Paul Carden scored his sixth career goal and his first goal for Cambridge United in Thursday's draw at home to Oxford, and it is one few will forget as he unleashed a screamer from 25 yards out on the left and left the previously unbeatable Billy Turley clutching at air as the ball flew into the far top corner to level to score.
"The goal was pleasing for me," he admitted modestly. "The ball broke from the throw in and I gave it a go and I was pleased for it to fly in - that was the least we deserved out of the match.
"The game itself would have been great for the neutral but we wanted to win it," added the player-assistant manager.
"We had a lot of possession after their goal and I thought we took the game to them. Then they packed the midfield and had a man dropping deep and just tried to hit us on the counter attack, and to be fair they created a couple of good chances just before half-time which Pottsy did really well with.
"Saying that, Danny Crow had a great chance just after they scored which bounced and went onto the post. If that goes in, who knows what happens."
Revealing that strong words were exchanged at half-time, Paul commented, "At half-time, the gaffer was on at us about the way we started and us giving teams a goal lead. We wanted to start off strong and take the game to the opposition, and there were heated words from all sides in the dressing room. That got the lads fired up and I think that worked."
The captain's 73rd minute equaliser followed a couple of superb saves by Turley from Robbie Willmott and Daryl McMahon, and he felt United's second half display deserved to win the game.
"The were hanging on a bit after my goal. The keeper was taking as much time as he could, taking all the time they could on throw-ins and rolling around after every tackle and getting people booked.
"It's part of the game where we're a little bit naïve in that department; a bit too honest in the way we jump up after a tackle and our card count shows that," he continued. "You look at our records with yellow cards when we haven't got a hard man in the team who goes around smashing everyone, but perhaps we can learn and with a bit more experience we can change that."
United are in action again on Sunday at Rushden & Diamonds, and Paul called on the team to follow their second half performance with a win: "This point will look a good one if we can come away from Rushden with three points and get rid of that away record and kick on for the remaining games of the season."
Interview by David Gray
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