On September 20th, 20,000 Burnley fans poured into Turf Moor, hoping their home team could shake off the season's winless streak with a big victory!
Unfortunately, Huang Hao thought the same!
Strike while the iron is hot! As a team fighting relegation, facing a Burnley team in such poor form, Huang Hao wanted even more to secure all 3 points and shake off the previous winless streak.
Thus, this match, where both sides desperately craved three points, officially began after Head Coach Robert's whistle!
The strike partnership today was Dzeko and Lewandowski.
In the 8th minute of the match, Ayu suddenly made a super long-distance pass directly from the backfield, sending the ball to the front of the Burnley penalty area! Lewandowski successfully beat the offside trap, dribbling alone towards the penalty area!
Alexander, responsible for marking Lewandowski, was chasing Lewandowski's steps with all his might! If he allowed him to score, he would probably become the unfortunate person vilified by everyone!
Ultimately, Alexander successfully caught up to Lewandowski, forcing Lewandowski to change direction towards the right flank!
Lewandowski, gradually deviating from the shooting trajectory, took a forced shot, and the ball flew past the right post and out of bounds!
Coyle stood with his arms crossed, his expression stern.
Cambridge United's simple and direct attacking style truly gave him a headache.
Goalkeeper Jensen vigorously kicked a goal kick, sending the ball straight to midfield!
Cambridge United's center-back, Vida, rushed up from the backfield, using his physical advantage to be the first to touch the ball, passing it in the air to Ayu in the frontfield!
After receiving the ball with his back to the goal, Ayu immediately turned and lobbed the ball to the edge of the penalty area!
Dzeko arrived swiftly, smoothly bringing the ball down to about a meter from himself, which perfectly evaded defender Caldwell's defense!
Facing the charging goalkeeper, Dzeko quickly caught up to the ball and skillfully used the inside of his foot to push the ball towards the far corner!
Jensen, who was blocking the near post, sat on the ground, only able to watch the ball roll into the net!
0:1! Cambridge United only took 9 minutes to break through Burnley's goal!
Coyle, sitting on the bench, painfully closed his eyes; the development of the plot was a little different from what he had imagined!
Only a small group of fans in the North Stand of Turf Moor Stadium were happily celebrating the goal! They were The U's Legion, Cambridge United's loyal fans led by Mikel! Burnley then organized a counterattack, but Patterson's header was firmly caught by Pantilimon!
Immediately after, Elliott broke through to the right byline and crossed!
In the center, Blackley overpowered Vida for a header! The ball was once again collected by Pantilimon!
Pantilimon kicked a goal kick, and after Sun Jihai received the ball, it was another long pass! The target was Lewandowski, who was about to run into the Burnley penalty area!
Seeing this, Alexander directly pulled Lewandowski's shirt, preventing him from jumping!
Robert naturally wouldn't stand idly by, and in the 28th minute of the first half, Cambridge United won a well-placed free kick about 1 meter from the edge of the penalty area.
O'Connor chose to shoot directly! The ball's curve was slightly too high, flying past the top right corner of the goal and out of bounds!
Burnley fans quickly patted their chests, still feeling lingering fear!
In the 39th minute of the first half, Mahrez again intercepted a pass from Burnley's attack, then passed it to Ayu in the middle.
After Ayu and O'Connor played a series of one-two passes, he suddenly passed the ball to the space behind the Burnley defenders! Lewandowski appeared like a phantom, instantly showing up behind Alexander!
Alexander groaned, only able to rush to chase, trying to stop Lewandowski from getting to the ball!
Caldwell, the center-back on the other side, did not disappoint Alexander, being the first to snatch the ball and pass it back to goalkeeper Jensen.
Lewandowski did not give up, accelerating towards Jensen!
Jensen did not dare to be negligent and kicked the ball back to midfield with a big boot!
However, the flying ball once again landed at Mahrez's feet, and after a circle, the ball once again flew towards Burnley's penalty area!
And at this moment, Husband was left behind alone!
Dzeko and Lewandowski were all in an onside position because of his presence!
Goalkeeper Jensen didn't even have a chance to say 'holy cow' before he quickly rushed out of his goal, trying to block Dzeko's shooting angle!
Dzeko did not disappoint him, losing his balance and falling to the ground under the tight pressure of the defender!
But in the instant he fell, Dzeko poked the ball towards the goal!
The ball, having passed Jensen, slowly rolled towards the goal, and from the angle, it seemed it would just slide past the goal!
A yellow lightning bolt suddenly flashed through the crowd! It was Lewandowski again, bursting out of the crowd!
Facing an open goal, Lewandowski gently tapped it in! 0:2! Cambridge United scored another goal!
Coyle sat on the bench, leaning his head back slightly, trying to calm himself down.
It seems he wasn't the only one eyeing these three points!
In the home team's locker room, everyone was silent, the oppressive atmosphere making one want to immediately go out for some fresh air.
Coyle paced back and forth in front of the tactics board, seemingly pondering a good way to suppress Cambridge United.
"Alexander, do you think this Chinese team is difficult to deal with?"
Coyle, with a full beard, finally threw the question to the team captain on the field, center-back Alexander.
Alexander, hearing the question, did not answer immediately but first lowered his head. His performance on the field today was not good; it could be described as disastrous.
The young Lewandowski, under his defense, scored one goal and assisted once.
"Sorry, Head Coach!"
Alexander first apologized to the Head Coach,
"This team is stronger than I imagined; it's hard to believe they are just a promoted team."
"Their coordination is very good, and every player always appears in the right position."
