Cambridge Derby round 1 vs Uni

Nomads men’s 1s bounced back from back to back defeats with a solid win over Cambridge Uni 3s. The 10:30am start and slick pitch didn’t help us out early on though, and we didn’t look very convincing in the final third. Uni took the lead midway through the first half when a bouncing ball played into the Nomads’ circle fell kindly to a Uni man five yards from goal, but it was 1-1 soon after. A quick break put Rich Lloyd through on goal, and he rounded the keeper for a tap in.

We took the lead early in the second half. Rich and Martin Hamon combined well on the break, played one-twos round most of the Uni defence, and Martin applied the finishing touch. Uni made it 2-2 shortly after though with a pretty handy drag flick that we couldn’t really do much about.

What had been a pretty even game was settled in a five minute stretch when Uni lost their focus and Nomads took advantage to go two goals clear. First, Rich deflected home after a mazy run and reverse stick cross from Martin. Then Rajen Mahendra showed his inner Hector Bellerín, sprinting the length of the pitch to get on the end of a pass. His baseline pull back took the Uni keeper out of the game, and Jack Franklin finished off another Nomads counter attack to make it 4-2.

There was still time for Will Charlton to pick a goal-bound Uni drag flick off the line, and we held on for the final minutes to collect three well-earned points.

MoM: Will Charlton – his superb head-height goal line save kept us in the lead at a key moment
DoD: Sam Walker-Farrant – who knew it was possible to pick up a green card at the same moment you sub on?