The Night They Sat Upon a Hill
Still haven’t decided about whether you’ll make San Jose away? Click through to read what a derby is like in English non-League football.
Ahh, the complexities of derby matches on poor puppet Becks’ small mind (joke being that Milan and Inter both share San Siro).
For the uninitiated a derby (pronounced ‘dar-bee’ which we know sounds crazy) is a fixture between two rivals. They are the matches which typically see the most passion and greatest displays of color (and intense language).
Over the weeks leading up to the San Jose away match on August 2 we’ll be running series of features about ECS members’ past experiences in rivalry matches. First, we start with a piece from Sounders FC’s sister club Cambridge United.
The Night They Sat Upon a Hill – Away Days Number Uno
by: Tom Sewell
Whilst for years the Sounders closest away trip was at Portland, at about 175 miles (and now is San Jose at about 835 miles), Cambridge United’s current closest trip is to Histon, a mere 5 miles between the 2 grounds. Histon have risen to fame this season by reaching the 3rd round of the FA Cup, beating Leeds United en route, the majority of their small fan base is made up of disgruntled Cambridge fans, and they have shot dramatically up the English footballing pyramid in the last decade, coming from the local league in front of crowds of 60, to the point where they now are, 2nd in the Conference, and this is where Cambridge travelled on the night of March 2nd. A night which ultimately would see more drama off the pitch than on it.
For me this would mean another overnight stop in Cambridge coming down from Sheffield. Equipped with materials for our planned display at the start of the game, I left Sheffield just before 1pm, and soon encountered my first problem, leaving a flag pole behind at the train station. After hopping on a couple of different trains, a number of very panicky phone calls and a fair bit of creative thinking, I arrived into Cambridge at 4pm. Instead of setting off for Histon I headed up towards our own ground where I went in hope of finding a replacement flag pole. By 5pm I gave up, and headed to Histon to meet my mates.
As a village, Histon is a very quiet place, not your typical hustle and bustle atmosphere you’d expect before a football match. We all met up in a pub situated by a village green, with no home supporters inside, or in the surrounding area, and quietly sunk a few pints before heading off to the ground just before 7. All fans head in towards the ground down a very narrow lane, and whilst the small number of Histon fans veered off to the left, we headed straight on, and right into a huge queue of Cambridge fans trying to get in. From the noise you could hear, it was obvious the away end was already pretty full, and by the time we eventually made our way in (after a thorough search of our goods), this proved to be the case, with very little space left in their tiny “shed” of a stand.
We began setting up our display, our flagpole didn’t make it in, but our 70ft banner made it without hassle, and our smoke bombs got in as well. I did my bit setting the banner up, having to move very slowly across the stand briefing people on what to do with it when the players came out, and the guys with smoke bombs spread themselves out evenly. Whilst we were busy with all this, 400 United fans had been locked out of the ground because the away end was apparently full. A number made their way to the home entrance (which was very sparsely populated) before the stewards picked up on this and prevented Cambridge fans entering. At this point the faithful outside made the most of the hilly surrounding, and all parked themselves on the top of a hill by the away end, a sight which showed just how dominate Cambridge were in the city despite Histon’s success.
The players came out, the banner was raised successfully, and firstly the away end was covered in yellow confetti, shortly followed by yellow smoke, which thanks to the wind swept across half of the ground, and the Cambridge fans began using the most of our numbers and sang for the majority of the game. The Histon fans showed little enthusiasm for their team, little encouragement, and little noise, something which stayed the same for the whole game.
The game was a very tedious affair for the most part. With Histon’s pitch being very boggy it was hard for us to play the passing football game we like to, whereas Histon unsuccessfully implemented their “Long Ball” tactics. Nothing whatsoever was created in the first half, but Cambridge came out stronger in the 2nd half and began to put the pressure on. Centre-back Phil Bolland forced the Histon goalkeeper into a save from a looping header, and new signing Lee Phillips weaved his way through the Histon defence, but toe-poked his shot just wide. Histon fought back and nearly pounced when Cambridge goalkeeper Danny Potter fumbled the ball close to goal, but managed to save the close range shot and push it wide.
Then with 15 minutes to go Cambridge made the breakthrough. Paul Carden whipped in a free kick which the Histon keeper punched clear, the ball was then flicked on by a Histon defender straight to centre-half Wayne Hatswell, who hit a first time volley from 35 yards which looped over the backtracking goalkeeper and into the net. Hatswell ran off to the seated Cambridge fans to celebrate with the rest of the team, and the rest of us piled to the front of the stand we were in going crazy. The noise level upped dramatically, we sung Wayne Hatswell’s name, and now all we had to do was hold on against Histon’s long ball tactics for 15 minutes.
In the minutes after the goal we carried the momentum and created a couple more half chances, but to no avail, and as the defensive mindset set into our team, Histon started pressing. The long throws, tall corners and long free kicks started piling into our penalty area, and with 5 minutes to go it paid off, but not without some help from our own keeper. A free kick from 25 yards out was put in, where a Histon player headed it up into the air, very slowly. Danny Potter in the net had all day to judge it and catch it, or tip it over the bar, but cracked under pressure and dropped it, leaving an open goal for Jack Midson to tap in from 2 yards out, giving Histon an undeserved equaliser. Histon pressured for the last 5 minutes, but the game eventually petered out to a 1-1 draw, the 2nd draw between the 2 sides in the league this season.
The 1,750 Cambridge fans in attendance piled out, along with the 400 or so up on the hill, on a direct collision course with the 1,000 home fans (yes, we outnumbered them, as we always do) where it got a little bit feisty. Whilst I personally didn’t see anything as I had to wait by the away end to meet my lift back home, it was reported that some young Histon fans attacked 2 women Cambridge supporters, and that a few objects were thrown at opposition fans too. Overall it rounded off a terrible night for Histon’s reputation, and surely can’t have helped their case in showing that should they win promotion they’d be ready for league football.
I made my way back to my relative’s house for the night, and left for Sheffield the following morning, my body feeling the effects of dragging 70 feet’s worth of banner and other flags with me by the time I got home.
Editor’s Note: Cambridge then turned around and faced top of the table, and champions elect, Burton Albion at home on Saturday March 7th, and once that fixture was out of the way they had what was, in theory, a very easy run. Cambridge ultimately peaked at the right moments and finished 2nd, a mere two points behind Burton Albion. This was quite the accomplishment considering that after the March 2nd derby a lot of teams still had games in hand (Cambridge Utd had played more matches). This finish ultimately provided a bright note to what was a nerve wracking end to the season, with Cambridge ultimately failing once again at Wembley.
See you on the terraces!