Coyle shook his head when he heard Alexander's explanation. "Lewandowski, whom you were marking, and Ayu in midfield, they both joined the team this season. Does this damned Chinese man know some magic?!"
Coyle truly hadn't learned about Huang Hao; before retiring, he had always played for Rotherham, and when Huang Hao's team and Rotherham were in the same League, he had already come to Burnley.
This Easterner was too mysterious to him!
The most common 3-5-2, a group of unknown players, although they achieved the feat of one promotion per year!
But this is the EFL Championship! Coyle believed that at home, they could completely defeat the opponent!
So what the hell is going on with this damned score!
"I only know that you are a veteran team in the EFL Championship! Don't be intimidated by the opponent's two goals!"
"In the second half, intensify the pressing and show me the strength you should have!"
In desperation, Coyle could only try to motivate the players with words, hoping they could bring about a miracle of reversal.
After the second half began, although both teams had offensive and defensive exchanges, both goalkeepers performed exceptionally well, and the score remained at 0:2, with the home team first and the away team second.
Burnley's players desperately wanted to score goals and reverse the score, but their attacks were either collected by the opposing goalkeeper or defused by the defenders, and Cambridge United would also launch sharp counterattacks unexpectedly!
In their frustration, Cambridge United won another corner kick opportunity.
The match had already reached the 76th minute of the second half.
O'Connor quickly sent the ball into the penalty area, and Lewandowski met the ball with a powerful shot!
Caldwell threw himself in the way! He slid and kicked the ball to the byline!
But the ball was intercepted by O'Connor, who had run over!
O'Connor gently pushed, and the ball returned to the front of the goal!
Alexander and Dzeko were entangled!
At this moment, Alexander had only one thought: he absolutely could not let Dzeko get the ball!!!
Amidst the pushing and shoving, the ball slowly rolled towards the two of them. Alexander put up his arm, doing his best to block Dzeko, then poked the ball to Jensen with his toe, placing his hope in the goalkeeper!
Only, this poke! It seemed a bit too powerful...
Jensen was concentrating on the ball, just about to rush out to block, but saw the ball quickly rolling towards him!
In that instant, Jensen watched helplessly as the ball rolled past him, then slowly stopped in the goal.
"Oh, my God!"
"Own goal!!! Burnley's captain Alexander might have wanted to score too much!!!"
The match commentator's taunts are always so sharp and bitter, fortunately Alexander couldn't hear them.
At this moment, Alexander was kneeling on the ground, filled with regret!
Could it get any worse than this match!!!
Equally despairing were Coyle and the Burnley fans at Turf Moor.
Upon seeing this own goal, some disappointed fans even began to leave!
The fans' actions deeply stimulated every Burnley player on the field.
With 3 goals in hand, Huang Hao also boldly brought on Hill, Robise, and Longolo, replacing Dzeko, Tadić, and Sun Jihai, giving the substitute players a chance to play.
The match restarted, and Hernandez dribbled through, but Longolo directly tackled the ball away.
Elliott, receiving the ball from behind, quickly passed it to Husband on the flank.
After Husband dribbled and attracted Longolo's defense, he directly slotted the ball to Hernandez behind him.
Hernandez turned and cut into the Cambridge United penalty area!
Then he directly backheeled the ball to Husband, and the covering Robise lunged at empty space!
Husband, without waiting for the Cambridge United players to settle, quickly laid the ball back to Borja in the middle!
Elliott advanced two steps with the ball along the edge of the penalty area, then unleashed a powerful shot!
The ball found its way into the top right corner of the goal as desired! 1:3! Burnley pulled one back!
In the 78th minute, Elliott's goal brought a glimmer of hope to Burnley!
In the 85th minute, Burnley once again won a free kick opportunity in the attacking third.
Elliott stood over the ball; this free kick was about 40 meters from the goal, so a direct shot was clearly not very realistic.
Elliott chose to lob the ball into the penalty area, and Patterson successfully won the first header! He headed towards the goal!
Patterson's shot was a bit too wide, flying out of bounds from the side of the goal.
Cambridge United's players seemed to want to show Burnley how an attack should be simple and efficient.
Pantilimon's goal kick went to left-back Suxi, who beat Mendes-Ryan in the challenge and successfully passed the ball to Robise nearby.
Robise made a slight adjustment in midfield and then launched a long-range shot, lobbing the ball to the front of the Burnley penalty area!
Hill and Lewandowski, like two sharp knives, plunged into the Burnley penalty area from both sides!
Alexander stumbled behind Lewandowski but could not stop him from getting the ball!
Lewandowski, having broken into the penalty area, faced the goalkeeper and easily pushed the ball into the far corner! Another goal!!!
Cambridge United broke through Burnley's goal for the fourth time!
Jensen retrieved the ball from the net and then slammed it heavily on the ground! He had had enough of this scene!!!
Cambridge United's goal this time, starting from the goalkeeper, involved only three passes in total!
Coyle sank heavily back into the coach's bench, as if one match had aged him several years!
Even when Pukki scored again against Cambridge United with a long-range shot in the 89th minute, Coyle did not stand up to celebrate; if nothing unexpected happened, his days at Burnley were already numbered.
Ultimately, Cambridge United won 4:2 away against Burnley, successfully securing 3 points as desired.
"Crushing Defeat to Cambridge United, Burnley Says Goodbye to Coyle!"
Poor Coyle, who hadn't yet realized his ambitions in the new season, was sadly dismissed. Originally, Cambridge United became his last hope, but unexpectedly, it turned into the last straw that broke the camel's back.
Huang Hao looked at Coyle's somewhat dejected photo and even felt a hint of sympathy; there was nothing he could do, this was professional football!