The atmosphere on the Cambridge United side was completely different. The goal just before halftime made the players feel very good, and after entering the locker room, everyone high-fived and encouraged each other.
The full-force pressing in the first half clearly exhausted the players, so Huang Hao did not give a lengthy speech.
"Listen up, guys! You did perfectly!"
"In the second half, Wolves will definitely attack with all their might, but God will help us. As long as this heavy rain doesn't stop, their offense will definitely not get off the ground!"
"These high-and-mighty teams definitely wouldn't expect that there's actually a stadium with such turf quality!"
After speaking, Huang Hao even winked at the players, and everyone naturally understood, smiling without a word.
"Pantilimon, your pressure will be immense in the second half. You must stay focused!"
"Honestly, I love the way you save!"
"But boss, I really only like women!" Pantilimon's feigned seriousness drew a burst of laughter from everyone!
"Alright, you guys are getting more and more mischievous now."
Having fought together for three years, Huang Hao had long since become one with the players.
"Seize the start of the second half, while they haven't gotten into their rhythm yet, and catch them off guard!"
"If we don't score after 10 minutes in the second half, then appropriately pull back the defensive line, and at the same time, be sure to pay attention to defensive support! In terms of ability, we do have a gap, but in terms of unity, we are the best in all of England!" Huang Hao confidently extended his right index finger and gestured forcefully twice in front of the players.
Taylor and the fourth official confirmed the rainfall on the sidelines. After discussion, with a whistle, the second half of the match proceeded as normal.
Wolves originally started with defensive counterattacks, relying on their key player, Blake, who had been a dominant force in the EFL Championship.
However, in this match, their team was currently a goal down, so defensive counterattacks were clearly not suitable. With McCarthy not making any personnel adjustments, the players couldn't grasp how to launch a full-scale attack.
After Keogh kicked off, he passed the ball to Potter at the back, with Henry and Tierney on either side.
Soon, Potter passed the ball back to Keogh's feet. Wolves' attack was still initiated by Keogh.
Seeing Desbury pushing forward from behind, Keogh chose to pass the ball to Tierney on the same side.
Tierney understood perfectly, delivering a beautiful diagonal through ball that went directly past MacKenzie and Hawkins to Bury on the left side of the box!
Although the ball successfully reached Bury, it had a slight bounce due to the uneven turf!
Desbury immediately adjusted his steps and chased forward!
Just as the adjusted Bury was about to cross the ball, MacKenzie had already returned to defend! He made a flying tackle directly on the edge of the penalty area!
Fortunately, he touched the ball first before bringing down Bury! Taylor did not blow the foul whistle.
Huang Hao let out a long sigh of relief. This young man truly had great skill and courage!
Because the ball touched the fallen Bury before going out of bounds, it was a Cambridge United goal kick.
The goal kick taken by Pantilimon was directly touched by Keogh. It was difficult to control the direction of the ball in the rain, and the ball headed by Keogh fell towards Hawkins again.
Hawkins lightly tapped it, and the ball obediently passed to Bennett's feet.
Bennett quickly glanced forward and directly used the outside of his foot to pass the ball to the front field!
Vardy quickly started! He successfully overtook Castagne! And got to the ball first!
In a few strides, Vardy quickly brought the ball to the right side of Wolves' penalty area near the byline!
Cross!
The ball flew through the air towards Wolves' goal! Caradoc looked up at the ball, the rain coldly hitting his face, and his vision became blurred.
Ignoring the rain, relying on his central defender's instinct, Caradoc gathered strength in both legs and jumped high, getting ahead of Dzeko!
Murray looked at Caradoc jumping in front of him, watching the ball slowly float over his head, and a sense of security spontaneously arose!
Wait, float over?
Caradoc misjudged the header!!!
Murray, who had come back to his senses, quickly looked at the far post!
What met his eyes was Tadić, who had already swung his left foot, ready to shoot!!!
Murray desperately tensed his body, jumped! And dove sideways!
However, the ball had already flashed past him and hit the side netting on the right side of the goal!!!
2:0!!! Cambridge United scored a quick goal!!!
Mikel had already taken off his shirt, standing bare-chested behind the goal, fists clenched, leading "The U's" army in joyful cheers! Completely disregarding the temperature of only just over 10 degrees Celsius!
At this point, only 3 minutes had passed since the start of the second half! The Cambridge United lads successfully completed the task set by their Head Coach!
McCarthy immediately made a substitution! He replaced defender Bury with Daka! The team also switched to a 3-4-3 formation!
