Cambridge United overturn half-time deficit to beat Cambridge City in Junior Premier League derby

A goal and an assist from substitute Millie Docking secured local bragging rights and gave Cambridge United Under-18s their first win of the Junior Premier League season with a 2-1 victory over their Cambridge City counterparts on Saturday, writes Robert Coe.

U’s captain Lily Horsler netted the equaliser before Docking completed the second-half comeback, while top scorer Faith Harrison had earlier put the Lilywhites ahead.

The derby win moves United into fourth place in the table with City joint bottom of the table and yet to register any points.

United almost opened the scoring after three minutes when Holly Plummer attacked down the right and her intended cross hit the post.

After that City took control and their pressure told with the opening goal in the 21st minute. Mia Diaz in City’s midfield had time and space to thread a fine pass in to the path of Harrison, who neatly took the ball around Lily-Grace Cooke in the United goal to score.

City carved out more chances as the first half wore on, but Cooke in the United goal stood firm.

United manager Sean Greygoose made substitutions at half-time and his changes paid off quickly as replacement Docking saw a shot blocked on the line before she intelligently squared the rebound to Horsler, who made no mistake from five yards out.

Docking’s decisive strike came five minutes later and was worthy of a match-winning goal. A long ball out from defence was controlled by the forward and she turned the defender and unleashed an unstoppable drive in into the bottom corner, giving Phoebe Newman in the City goal no chance.

Victorious boss Greygoose was happy with the victory despite missing several regular starters. He said: “Being without four key players we knew we would have to shuffle things around a little bit. I was really pleased with those that came on and the rest of the group as a whole to get the result in the end.

“We knew before the game a local derby is always tough, especially against City because most of them have been in our programme at United over the years, meaning they will be a decent group.

“In the first half we got done a couple of times with ball in behind, however that was more due to us not being aggressive on our press and giving them too much time. We still created a few chances even though we were miles off it in the first half.

“At half-time we had a bit of a reality check in terms of expectations and spoke about the press and again getting on the front foot, both with and without the ball. We have always said good teams are those who can find a way without making excuses and I think the game showed how the girls can react in difficult situations and get a result. The subs made a huge impact as well, which is always key.

“We were nowhere near our best in footballing terms but the attitude, desire and resilience shone through and finding a way is an important part of the girls development.”

Meanwhile, City manager Neil MacLeod said: “We knew that United would come out of the blocks fast in the second half and they did just that.

“Unfortunately we weren’t quite able to reach the heights of our first-half performance and we conceded two goals in quick succession. We had a couple of enforced changes at the break and these definitely disrupted us a little. As a management team we were looking for a reaction from the girls after a couple of poor performances and we were pleased to see a marked improvement on Saturday.”