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CAMBRIDGE UNITED v BARNET
LDV VANS SEMI-FINAL (SOUTHERN)
SATURDAY 5th JANUARY, 3.00pm

Updated 4 January (Evening)

... the game will go ahead is the question on eveyone's lips at the moment. At the moment the Cambridge Site is advising it is 50/50. It goes on to say...

"Thursday afternoon saw the Abbey Stadium ground staff removing the snow from the pitch in preparation for Saturday's game against Barnet. A slight thaw in conditions means Stadium Manager Ian Darler can be increasingly confident of the match taking place. "At the moment I'd say we're 50/50," he said. "It's a little bit different this time round, because normally we'd leave the snow on, but unfortunately with it being so cold the frost has managed to penetrate through the snow. The idea now is to get the snow off so if we do get a thaw at least we've got a chance of getting some of the frost out of the ground, otherwise leaving the snow on would have insulated it, causing us a problem."

The weather forecast has not been a tremendous help, with conflicting predictions being made as to whether a frost is expected on Thursday and Friday nights. "I think we're in the lap of the gods," Darler continued. "If you look at some forecasts, they say it's going to get up to 5 or 6 degrees and we've going to have a couple of nights where it's not going to freeze; then you look at TV and they're talking about minus three! So, we've just got to do what we can and hope that the weather supports us.

"Because the visitors don't have too far to travel, a decision will be left as late as possible to give the game every chance of taking place: "With it being Barnet, we would be looking for a pitch inspection as late as possible if we do require one, so I would have thought possibly 10am Saturday morning," Darler explained. "But hopefully by then we would have had a 'yes' anyway."

Friday Evening Update

There will be a pitch inspection at 9.30am in the morning.

Should the game be postponed, the rearranged date will Tuesday 8th January kick off 7.45pm.

The Season So Far

Cambridge are struggling again this season and are currently one place off the bottom of Division 2. They've let in 48 goals already, nearly two a game, and scored 23. Unfortuntely for The Bees it's their away form which has really let them down, with only one point from twelve games, scoring only six goals.

At home the've only lost three games to Stoke City,Wrexham (both 0-2) and Bristol City (0-3).

Their highest win was 3-1 at home to Bury and their heaviest defeats were away from home when they lost to Port Vale 0-5 and Tranmere Rovers 1-6.

A 3-3 draw at home to Northampton has also been recorded, so it should be a lively game on Saturday although the 'U's last two home games have been fairly successful with a 2-1 win against Brentford on Boxing day and a 0-0 draw versus our old 'friends' Peterborough United last Saturday.

Like us, their New Years Day fixture (down at Bournemouth) was postponed. With fresh legs all round this could be a very entertaining game and with Barnets players needing to prove themselves at this difficult stage of the season, this probably being their best chance of glory, a game not to be missed is on the cards.

Info From Cambridge's Website

Here are some snippets from Cambridge's website:

"We're preparing for it exactly as normal," said Taylor this morning. "It's a competition that doesn't really get very exciting until this stage but if we beat Barnet - which I'm very hopeful that we can do - then we look forward to a double-header against one of the Bristol clubs with a big, big prize at the end of it.

"There's a pot of gold at the end of this competition, not only with the TV money but the crowd too, and it would be a good day out should we be able to get that far. We've obviously got to be on our metal against Barnet and there's no disputing the fact that this would be a big upset if we lost."

"We have almost a full squad to choose from," confirmed the caretaker boss. "Colin Alcide is out longer term, Dean Walling still has a little problem with his calf but as he's older than most he takes a little bit longer to respond to treatment, and Kevin Austin (right) is coming along fine.

"The likes of Phil Warner and Warren Goodhind are getting their fitness levels back again and we would like to arrange a friendly reserve game, but the weather makes that difficult at the moment."

Acknowledging that the difference in league status between the clubs makes United favourites to win and heightens the expectation of the supporters ... We've got a lot of home games coming up and hopefully we can win this game on Saturday and then go on and put some league points on the board."

Former Barnet captain Warren Goodhind signed for United earlier this season and although he has been hampered by a hamstring injury he is now back in full training, and Taylor will make use of the defender's knowledge of his former team-mates.

"Warren will obviously help in our preparations, but I know John Still very well and I know the way they play and it will be a test for us. They're going very well in the Conference and although they've had a couple of indifferent results lately this is a one-off game and they'll be well up for it. But so will we, and hopefully the discounted prices for kids will bring in a decent crowd and we can give them something to cheer about."

History

In 1912 a team named Abbey United was formed, although a team called Cambridge United did exist from 1909 until the First World War. In 1949 Abbey United turned professional, changing their name in 1951 to Cambridge United. In 1970 the were elected to the Football League, replacing Bradford Park Avenue. Previously they had played in the Cambs FA, United Counties League, Eastern Counties League and Southern League.

They progressed up the leagues to the 'old' Division 2 by the start of the 1978/79 season, remaining their until 1984, eventually dropping into Division 4 for the 1985/86 season. Success was to come in the 89/90 season when they reached the last eight of the FA Cup and also won the first ever promotion play-off final, beating Chesterfield at Wembley.The following season they reached the last eight of the FA Cup again, losing to Arsenal 2-1 at Highbury in front of 43,000 spectators.

They were promoted at the end of the season, overcoming a fixture backlog and winning the league on the last day of the season. The 1991/92 season was again successful, but were beaten by Leicester City in the play-off final which would have brought promotiom to the old First Division. They would have been the first team to go from Fourth to First in succession.

Dion Dublin, their top striker was sold to Manchesrter United for a then club record £1,000,000 and with other injuries they struggled, replacing Manager John Beck with Ian Atkins.He couldn't help and they were relegated from the new Division 1 to Division 2.

In 1995, with Tommy Taylor in charge, the U's finished 5th from bottom. Unfortunately the league sizes were re-structured and they found themselves back in the basement league.

With Roy McFarland as Boss Cambridge won promotion to Division 2 in the 98/99 season. After initially struggling they staved off relegation ending up 19th. With Trevor Benjamin being sold for a reputed £1.5 and a slump in form, McFarland was replaced by John Beck, back for another try, and Cambridge settled for 19th place again in the 2000/01 season.

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