Gutted

It’s another year in the Blue Square Premier for Stevenage as they were knocked out of the play-offs by Cambridge United this afternoon. Boro went into the game with a 2 goal cushion to defend, but 2 goals from Scott Rendell and a deflected shot from Robbie Wilmott gave the U’s a 3-0 win after extra time and a Wembley date against Torquay in just under two weeks time.

Graham Westley decided to make one change from the team that started on Thursday night, dropping Junior Mendes for Gary Mills and moving Michael Bostwick to the right. Andy Drury started on the left with Darren Murphy in the centre of midfield. Cambridge manager Gary Brabin went attack minded bringing in Pitt, Wilmott and Rendell for Challinor, Coulson and Crow. It worked. The U’s were the dominant force throughout and penned Boro back for most of the game. I thought GW was tactically very naive today. I would of started with the same 11 that started on Thursday and wouldn’t of tried to waste time from the kick-off. Tactics like that are always asking for trouble and it was no surprise we didn’t hold out for the full 90 minutes.

Cambridge had nothing to lose from the start. They weren’t expected to come back from a 2 goal deficit and win the game. Brabin sent his side to attack from the start and to get the early goal, a period that Boro got through. It wasn’t easy viewing for the 1173 Boro supporters that made the trip to Cambridgeshire. Boro sat back and tried to time waste from the kick-off. Cambridge had most of the possession, but didn’t really create enough to worry the Stevenage back four. Boro then began to create some chances of their opening, the best one falling to Steve Morison who shot wide after being sent clear. A poor miss and one I think he would of buried on Thursday night. Darren Murphy also shot over after being teed up at the edge of the area.

Boro got in at half-time still level at 0-0, 3-1 up on aggregate. The second half began much like the first. Cambridge had the majority of possession, but weren’t making clear chances. Boro tried to play on the counter, but the passing was poor today and a lot of the time the ball ended up being hoofed from one end to the other. Cambridge then got their first slice of luck when a Robbie Wilmott cross deflected into the Boro net leaving Chris Day stranded. The goal gave the home side the initiative and to be honest from then on I didn’t think it was going to be our day.

The away side began to create some chances. Roberts went close with a header and Morison should of done better when he went clear, but in the end he ran the ball out after being well closed down. Cambridge though always looked capable of scoring again and they did when Hatswell rose to nod across goal where Rendell was and he helped the ball in. I thought that Hatswell pushed Henry in the build up to the goal, but it was just another decision that went Cambridge’s way. Cambridge looked favourites to go on and get the winning goal now, but Boro countered and Andy Drury and then Steve Morison missed golden opportunities to put Boro back in the lead. How Morison missed from 6 yards I don’t know?

The game went into extra time and it didn’t get any better for Boro. Scott Laird was sent off for a second bookable offence when he looked to have passed the ball. It was a disgraceful decision by the referee…again! Replays on Setanta showed that Laird stretched to pass the ball and Reason was caught after the ball was played. It wasn’t even a foul, let alone a booking. It’s a disgrace. That decision has now cost Boro in both today’s game and next Saturday’s Trophy Final at Wembley. Laird misses the biggest game of his life due to the referee’s incompetitence. Why can’t bookings be rescinded or appealed against?

Boro were now on the back foot even more. Lawrie Wilson, who didn’t look particularly comfortable wherever he played today, was put at left back. Mendes came on to replace Drury, who had a poor game by his standards and Westley seemed to drop Morison back with Willock up top on his own. We lacked a cutting edge all afternoon anyway, but looked even less capable of scoring now. Boro didn’t create anything in extra time and got more and more deep as the game went on. Eventually they were punished as Carden wasn’t closed down quick enough and his shot was only parried by Day into the path of an offside Rendell who finished to send the Abbey Stadium crazy. Boro were beaten.

A massively disappointing day for everyone connected with Stevenage Borough. I had a feeling when we got into the play-offs that we had the form and momentum and believed we could actually win it. Thursday night’s result and performance made me believe even more. The way we set out to just defend today was gutless. I would of rather of gone out looking to kill the game off early. A team can’t just defend for 90 minutes, especially at this level. The referee was also a disgrace. The one from the first game was bad, but this one was worse. The sending off was a joke and several other decisions went the home side’s way. Their offside goal just capped it off really.

Another thing which disappointed me today was at the end when some Cambridge fans decided that running on the pitch wasn’t enough, but confronted our keeper and then went on to taunt the 1100+ Boro fans that made the trip. There was really no need to do that. I hope that they get stuffed in the final by Torquay, who went through today despite losing 1-0 at Histon. There’s still a FA Trophy Final to look forward to for Boro, but they will need some picking up after today’s events.