Cambridge United ramped up the momentum as they sealed back-to-back Sky Bet League One victories courtesy of a professional 0-2 success against Stevenage at the Lamex Stadium…
Playing on the front foot since the first kick of the game, the U’s registered a plethora of chances throughout a dominant first half and capped it off with Korey Smith’s strike half an hour in. From here, they dug in deep and bided their time before making sure of the win at the death when Sullay Kaikai finished off a counter to cap an impressive evening.
Deeming there no need to heavily tinker with a winning formula, Garry Monk named just two changes to the side that recorded their first victory of the season three days earlier against Wigan Athletic. James Gibbons and Brandon Njoku were handed starts, whilst Danny Andrew moved to the bench and Ryan Loft was an enforced change after missing out on the squad.
Buoyed by the vociferous noise of over 1000 visiting fans, the U’s at first dug in deep against the physical hosts but soon imposed themselves with some effective and direct distributions forward.
Their positive approach almost paid its dividends on the 5th minute when James Brophy went agonisingly close to bagging the well-anticipated goal. Following neat link-up play between Elias Kachunga and Liam Bennett down the right, the latter scampered into the area and supplied a cross that found its way to an unmarked Brophy from a matter of yards, but his goal bound effort was cleared by Carl Piergianni’s last-ditch slide.
The strong tempo continued as Dan Kemp tested his luck with a speculative 25-yard strike, but it was comfortable for Vicente Reyes, who warmed his gloves for the first time with a low claim.
It had been a battling opening quarter of an hour, both sides were continuously pressing and ready to pounce at any potential mistakes. United, in particular, were yet to budge, with their 3-4-1-2 setup ensuring they were compact and able to deal with any final third possession.
There was a brief moment for all to recuperate on 24 when Michael Morrison went down in the box following a head clash with Piergianni, where the Stevenage captain as well as Paul Digby received bookings.
Shortly after getting back underway, the men in amber produced pandemonium by taking a deserved lead. A free-kick from Bennett was cleared by Boro’s defence but could only fall to Smith from outside of the box, who showed excellent feet to jink into space and pull the trigger. Despite taking a slight deflection, it trickled into the bottom corner of the net and was rightfully the midfielder’s goal to claim, who proceeded to run the fall length of the pitch to celebrate in front of the travelling faithful.
Smelling blood and eager to extend their lead, the U’s endeavour was almost rewarded on the 40th minute when Njoku drove into the box from the left with real tenacity, skipping past his man and drilling a ball across the face of goal. The recovering Dan Butler was on hand to tuck it behind, but it wasn’t overly far from creeping in.
Five minutes later, Monk’s front-footed outfit tallied up another golden opportunity when Kachunga teed up the in-form Smith from 20 yards out, who dropped the shoulder and showcased a superb sidestep to make room, where he introduced the ball towards the net but a quickfire brace was denied by superb reflexes from Murphy Cooper to force a corner.
On the eve of the whistle, Jordan Roberts was presented with a long-range snapshot volley which was matched by the alert Reyes, with the goalkeeper meeting the follow up to conclude a creditable first half.
A triple change from Alex Revell’s men at the break handed them that extra bit of energy to create an end-to-end start to proceedings, albeit without any clear-cut moments being carved out.
Either side of the hour, Roberts was handed a couple of opportunities to level matters when a stooping header from distance gave Reyes no problems before a long throw fell awkwardly to the creative attacker from 20 yards, who volleyed wide of the Chilean international’s left post.
On the 65th minute, a double pair of fresh legs were introduced for the men in amber, with Andrew and Kaikai on to use their know-how to navigate a period that had stagnated in terms of action, but in truth suited Cambridge who could take the sting out of it and manage professionally.
With the latter stages approaching, Stevenage began to build by pegging the U’s back for sustained spells. Nonetheless, they assuringly cleared their lines at every attempt and looked to attack on the counter whenever possible.
The only real scare the U’s had to contend with came on the 85th minute when the set piece specialists recycled a deep free-kick through Piergianni, but despite a lunge nobody could get a boot on to it.
Just as hinted, the visitors planted the cherry on top of the cake as they sealed maximum points with a trademark counter-attack. Substitute Emmanuel Longelo scampered down the right and into acres of space before setting up Kaikai whose first time touch beat his man and allowed him to delicately stroke into the back of the net to spark delirium.
After waiting all season for a victory, two arrive at the same time for the U’s, who have turned a corner after another confident success and defensive shutout.
Up next, the U’s return home on Saturday (26th October) to take on basement side Burton Albion in another important Abbey matchup – be sure to back the boys as they hunt a third win on the spin.
Stevenage: Cooper, Smith (Freeman, 71’), Piergianni, Freestone, Butler, Thompson (King, 45’), Phillips (List, 81’), Roberts, Kemp (White, 45’), Young (Pressley, 45’), Reid
Subs Not Used: Ashby-Hammond, Simpson
Goalscorers:
Bookings: Piergianni, Thompson
Cambridge United: Reyes, Okedina, Morrison, Gibbons, Bennett, Smith (Cousins, 88’), Digby, Brophy, Kachunga (Andrew, 66’), Njoku (Kaikai, 66’), Nlundulu (Longelo, 88’)
Subs Not Used: Stevens, Watts, Ibsen Rossi
Goalscorers: Smith (30’), Kaikai (89’)
Bookings: Digby, Smith
Referee: Ben Atkinson
