Upminster continued their good run of form at home to Cambridge City on Saturday. Despite some positive early play the home side were unable to create any clear openings, with Steve Wright’s attempted deflection being the closest to opening the scoring.
Mid way through the half Upminster lost returning captain Jack Coleman to an injury after his attempts to jump out of the way of a penalty corner were unsuccessful, resulting in him calling for water like an extra from Saving Private Ryan.
The home side fortuitously took the lead after Steve Wright emphatically buried the ball after the away side were claiming an infringement. On the stroke of half time Upminster doubled their advantage as Coleman, returning after some treatment from the magic sponge, selfishly converted a penalty corner.
Much talk was made at half time of not throwing away leads as had been the case in the previous two weeks, and, heeding this advice, Upminster promptly went gung-ho at the beginning of the second half, resulting in centre back Nathan Woods screaming for the ball at the far post.
Eventually Upminster got a third goal, a well worked team goal was duly dispatched by Ollie Cipa, which was followed up by Wright cheekily deflecting in for his second of the game. The turning point in the match, however, was still to come. As Cambridge City broke, and slotted the ball past home keeper Dixon, talismanic defender Chris Abrey was on hand to produce a truly inspirational diving stop to preserve everyone’s fantasy clean sheet bonuses.
All in all a far more pleasing performance from Upminster, who will be meeting at Stansted on Saturday for their flight to Long Sutton away in the hope to move into the promotion places.
