Stevenage V Cambridge - 1st Leg

That red card appeared to be given for an elbow to the Solar Plexus that "caused" the recipient to recoil holding his hands to his face as if the elbow hit him there...................unless one wants to be generous and say there might possibly have been a slight snick of heads as well. Either way, it looked to me like a shabby attempt to get the Stevenage player red carded. another case of "what goes round, comes round" for the club that inflicted exactly the same cynical influence on the referee when our Lee Mansell was sent off up there recently.

So now in the space of two successive games, Stevenage have seen the perpetrator of that red card on Mansell (Mitchell Cole)sent off himself against Mansfield (for ridiculously and petulantly kicking an opponent up the arse) and Darren Murphy has been the same innocent victim as Manse himself was that afternoon.

What Stevenage DID show was that they are an exceedingly superior side tactically to Cambridge who's only "method" seems to be to bomb balls at the opposing centre backs in the hope that they will commit an error under pressure...................although Borough's second goal itself was a classic "route one" keeper's long kick out/flick on/head in affair yet the third and possibly very influential a supreme finish from an in form Steve Morrison.

I wouldn't crow too much about possible final opponents conceding red cards Stuart, we have to get there first and all could be irrelevant if we get it wrong against Histon....................or even suffer the ref getting it wrong as indeed he did big time when not only giving that red card but also deciding to award Stevenage their first corner of the game (in the 41st minute) ~ a corner that was clearly a goal kick and one that led to that fateful challenge.

I seem to remember that last year Burton Albion went out to some appalling refereeing in their semi final with..................Cambridge United, and it just goes to show how thin the dividing line is between success and failure and how much thinner that line gets further along that road to success and how so much also depends on fate; once again emphasising the foolishness of making decisions on a manager's retention or dismissal based on the club's ultimate deliverance from matters entirely out of his control.

A poor crowd of only 4,400 for what we would call a local derby in Devon, and with Cambridge clearly having around 2,000 fans in the ground as they filled the entire away end (1,650) with their ticket allocation and another 400 or so had to be accomodated in the "home seats" (I told you ticket less traveling fans are nearly always found room) meaning that Borough could only attract a couple of thousand of their own folk to support them in such a big game........................pathetic if you ask me.