As soon as the second half began, Hull City earned a corner kick.
Ghilkeaney sent the ball directly to the far post! Turner's header was blocked by a Cambridge United player with his body!
Brad got the ball outside the box and, facing the dense crowd inside, chose to pass and receive with Hunt to find a breakthrough route.
But the moment Hunt received the ball, he saw Golonas and Tadić closing in from different directions!
In front of Hunt, there were no passing lanes except for the two Cambridge United players.
Hunt quickly turned his back to the goal, trying to shield the ball and wait for teammates to support him. Tadić had no intention of giving him that chance; with Golonas's assistance, Tadić directly stole the ball from Hunt's feet and passed it to Ayu in midfield!
Ayu turned and kicked the ball towards Hull City's attacking third!
Vardy instantly accelerated, leaving Dawson behind!
Cambridge United had a one-on-one opportunity!
Facing goalkeeper Myhill, Vardy calmly shot into the bottom right corner, easily scoring!
0:1! Cambridge United used a counter-attack to break through Hull City's defense at the start of the second half!
What Huang Hao and Brown didn't expect was that this goal marked the beginning of a goal-fest between the two teams in the second half!
Kosin was a bit confused.
His Head Coach had clearly reminded him to watch out for Cambridge United's dirty tricks, calling them a very despicable team.
But the match had already been going on for over 70 minutes, and he still hadn't found anything despicable about the opposing team.
And the Hull City players, having experienced the previous upset, also found that Cambridge United had become cleaner.
Or rather, Cambridge United's players had become more confident.
Facing Hull City, they didn't continue to use so-called despicable fouls and harassment tactics, but instead chose to go head-to-head with Hull City.
Even so, Cambridge United, having resumed their high-pressing game, still made Hull City uncomfortable.
Especially with the average age of their players reaching 29, playing such a high-intensity match into the latter stages was a huge test of their stamina.
So, Brown began to make substitutions.
Barmby saw his number appear on the sideline and was not surprised.
After all, he was already 34 years old, and even in his youth, he wasn't known for his stamina; now that he was older, he could run even less.
After the substitution, Windass passed the ball to Gardner beside him, and Lewandowski, who was already positioned in front of Hull City's goal, immediately pounced on his opponent.
Gardner was already fed up with Cambridge United's pressing; he was clearly just by his own penalty area, yet everywhere he looked, there were already three Cambridge United players!
If it weren't for the distance, he would have launched a long-range missile to teach Cambridge United's empty backline a good lesson!
However, this idea was still not very realistic, as he was a center-back after all!
So Gardner passed the ball to Windass, who had just come on as a substitute for Barmby.
After Windass received the ball, before he could even turn, Golonas was already directly on him! He could even clearly hear Golonas's breathing!
Just as Windass tried to pass the ball back to Gardner, Golonas poked it!
Windass watched helplessly as the passed ball clearly changed direction, rolling straight towards Lewandowski!
Lewandowski gratefully accepted the gift, a touch and a flick, and immediately turned towards Hull City's penalty area! Hull City's remaining center-back, Turner, didn't hesitate and immediately chose to cover!
Soon, he was less than a meter away from Lewandowski!
But this time Lewandowski didn't choose to go it alone!
Just as Turner targeted him, Lewandowski gave a wicked smile and passed the ball to the center!
Vardy was completely open in front of the goal!
Vardy calmly chose to shoot into the near corner!
Myhill sighed in despair again! 2:0!
Cambridge United extended their lead with 18 minutes left in the match!
Brown watched the Cambridge United players huddle together, grinding his teeth!
Ten minutes passed, and Hull City still hadn't found an opportunity to change the score.
The Cambridge United players, who had not expended much energy in the first half, were now full of vigor, clearly not intending to surrender victory at home!
Especially the young Van Dijk; Huang Hao chose not to loan him out this season but instead promoted him directly to the starting lineup, making him feel that his future was bright!
Just now, he made a decisive slide tackle, successfully clearing the ball from Hunt's feet out of bounds, interrupting Hull City's quick counter-attack and buying valuable time for Cambridge United's players to track back.
Ghilkeaney had pushed up to the attacking third to take the throw-in. After looking at Cambridge United's defense, he threw the ball back to Hunt.
Golonas stuck close to Hunt's back, preventing him from turning and attacking Cambridge United's penalty area.
The experienced Hunt did not panic. He skillfully used a triangular pass, via Ghilkeaney, to pass the ball to the unmarked Windass!
Windass immediately crossed, the ball was blocked by Kante and fell to Golonas's feet, but Windass, with an extremely quick second reaction, immediately charged over, stole the ball back from Golonas's feet, and passed it to Giovanni nearby!
Giovanni decisively shot!
Van Dijk blocked the shot again!
But the ball, by some strange twist of fate, fell back to Windass's feet!
Windass continued to penetrate the penalty area, dribbled two steps, and then blasted the ball towards the goal again!
Oblak immediately dove and parried the ball away! Kosin, lurking at the far post, was perfectly positioned and unleashed a powerful follow-up shot!
1:2!!!
Hull City pulled one back!
This time, Brown didn't celebrate wildly, as his team was still trailing. If it had been a last-minute winner, Brown might have run directly in front of Huang Hao to dance!
