A first meeting for 12 years between these two old rivals from Southern League days sees the Bulls travel to The City Ground. The two clubs share many parallels - both were non-league giants in the 60's, and both had skirmishes with bankruptcy in the early 80's. In that last meeting, a Chris Pike effort seperated the sides in a muddy encounter.
Cambridge City's rise into the professional ranks and fall back out nearly took just 29 years. After abandoning amateur status in 1958, they won the Southern League Premier Division title in 1963 over their city rivals - one of eight times in twelve seasons they outranked their local rivals, but almost returned to amateur status in 1977 as falling gates, relegation, and rising costs threatened their existence. The club were forced to sell off large parts of the Milton Road site to developers to cover debts. They returned to the top flight of the Southern League in 1986 and remained there until the reorganisation of the leagues moved them to the Conf South last season, where they finished runners-up to a rampant Grays side. This season they lie 11th, with 18 points, drawing last Saturday 1-1 with fourth placed Havant & Waterlooville.
The Bulls travel to Cambridgeshire hoping for more luck than in August - when the trip to Cambridge United's Abbey Stadium yielded no points, and a motorway crash stopped many fans from getting to the ground. Having scraped through the last round on penalties, the Bulls will not be counting any chickens until the final whistle is blown. The Bulls will be hoping that the first free midweek in a month will have eased their injury problems. Ryan Green's niggling knee injury will have benefited from two weeks rest, and Alex Jeannin will return from suspension. Adam Stansfield, Simon Travis, and Stacy Coldicott will remain sidelined, but Guy Ipoua's steady return to fitness will give the attack an experienced edge alongside four fit strikers with less than 50 senior starts between them.