Mason successively sent off two Cardiff City players, successfully drawing the animosity onto himself.
When the referee left the field, curses mixed with lighters and coins rained down, ensuring that the referee's report for this match would be quite eventful.
Although the Cambridge United team bus drove very slowly, it fortunately returned safely to the Cambridge United base without any major incidents.
Meanwhile, Mikel and The U's Legion, having dispersed, did not suffer too much harm in the conflict due to timely police intervention.
Cardiff City fans almost always have friction with every visiting team, unless it's against a bitter rival like Swansea; otherwise, once they leave the stadium, these guys completely forget about the arguments! If their team wins, they naturally rush to the pub for a drink!
Immediately after the match, Cambridge United submitted an appeal report to English Football Association regarding O'Connor's red card, and simultaneously lodged a complaint about the security at Cardiff City Stadium!
The next day, Stewart of London 94.9 used a large photo of Huang Hao's injury as the news illustration in the center, with a shocking headline: "This is Murder!"
Huang Hao "luckily" became the first Head Coach in recent years to be injured by a fan on the field—this "first" was truly humiliating!
Clubs, already not particularly friendly towards Cardiff City, successively issued statements condemning the violent behavior of Cardiff City fans and firmly supporting Huang Hao!
As the news fermented, more and more groups joined the condemnation of Cardiff City.
English Football Association, under pressure, finally issued a fine to Cardiff City.
Cardiff City's next three home matches will all be played behind closed doors, with no fans allowed to enter!
At the same time, the club was fined 50,000 pounds!
The fine was a small matter; the lost ticket revenue from the three matches amounted to several million pounds! This caused Cardiff City Club Chairman Byleson considerable heartache!
Byleson even publicly stated that if fans continued their violent actions, he would consider disbanding the team!
However, this was not the first time Byleson had said this, and Cardiff City fans paid no heed, continuing to act as they pleased.
Soon, English Football Association's fax also arrived at Cambridge United, stating that O'Connor's red card, after review and reconsideration, was deemed a mistaken judgment, and his suspension was canceled.
Four days later, Cambridge United played their first League Cup match of the year.
They drew League Two team Dagenham & Redbridge in the first round.
This match was still an away game, and Huang Hao's team maintained their habit of traveling directly to the stadium on match day, taking the team bus directly to Victoria Road Stadium in London in the afternoon.
Due to the intense competition in the previous match, several players had minor injuries, so Huang Hao adopted a large-scale rotation strategy for this match, with Heffernan, Vida, Van Dijk, and Lewandowski, among others, getting starting opportunities.
Just 1 minute into the game, in Cambridge United's first attack, Lewandowski's header hit the crossbar of Dagenham & Redbridge, making their opponents gasp.
And with that, Cambridge United kicked off their offensive.
In the 9th minute of the first half, Sterri, Pasquel, and Smith executed a series of well-coordinated passes outside Dagenham & Redbridge's penalty area, with Smith ultimately breaking into the box and directly shooting towards the far corner of the goal!
The ball precisely struck the right post!
However, the rebound landed perfectly at Sager's feet!
Facing the fallen goalkeeper, Sager unleashed a powerful shot, sending the ball directly into the top left corner of the goal!
1:0! Cambridge United opened the scoring!
Dagenham & Redbridge did not give up without a fight!
In the 18th minute, Dagenham & Redbridge's left winger Dunk dribbled all the way to the bottom left corner of Cambridge United's penalty area, delivering a precise cross directly to the far post!
Sterri watched the floating ball, preparing to clear it with a header, but did not notice that Dagenham & Redbridge's Ball had already rushed up behind him! Ball got to the ball before Sterri and headed it towards the goal!
The ball's speed was not fast, but it took an incredibly strange trajectory, flying over goalkeeper Heffernan's head, hitting the left post, and bouncing into the net!
1:1! Dagenham & Redbridge equalized!
However, the joy of the Dagenham & Redbridge fans at Victoria Road Stadium did not last very long.
Pasc, from a slightly deeper midfield position, directly passed the free kick to Hill on the right.