It seemed God was moved by Brown's fervent prayer and decided to give Brown a surprise.
The fourth official quickly held up the sign indicating 4 minutes of added time.
Only the last 4 minutes remained until the end of the match.
Cambridge United, at this moment, earned a corner kick.
Brown immediately rushed from the dugout to the sideline, loudly reminding the Hull City players to concentrate.
After all, he had a deep impression of Cambridge United's set-piece prowess.
After positioning his defenders, Myhill kept a close eye on Golonas at the corner flag, not daring to relax for a moment.
Golonas's corner kick flew directly towards the goal! Myhill judged the landing spot, rushed forward, and leaped high!
Catching the ball with both hands, Myhill landed steadily, successfully defending Cambridge United's corner kick attack.
However, this was not the end!
Myhill, taking advantage of Cambridge United's players not having returned to their positions, launched a long ball directly towards midfield!
Although Sun Jihai got to the first ball, the ball was still successfully passed by Giovanni to Kosin!
Kosin quickly passed the ball to the left wing, and Ghilkeaney surged forward at high speed! As Ghilkeaney crossed the ball into Cambridge United's penalty area, four Hull City players appeared simultaneously in front of the goal to receive it!
Giovanni headed the ball from the far side!
The ball flew directly over Oblak's head and out of Cambridge United's goal frame!
This, this shot, which was harder to miss than to score, somehow didn't go in.
And at this moment, Huang Hao and the Cambridge United players felt a wave of relief, as they had almost lost their clean sheet.
Being equalized by the opponent at home was not a good feeling.
The Hull City lads, using the last moments, launched an all-out attack on Cambridge United!
And the Cambridge United lads did not simply clear the ball with long kicks to break up Hull City's attacks, but instead tried to make short passes to keep possession as much as possible.
They even almost scored again by exploiting Hull City's high press!
Fortunately, Dawson intercepted the ball from Lewandowski's feet at the last moment, which kept their hopes alive!
As Mahrez kicked Hull City's pass out of bounds again, the time on the scoreboard had reached 94 minutes.
Ghilkeaney immediately threw the ball to Boateng.
Boateng transferred the ball to Windass in the middle.
Referee Oliver was also looking at his watch, but Hull City was still organizing an attack in Cambridge United's attacking third, so he did not blow the whistle for the end of the match.
Windass suddenly chipped the ball to the left wing!
Ghilkeaney received the ball successfully!
Ghilkeaney attempted a cross! Lovren directly headed the ball back to midfield!
Lewandowski battled Boateng, using his chest to cushion the ball to Ayu in front of him!
Ayu brought the ball down smoothly and immediately played a through ball to the right wing!
Tadić sprinted, unimpeded, caught up to the ball, and facing the onrushing goalkeeper Myhill, chipped a shot!
Myhill desperately waved his arms, but unfortunately, he only hit air!
The ball struck the right post!
Ayu, following up, faced an open goal and blasted a shot!
3:1!!!
After the goal-fest with Hull City, Cambridge United received the draw results for the second round of this season's English League Cup.
As a Premier League team, Cambridge United could finally enjoy the luxury of a direct entry into the second round.
However, when Huang Hao saw the opponent's name, he frowned slightly.
Indeed, Cambridge United's draw luck was always quite poor!
The second round of the English League Cup featured a total of 46 teams, including many from League One and League Two.
But Cambridge United's opponent was West Ham United, also from the Premier League.
It was only today that Huang Hao realized just how many teams were from London!
And three days before this match, Cambridge United also had to travel to Old Trafford to challenge the formidable Manchester United.
For Cambridge United, who wanted to make a breakthrough in the cup competitions this year, this was truly not a good start.
However, these two opponents were not what Huang Hao needed to consider right now; Cambridge United's next opponent was Everton.
On September 12th, Selhurst Park was still a sell-out.
And the Cambridge United players continued their excellent form from the previous match, delivering a thrilling victory that allowed the home fans to enjoy a pleasant evening.
In the 23rd minute of the first half, Vardy, at the far post, directly swept Mahrez's cross into Everton's goal!
Although five minutes later, Everton equalized through a free-kick in the attacking third, with center-back Cahill heading the ball in!
But in the 41st minute of the first half, Lewandowski, after receiving a pass from Ayu inside the box, calmly slotted the ball into the far corner, changing the score to 2:1!
In the 56th minute of the second half, Mahrez's header hit the post of the Leeds United goal, and Ayu was there first to tap in the rebound!
Ultimately, Cambridge United successfully defeated Everton 3:1 at home. After securing three points in the League, Cambridge United's ranking also rose to sixth place, becoming the highest-ranked team among the three promoted teams.
Meanwhile, McLeish's Birmingham team, after losing to Manchester City, also lost 0:2 away to West Ham United. After two consecutive defeats, Birmingham firmly occupied the bottom spot in the League, which was quite disappointing.
However, compared to Cambridge United, Birmingham's early League schedule was more perilous. After the League began, Birmingham had faced strong teams like Arsenal, Chelsea, and Manchester City, which was the main reason Birmingham had only secured 3 points so far.