Cambridge City and Histon hint at signs of recovery
Promising indications from duo
Confidence was the order of the day after two games in three days for both Cambridge City and Histon.
The duo clashed in the Evo-Stik League Southern Cup on Monday night, where the progression went the way of Histon with a 4-1 penalty shootout win after the match finished 1-1.
The game offered some respite from difficult league campaigns, but both clubs have cause for optimism that better times could be around the corner.
Histon are languishing at the bottom of the Evo-Stik League Southern, Division One Central table, but the spot-kick win over their rivals could help galvanise them, according to assistant manager Matt Clements.
“It was a great result,” said Clements. “We went a little bit back to basics in terms of shape and being hard to break down.
“We were really disciplined and it worked for us. We absorbed a lot of pressure and coped with it.
“I think for us it was just great to win a game to get the confidence.
“We asked them to be competitive. We have to establish that you can’t be out of games at half time as we do have the tools to create and score opportunities.
“We have to be consistent. As long as we’re competitive we can accumulate enough points to be safe, I believe.
“I still believe there is enough in the squad – if they remain positive and competitive and nick a few wins and a draw then the confidence comes and things look a lot more rosy.”
City are third from bottom in the Premier Division, but as well as the second-half performance in the cup match, they had an encouraging goalless draw with Stratford in the league last Saturday.
“The weekend was a very positive result at home to Stratford and it was a massive improvement on our part and we deserved to win,” said manager Dan Gleeson.
“The first half (against Histon) we were disappointing as we didn’t really get going and they got themselves in front and looked to hold on and make things difficult for us.
“We created more than enough chances to win the game and looked very dangerous going forward but still a bit shaky at the back.
“In the grand scheme of things, the league is the most important thing. We obviously wanted to win the game but going out is not the worst outcome.
“In this month alone we have nine game and that’s without any extra cup matches we would have had.
“With a small squad and a young squad it makes it difficult with so many games, playing Saturday and Monday.”
He added: “We’re not a million miles away, we probably need a couple more (players) just to give us another option.”
City are away to league leaders Slough Town this Saturday, while Histon are away to AFC Rushden & Diamonds in the FA Trophy, preliminary round.