Hill, before Dagenham & Redbridge's Nonabun could press him, lightly tapped the ball forward, adjusted his steps, and unleashed a direct "Crescent Moon Blade" shot!
The ball arced beautifully like a rainbow through the air, landing precisely at the far post of Dagenham & Redbridge's goal!
Left winger Smith flew into a diving header! The ball went straight into the top left corner of the goal!
1:2! Cambridge United took the lead again!
Huang Hao roared with his arms raised on the sideline!
What made him happy was not Cambridge United taking the lead again, but the exquisite skill of Smith and Hill, these two young players, who could play well on both the left and right sides!
Six minutes later, Cambridge United attacked again!
Pasquel, who rarely had chances to shine, received a long cross from left-back Vida on the right side of Dagenham & Redbridge's penalty area and directly used the inside of his foot to chip the ball to Smith on the left side of the box!
Smith easily brought the ball down with his left foot, then unleashed a powerful shot with his right foot!
Mitov could only watch in despair again! 1:3!
With a two-goal lead, Cambridge United's defense became somewhat lax.
In the 35th minute of the first half, Dagenham & Redbridge's excellent Dunk broke through from the left side of midfield into Cambridge United's half, and again delivered a long pass, finding Ball at the top of the penalty area! The two connected successfully once more!
Ball pushed the ball to the right, directly evading the defending Van Dijk, then unleashed a powerful shot!
The ball swiftly passed under young Heffernan's armpit and went straight into the goal!
The tenacious Dagenham & Redbridge team once again equalized the score to 2:3!
In the 42nd minute of the first half, Vida made a long pass from the backfield, and Smith, with all his might, won possession, flicking the ball to Pasquel nearby.
Pasquel, with almost no hesitation, pushed the ball to Lewandowski in the penalty area!
Lewandowski shot directly with his right foot! Mitov desperately lunged towards the right side of the goal, but his fingertips were still 1 centimeter away from the ball!
2:4! Cambridge United continued to extend their lead!
After the change of ends, Heffernan took a goal kick, and Van Dijk, after receiving the ball, passed it to Ayu in midfield.
Midfield commander Ayu directly chipped the ball into the penalty area!
Lewandowski used his speed to quickly chase after the ball! Dagenham & Redbridge's Good and Hansen double-teamed him, also running towards the ball!
Finally, Good got to the ball first, and just as he was about to breathe a sigh of relief, he suddenly heard the referee's whistle! He turned around, bewildered, only to see Lewandowski lying in the penalty area, with an innocent-looking Hansen beside him!
Penalty!
Hansen's toe had tripped Lewandowski!
Sager confidently stood before the ball, directly shooting into the top right corner of the goal, and the ball found the net!
2:5!
Ultimately, Cambridge United ruthlessly defeated Dagenham & Redbridge 5:2 away from home, successfully advancing to the second round of the League Cup.
Three days later, Cambridge United, finally back at home, faced their third EFL Championship opponent, Nottingham Forest.
Facing Nottingham Forest's 4-4-1-1 formation, Cambridge United could not find a way to score.
The game had already entered the 84th minute of the second half when Nottingham Forest player Breckin made a passing error, directly passing the ball to Vardy at the top of the penalty area!
Upon receiving the ball, Vardy immediately accelerated towards the right side of the penalty area, attempting to create distance from defender Luke Chambers!
Before Luke Chambers could press him, Vardy passed the ball into the penalty area!
Ayu quickly burst out of the crowd and shot the ball directly towards the goal!
The close-range shot caught goalkeeper Smith off guard, and he could only watch the ball enter the net!
Cambridge United, who had been unable to score for a long time, finally broke the deadlock on the field, delivering a golden, last-minute goal to the more than 7,000 fans at Abbey Stadium!
Huang Hao let out a long breath, high-fiving the coaching staff on the sideline!
Then he looked towards Lin Kexin in the stands, grinning widely and showing his white teeth.
The match quickly entered injury time, and Nottingham Forest earned a corner kick opportunity during their attack.
As long as they defended this corner, Cambridge United's 3 points would be secured!
McGuane looked at his teammates' positions in the penalty area, preparing to take the corner kick.
