Eastleigh 1-1 Cambridge

EASTLEIGH V CAMBRIDGE CITY
TUESDAY 11TH APRIL 2006
 
CONFERENCE SOUTH



LINE UP: Wayne Shaw, Jack Smith, Ian Oliver, Sam Stannard, Rob Marshall, Richard Hodgson (Ashford), Danny Smith (c), Steve Forbes, David Hughes, Stuart Douglas (Roberts), Dave Town (Glasspool).

SUBS: Zach Glasspool, Nick Stavroulakis, Adam Roberts, Ryan Ashford, Alan Walker-Harris

After a strong start and an early lead, Cambridge fought back well in what was an evenly matched contest. Probably the most pleasing aspect from Eastleigh’s point of view was the young talent on display with the likes of Zach Glasspool and Adam Roberts showing up really well in the second half.

Eastleigh took the lead with only two minutes on the clock following a brilliant cross from the left from Richard Hodgson that was touched home by Stuart Douglas who was in the right place to finish off the early attack and to race the home side into a one goal advantage early on just as they had done against Dorchester only three days ago.

After this goal, it was the visitor’s turn to have attack.

Firstly, a speculative effort from left back, Daniel Blanchett was comfortably saved by Wayne Shaw and then this was followed up by a long ball minutes later, which Shaw attempted to deal with by rushing out of his goal and in doing he nearly lost his footing but thankfully for the Spitfires, young centre back Sam Stannard made a great challenge to clear the danger.

Good build up play from Eastleigh nearly resulted in Ian Oliver scoring what would have been his first goal of the season. Steve Forbes, Stuart Douglas and Richard Hodgson were all involved in the move to tee up Oliver on the overlap but his low drive went across the face of goal and out for a goal kick.

Paul Doswell’s side could have made it 2-0 in the 21st minute when David Hughes broke up a Cambridge attack before running into acres of space that opened up before him to lay the ball off to Hodgson on the left hand side who put in a deep cross towards the back post in search of Dave Town but the ball was cleared for a corner kick.

The only other chances of note went Cambridge’s way. In the 26th minute Paul Booth turned his marker and managed to get in a shot on Shaw’s goal that was creeping towards the bottom right hand corner, however the Eastleigh stopper was equal to it and made a smart stop.

HALF TIME – Eastleigh 1-0 Cambridge

Eastleigh were forced to make a change at the interval with Dave Town (dead leg) making way for the in-form, young striker Zach Glasspool to make only his second first team appearance for the club.

In the 57th minute, Glasspool’s trickery created a good chance for Stuart Douglas who latched on to the inch perfect cross from the left boot of Zach, but Douglas’ header looped over the cross bar and the chance to double the lead was gone.

Following this chance for Eastleigh, Cambridge had two good attacks on the Eastleigh goal, the first of which resulted in Steve Forbes picking up a yellow card and the second was the Cambridge equaliser.

In the 66th minute, a ball was played deep into the box to find the substitute Craig Dobson at the back post who did ever so well to cut inside and pull the ball back for Paul Booth who had an easy tap in to bring the scores level.

This goal brought about the second and third substitutions for Eastleigh. Ryan Ashford and Adam Roberts were called into action to replace Richard Hodgson and Stuart Douglas.

Almost instantly, ‘Taz’ Roberts made an impact on the Cambridge defence. He run at the right back and beat him tremendously for pace and he did so he was hacked to the ground from what looked like was inside the penalty area. The referee did not agree and ruled the foul to have taken place right on the edge of the area.

The resulting free kick was put in to the back post and the ball bobbled around in front of goal just waiting for an Eastleigh player to connect with it but it wasn’t to be and the ball was cleared.

Five minutes later it was another young gun causing trouble for the Cambridge back line. Zach Glasspool’s liveliness and pressure forced an error from the keeper and the ball sat up for Danny Smith who was 20 yards from goal but he failed to strike the ball cleanly and it sailed over the cross bar and out for a goal kick.

Eastleigh’s youthful substitutes combined well in the 78th minute as the home side sought out another goal to try and snatch the three points. Glasspool held up the ball well before setting up Roberts who struck the ball low first time only to be denied by Danny Naisbitt in the Cambridge goal.

Cambridge could have grabbed a late winner and if it wasn’t for Ryan Ashford’s bravery in closing down a powerful free kick then it may well have been a different story.

1-1, was probably a fair result in the end, as both sides had the same amount of chances and played good football and the point means that Eastleigh continue their fine unbeaten run of late and we can only hope that it may be added to on Saturday with a win against Bognor Regis.

FULL TIME – Eastleigh 1-1 Cambridge

JAMIE MONTIGUE

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