It's not often you see tight-cropped turf. Either somebody inadvertantly ran a lawn-mower over Cambridge's hill-top field, or it's so old that it's been worn down to rubber chips interspersed with occasional blades of green. It is at least flat, and despite the heavy rain the small pond developing on the side never advanced past the touchline.
Ten minutes before the kick-off Cambridge had mustered a single hardy soul. By the time the referee started the game they'd managed to get a team of eight enthusiasts - relegation is so demotivating. To their credit, the eight put up a decent fight and managed to score a very good goal, but there were simply too many gaps for them to plug as we moved the ball well on the large pitch.
We scored a quick goal: Victor played a nice pass through the defence from the right and Karsten ran on to shoot easily past the 'keeper. Karsten picked up a second from Christer's cross shortly afterwards, and the race for the Golden Boot was wide open.
Mike Altchek, given the opportunity to have a run at the front, made the most of it with some perfectly timed runs. He ran onto Andy's through-ball and slotted the ball into the net; a couple of minutes later he collected Pap's pass with his left and beat the 'keeper with the outside of his right - or was it the other way around?
Ten minutes from half time Steve Gans, playing on the left, pushed a short pass forward to Joe, who pumped a low angled cross between the defenders for Ivan to run onto from the right. His low drive past the 'keeper's right hand hit the net... and came out the other side. Incredible force or simply an existing hole? You decide.
We created a whole host of other chances because of the amount of open space. Tim Rosa played a high cross from left to right that Ivan hit on the volley, low but well wide. Christer weaved in from the right and played the ball back to set up Steve G, but he mistimed his shot and it skewed wide (Peter: "it almost didn't even go out"). Joe (I think) had a fine shot from the edge of the area that produced an equally fine save from the 'keeper, who touched it over for a corner.
With a five goal cushion at half time Samuel decided to experiment. Mike O came out of goal to run the left side of defence, Ivan dropped back from midfield to the right and Kirk tried to train the pair on the job. Ivan's first pass as right back was played perfectly between Mike and Kirk, but Kelvin, who'd donned the green jersey for a spell in goal, was alert and cleared any suggestion of danger.
Bardot showed his Golden Boot intentions by lashing a pile-driver of a shot into the top of the net from close range on the right. He then scored a second from a similar position that merely caused the net to ripple.
Cambridge managed to pull a goal back at this stage when a careful build-up resulted in a dangerous cross from their left wing. Their best player met the cross with a powerful header from eight yards out that tore past Kelvin's left hand.
The Golden Boot was all tied up at this point, and a comically polite scene followed. Christer played across the box the Bardot in his favoured right-side position, but rather than shooting he squared the ball, setting up Karsten in the centre, who, in turn, played the ball back to Christer on the left. After you, no after you, no I insist... Christer ended the comedy by scoring from close range.
The calmest play of the game came when Andy collected the ball in a central position 20 yards out. Without moving from the spot he managed to nutmeg two players before playing a pull-back and spraying the ball out wide to the right side. Complete serenity.
There were also many chances that came to nought. Steve Shea went on a twisting run across the face of the Cambridge goal, but couldn't find enough space to turn in a shot. Andy tried an opportunistic shot on goal after the 'keeper had cleared from the right, but got under the ball and it went high and wide. Tom had a good snap shot from the centre that spun wide of the left post. And Pap cut in from the right and hit a low, powerful strike that also curled wide of the left post.Then Bardot put himself back on top of the stack for the Golden Boot as he thumped another great strike from the right side into the roof of the net.
The ref cut the game short by about ten minutes, the outcome clear. An impressive run of games means that we're in the elite group of three teams in the league undefeated this season - worthy champions.
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