At this point, all of Nottingham Forest's players, except for the goalkeeper and one full-back, were inside the penalty area!
Watching his teammates get into position, McGuane quickly kicked the ball!
One player in the penalty area leaped high, becoming the highest point!
It was a jersey Huang Hao was familiar with! Lovren!
Cambridge United player Lovren leaped high in the crowd! He headed the ball directly out of the dangerous area of the penalty box!
The referee did not immediately blow the final whistle!
Outside the penalty area, Nottingham Forest's midfielder Williams intercepted the ball again!
O'Connor and Cole rushed towards Williams, trying to prevent him from taking another long-range shot!
"Bang!" Williams's long-range shot was blocked by Cole, and the ball fell to Tadić's feet.
Facing the empty goal, Tadić did not hesitate, directly taking a lob shot.
The ball drew a high parabola, bounced once in the large penalty area, once in the small penalty area, and the third bounce was in the net!
Abbey Stadium immediately erupted in thunderous cheers!
Some fans lit cold fireworks.
Huang Hao turned and gave Lin Kexin a "yes" gesture.
After the match against Nottingham Forest concluded, the draw for the second round of the English League Cup was announced.
Cambridge United would face Premier League team Hull City at home.
This match was scheduled for August 27th at 3 PM.
There was one day left until the match against Hull City.
Huang Hao once again locked himself in the tactical analysis room.
Although Hull City's Head Coach Phil Brown stated in the press conference that he would rotate the squad for this match to cope with the upcoming Premier League fixtures.
However, even Hull City's rotated squad was still superior in strength to Cambridge United.
The English League Cup is a competition organized by the English Football League.
Compared to English Football Association's FA Cup, the prize money is meager, not to mention the semi-finals are played over two legs, home and away, so major clubs generally do not take it seriously before the final.
But Hull City is not a major club, so Brown's words cannot be entirely trusted.
However, for Brown, a reserve squad was more than enough to face Cambridge United.
Although this team had once defeated Manchester City, everyone knew that it was just a stroke of luck, mainly because at the time, Manchester City was in disarray due to Thaksin Shinawatra, and the team was not united.
The main reason Huang Hao attached so much importance to this cup match was that the English League Cup only has 7 rounds, and major clubs don't take it seriously, so he wanted to test the waters to see how far Cambridge United could go.
Furthermore, the League Cup champion can participate in the UEFA Europa League, which would greatly benefit Cambridge United's reputation.
Although outsiders believed that Cambridge United's survival in the League was precarious, Huang Hao did not think so, so when conditions allowed, Huang Hao still wanted to create a small surprise.
On August 27th, Abbey Stadium was still sold out.
Fans who hadn't bought season tickets were truly distraught; it seemed that being able to watch a Cambridge United match had become a luxury!
This was unimaginable three years ago!
Huang Hao immediately got Hull City's starting lineup; it seemed Brown hadn't been bluffing.
Even the goalkeeper was replaced by veteran Duke, while regular starting goalkeeper Myhill wasn't even on the squad list.
In midfield, Mendy and Shams replaced captain Ashby and Vani, but this summer's new Brazilian signing, Giovanni, was on the field, indicating that Brown also wanted Giovanni to integrate into the team as quickly as possible.
Upfront, Ralph directly fielded 19-year-old prodigy Windass; it seemed Hull City's Head Coach wanted this young player to gain some confidence in this match.
As for Cambridge United, May and O'Connor were both placed in the starting lineup by Qiao Zhuoyan, hoping these two young players could give Hull City a surprise.
Huang Hao looked at the analysis and notes of various passing routes on the tactics board, and after a long moment, he said to the players:
"Lads, today's opponents, though not a Premier League giant, are equally not to be underestimated."
"You May face a very difficult match, and our opportunities May not be many, so I hope you cherish every single chance!"
"Whether you're a forward or a midfielder, if you squander hard-won attacking opportunities, I will severely kick your butts after the match!"
After speaking, Huang Hao deliberately extended his right foot and gave a firm kick!
The players couldn't help but stick out their tongues, hoping they wouldn't become victims of Huang Hao's foot.