games for the Stags at the very end of the 2008-09 campaign, of those two were seen by the previewer (Woking away and Altrincham at home). Yet another one is Rob Duffy, overlooked during the time of the BSP previews between the sides. Fact is that he played nine games for Cambridge prior to joining Oxford a few seasons before coming to the Stags. Mark Peters and Ben Sedgemore are two other players appearing for both sides.In both cases, they figured for Cambridge during their early BSP years. Lewis Price, who kept the Stags goal at the very end of their FL comeback campaign, was Cambridge custodian for six games during the 2004-05 campaign in which Cambridge United were relegated from the FL, while Craig Westcarr figured for Cambridge in their first season outside the FL in 2005-06 on 31 occasions, scoring eight goals then.

In the 2014-15 season, the sides clashed in the FA Cup second round. A 90th minute Cambridge equalizer at home set up a replay at One Call Stadium, which Cambridge won. Eventually, Cambridge reached the fourth round, managing a replay against Manchester United.

Three players having represented both sides have played in Sweden. George Taft (who played a dozen games in Sweden for Karlstad BK in 2012) was last term in his second Cambridge spell, while Daniel Carr left Karlstad BK at the end of the Swedish calendar year campaign of 2017 after scoring eight goals. Reggie Lambe played for Nyköpings BIS in 2014 before coming to the Stags. The whereabouts of Lambe is currently unknown to the previewer, while Taft has for Bolton this term. The whereabouts of Carr was mentioned in the FA Cup preview against Dagenham & Redbridge a few days before our latest fixture at Cambridge, in which ex-Stag Paul Digby featured for the U’s.

Greg Taylor played eight games for the Stags late on in the 2012-13 season but has since then represented Cambridge and followed them back into the League in 2014, having featured in over 270 National League and EFL fixtures since then, an incredible feat. Add to that, 21 FA Cup games, including both against the Stags in 2014-15 and subsequently, both against Manchester United in the fourth round then. Meanwhile, Mal Benning is the current longest-serving current Stags player with over 200 games in all competitions since 2015.

One ex-Cambridge boss who has managed in Sweden (Championship level at Västerås SK, PL level at AIK), is Richard Money, whose first Cambridge game was a 4-1 victory against the Stags at headquarters in October 2012.

Played for both sides: Blair Adams, Danny Andrew, Nathan Arnold, Matty Blair, Jamie Campbell, Daniel Carr, Jon Challinor, Neville Chamberlain, Daryl Clare, Paul Connor, Robbie Cooke, Digger Daley, Paul Digby, Rob Duffy, Efon Elad, Scott Eustace, Scott Garner, Gerald Graham, John Gregson, Kevin Griffin, Ivan Hollett, Kyle Howkins, Johnny Hunt, James Jennings, Reggie Lambe, David Lyon, Neil MacKenzie, George Maris, Kieran Murtagh, Tom Naylor, Mark Peters, Lewis Price, Jason Rees, Ben Sedgemore, Tom Shaw, Matt Somner, James Spencer, George Taft, Greg Taylor, Colin Toon, Arjan van Heusden, Craig Westcarr.

More on recent Cambridge games in the match centre for the corresponding season.

Stats file:

Home: P 21, W 11, D 7, L 3, GF 28, GA 21
Away: P 22, W 7, D 5, L 10, GF 37, GA 44

Season Home Date Away Date

1972-73 3-1 1972-08-30 2-3 1973-04-28 Div 4 (old)
1974-75 2-1 1975-03-07 2-2 1974-09-24 Div 4 (old)
1985-86 2-0 1986-03-08 2-4 1985-10-05 Div 4 (old)
1990-91 2-2 1990-09-18 1-2 1991-02-01 Div 3 (old)
1995-96 2-1 1996-01-23 2-0 1996-03-23 Div 3
1996-97 1-0 1997-03-01 1-2 1996-03-12 Div 3
1997-98 3-2 1997-10-11 0-2 1998-02-28 Div 3
1998-99 1-3 1998-10-31 2-7 1999-03-20 Div 3
2003-04 1-1 2004-04-03 2-1 2003-09-27 Div 3
2004-05 0-0 2005-01-11 2-2 2004-09-11 League 2
2008-09 1-1 2008-09-20 1-2 2009-03-10 BSP
2009-10 2-1 2009-12-28 2-3 2010-04-05 BSP
2010-11 1-0 2010-08-28 5-1 2010-12-28 BSP
2011-12 1-2 2011-11-05 2-1 2012-03-06 BSP
2012-13 3-1 2013-02-16 1-4 2012-10-06 BSP
2014-15 0-0 2014-10-18 1-3 2015-04-18 League 2
2015-16 0-0 2016-05-07 1-1 2015-12-19 League 2
2016-17 0-0 2016-09-03 3-1 2017-01-21 League 2
2017-18 2-1 2017-09-23 0-0 2018-01-13 League 2
2018-19 1-0 2019-04-06 1-1 2018-09-22 League 2
2019-20 0-4 2019-09-17 3-2 2020-01-01 League 2
2020-21 (at Cambridge) 1-0 2020-12-02 League 2

FA Cup

1974-75 1-0 1975-01-04 (at Field Mill) FA Cup 3rd round
2014-15 2-2 2014-12-06 (at Cambridge) FA Cup 2nd round
2014-15 0-1 2014-12-16 (at One Call Stadium) FA Cup 2nd round replay

Time to bounce back after the Bolton reverse. Come on Mansfield!


Why can't I remember Greg Taylor playing 8 games for us?


Think he was a full back?


AH i remember. It's crazy how long ago this actually was now.


I miss Greg Taylor.. his Dad is a bit of a Jebend though....
Only kidding Tate I love u really.
These are my opinions , if you don't like them I have others...
User avatar
Captain Cunno
Manager
Manager
 
Posts: 5773
Joined: Thu Aug 06, 2009 1:23 pm


Return to Stagsnet Main Discussion Forum

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: BH_Stag, Bing [Bot], bobbystagsfan, Captain Cunno, Costastag, mattstag14, Nutty Stag, Paulstag, Reg Holdsworth, Richard Cranium and 131 guests