POST-MATCH THREAD: Cambridge United v Charlton Athletic: Saturday 12th April 2025: KO 15:00

Regarding the medical situation, it was literally shoulder to shoulder with me, I called the stewards, they took too long to respond imo, awfully slow, and how long it took for the paramedics was also shoddy, complete lack of urgency as they couldn't have been 100% on what they were attending.

Thankfully the fella seemed ok, and the staff eventually helped him out, but had it been something more serious, the response was poor.

The game should have been stopped in all honesty, people were worried in the vicinity, and I imagine all the noise wasn't helping the Charlton fan.

Credit to some blonde lady who was Charlton and a nurse, she helped, also Adam Coe (head of medical at Charlton) came over and completely took over and controlled the situation and really helped out, a complete credit to the club.

Everyone in the vicinity tried to help and get attention of the stewards who were aware, expect nothing less from our fantastic fans 👍🏻

Cambridge need to be more prepared in future for an unfortunate circumstance like that.

Not a thing of beauty but we deservedly got our noses in front in the first half and saw the game out with not too much trouble, notwithstanding the injury time goalmouth scramble which was a ‘heart in the mouth’ moment.

Tyreece wasted no time in underscoring  his importance to the side with a beautifully placed right footer into the bottom corner. He nearly repeated the trick a few minutes later and Godden subsequently hit an excellent first time shot against the post as we looked for the second goal.

It was a scrappy old second half, with only a couple of long range efforts from us which their goalie saved comfortably, whilst Cambridge didn’t manage a single shot on target, the nearest they came being the goalmouth scramble near the end.

A 19th clean sheet is a great achievement for the side and everyone at the back did a solid job, including McIntyre after an initially shaky start. I thought that Berry and Small were off the pace today, whilst both Campbell and Godden showed their class - the latter simply exudes football intelligence and is a pleasure to watch.

Nathan’s substitutes all made a significant impact. Anderson closed the midfield gaps which had been appearing and he also used the ball very well. Watson did extremely well, winning some important one v one duels and getting us up the field. As for Mbick, the lad has certainly grown since I last saw him and, as well as being a total unit, he showed one delightful piece of control down the right touch line which won us a free kick.

With Bolton and Huddersfield losing, a victory at The Valley on Good Friday against Northampton will mathematically secure our play-off place and put us in a great position going into the Wycombe and Wrexham games, where the pressure and tension will be firmly on and with our opponents. 

Two other positives - first, it was good to see us wearing red on our travels; and, second, there was excellent support from the travelling faithful. That verbal backing is important so on many levels, including in the latter stages when both teams are suffering fatigue, as they clearly were today in the heat today at the end of a long season.

The result pretty well seals  Cambridge’s relegation, although my mate who’s an ardent supporter says they’ve been resigned to it for some time after the initial flurry under Neil Harris. I’ll certainly miss this trip (albeit not the quality of the football) next season, given the 52 minute train journey from London and pubs of the calibre of the Kingston Arms, The Haymakers, Calverley’s Brewery and The Devonshire Arms.

Overall, another professional performance and a job well done. On to Good Friday and the Cobblers (minus one Terry Taylor).