CUWFC January Round Up

One win, one draw, and one loss: read all about the United women's team's winter period in our January round up

Winter has been a bit of a barren wilderness fixture-wise for Cambridge United’s women's team. Over two months we've seen just four matches. That doesn't mean there's nothing to talk about, but this could be a bit of a quicker summary than normal.

Photo courtesy of @CambridgeUtdWFC

Way back in December, the only match of the month saw United lose 2-1 to Worthing. A first minute goal from Alysha Stojko-Down gave the U’s a great start, followed by Lauren Webb saving a Worthing penalty later on in the first half. It was all going Cambridge's way until around the hour mark when the opponents equalised and scored in the space of about five minutes.

They went on to take all three points and United finished 2023 on a loss. But they had the chance to make up for it by starting the new year away at Haywards Heath, who were propping up the league on just three points.

Things didn't quite go to plan. United lead twice, Bella Simmons breaking away to score the opener before the equaliser. Alysha Stojko-Down thought she'd won it with a couple of minutes to go, but the home side managed to find an equaliser about as late in added time as you can get. A pretty annoying one to drop points in, especially after retaking the lead so late and it means United haven't won in three league games. They've lost a bit of ground on the top sides, but they're still solidly mid table and in general are doing better than they were this time last year.

Whilst I mentioned Cambridge have played four games over the past couple of months, only three were finished. That's because the match against Norwich City had to be abandoned after a serious injury to United's left back Brooke Cheale, who went down with about five minutes to go with the score 3-2 to Norwich - but that hardly mattered in the end.

Despite worries that her leg might have been broken, thankfully it was later announced that that wasn't the case, but some serious tissue damage means it could be a while until we see her again. We wish her all the best in her recovery and a particular well done to the team who dealt with the situation as professionally as you’d hope in such a scenario.

The game itself will be replayed in full at a yet unknown date.

That could seem harsh on Norwich, the game being so far through with them winning, but the rules are the full 90 minutes has to be completed and the same decision was actually made about a game abandoned the week before between Derby County and Liverpool for exactly the same reason.

On a slightly brighter note, congratulations to Serena Cobb who made her first team debut in the game, although it's a bit of a shame that it will be remembered for quite a different reason.

Finally the U’s were in cup action in the National League Plate with a trip to Maidenhead United last weekend, which ended in a fantastic win for United sending them through to the semi finals. It was a fairly even game which was ultimately decided by a penalty a piece; a Maidenhead one in the first half was saved by Lauren Webb once again, adding to her impressive tally across the season so far, and then in the second Stojko-Down stepped up to take a penalty she’d won herself and continued her amazing form to see United into the last four.

Welcome back also to Harley-Jean Simpson, United's number 10. She made her return after an injury which has kept her out for about four months and will be available to face Barnsley in the next rounds. They're the same level as Cambridge but they are currently top of the Northern League Division at the time of writing. The other tie involves Exeter, also top of their league, and Derby who play third tier football.

Despite perhaps being underdogs in the competition, it's great to see how the team has progressed over the last year and even better to see them in the final four of a national cup competition. The next round will be played at home at St Neots on the 25th of February, the day after the men’s home fixture in the derby against Peterborough - here’s hoping for a positive weekend all round for the football club.