Another potential banana skin of a game, CUFC Vets had a must win fixture against lowly Ambleside at Cupids Country Club on the 'Postage Stamp' pitch - the pitch with a full yard and a half between the side line and the edge of the 18 yard box.
Over the last couple of weeks CUFC have struggled through games and ground out results - the scorelines may not have reflected this but certainly being involved has not been as easy as it appeared to be earlier in the season.
Within 10mins of the game starting the Referee incorrectly awarded Ambleside with a throw in level with the CUFC penalty spot - a scuffed shot came in and somehow found itself in the far corner of the net! 1-0 down.
From that point on CUFC played virtually the rest of the game in the Ambleside half and had at least 10 clear cut chances to score amid countless efforts off target - maybe the result of one of our strikers last drink being around 6am the morning of the match!
Eventually CUFC equalised with what appeared to be an offside goal, but all the same, very deserved - this just made Ambleside argue amongst themselves just as they did in the first games against us - quite amusing really!
So half time came and we all agreed that we had the upper hand and that Ambleside would come at us for 5mins or so then sit back for the draw - well we were nearly correct.
They pushed their left midfielder forward to present a three man attack when required which gave CUFC some problems at that back and really did pile on the pressure. With Ambleside becoming the dominant midfield shots came from well outside the box and before too long CUFC found themselves 2-1 down to a very upbeat opposition.
CUFC had plenty of possession again and worked the ball well from the back of the side through the middle giving the forwards a chance to shoot - albeit wide in the vast majority of cases.
Another long range effort beat the Keeper to make the score 3-1 with about 20mins left on the clock and Catholic were beginning to struggle. An unmarked header from a corner made it 4-1 and heads had clearly started to drop.
Throwing everything forward at every opportunity CUFC were awarded a direct free kick just outside the area which Captain Jon took - the shot looped over the wall and bounced in front of the keeper. Not too sure what happened there but the ball ended up in the net with Ambleside appealing for the goal to be disallowed as the free kick was indirect - the Referee correctly pointed out that he had told the keeper the free kick was direct before it was taken so the score stood at 4-2 with 8mins to go.
Alas, it was just not going to happen for CUFC and in the end loosing 4-2 to a team that we made look good is a great shame has ultimately put a massive dent in the chances of promotion this season.
However, to finish in the top half of the division after last seasons promotion is still a great achievement - this week was a case of complacency thinking that the result was in the bag because of the league positions of the two teams before the game.
Provided CUFC learn from this experience then maybe it was not a complete waste of time. With no fixture until March 9th, its a good opportunity for reflection throughout the whole of the squad.
| Scorer | Goals |
| Rob Pomroy | 1 |
| Jon Short | 1 |