But the Wolves players were completely lost in the heavy rain!
The muddy field, frequent tumbles, and the opponent's petty fouls!
The frustrated Wolves players only wished the referee would blow the final whistle soon!
I want to leave this damn place!!!
In the 89th minute, Wolves won a corner kick. Potter quickly passed the ball into the penalty area!
Evans jumped vigorously at the near post, and even with two players, Bola and Warren, behind him, they could not prevent his jump!
Concentrating all the suppression from this match into this header, Evans powerfully headed the ball towards the goal!
Pantilimon stood in the middle of the goal, unable to dive towards the near post! Moreover, it was a dead angle!
But the ball hit the crossbar!
Keogh met the falling ball, lightly flicking his lower leg, and the ball finally went into Cambridge United's goal! After scoring, Keogh made no celebration, coldly ran into the goal, cradled the ball, and ran towards midfield.
He knew this goal was too late and had no meaning for celebration.
Soon, Taylor blew the final whistle, and the Wolves players crouched in place, letting the rain beat down on them freely.
McCarthy sat in the coach's dugout and did not get up to shake hands with Huang Hao.
Huang Hao was not in the mood to comfort the disappointed McCarthy. Instead, he turned to look at Lin Kexin in the stands. After confirming that she was not drenched by the rain, he grinned, revealing a row of neat teeth, as if asking for credit from Lin Kexin. Lin Kexin also did not rush to leave the stadium, looking at Huang Hao with a blissful expression.
Soon, Huang Hao, after taking a hot shower, appeared at the press conference. McCarthy, sitting beside him, still showed no expression, just sat there coldly.
"Mr. McCarthy, after this match, has your evaluation of Cambridge United changed?"
McCarthy looked coldly at Stewart, making the young man a little nervous, but he still stood stubbornly, waiting for McCarthy's answer.
"Cambridge United won a victory that didn't belong to them. In this type of match, we can win nine out of ten times. No one would bat an eye, because it's nothing new for big clubs to win. This kind of fluke doesn't happen every day."
"Cough, cough, the weather's bad, everyone go home early, so let's keep it short."
Huang Hao's sudden statement made McCarthy stunned, and he stopped speaking.
"I find it strange that whenever Cambridge United wins a match, someone always talks about luck, or some other nonsense like a fluke."
"My team, as of today, has achieved an unbeaten streak of 28 matches. If you still think this is a fluke, I really suspect there's only dog poop in your brain."
"I look forward to continuing to compete against Wolves in the EFL Championship next season."
Huang Hao's last sentence made McCarthy's already grim face twist even more!
That damned McCarthy, cursing without using dirty words!!!
And so, Cambridge United's Huang Hao's name was added to McCarthy's list of "enemies."
Cambridge United's opponent for the FA Cup Sixth Round soon emerged: Middlesbrough, currently ranked 11th in the Premier League, safe from relegation, and with no hope of European competition. Such an opponent would actually be more difficult to deal with.
The match was about half a month away, and by the Sixth Round, there were only 8 teams left. They were Manchester United, Chelsea, Middlesbrough, and Portsmouth from the Premier League; Barnsley and West Bromwich Albion from the English Championship League; and Cambridge United and Bristol Rovers from the English League One.
Back in the League, Cambridge United won two more matches in a row, against Doncaster and Walsall respectively. Their unbeaten streak had now extended to a terrifying 30 matches.
On March 6th, in the thirty-sixth round of the English League One, Cambridge United traveled to Sixfields Stadium to face Northampton, ranked 12th. At this point, the points difference between the two teams had already widened to 24 points!
In this match, Huang Hao rested most of the main players. In his words, the lead was a bit too big, so everyone should play with a relaxed mindset. If they lost, it would make the suspense of the League championship a bit more exciting.
The players nodded vigorously and got crazy along with their Head Coach!
Northampton had no intention of using substitute players. At this point, what mattered was not pride or anything else; winning the match and defeating the League leaders was their only pursuit!
After the match began, home team Northampton quickly took control of the game, constantly attacking Cambridge United's goal. Just after kickoff, Rogers received a through ball from their star player Jutkiewicz, creating a one-on-one opportunity!
Unfortunately, his shot, which aimed too much for the corner, directly hit the crossbar and bounced out of bounds!
The more than 5,000 spectators at Sixfields Stadium let out a huge sigh of disappointment.
Two minutes later, Peterson crossed from the byline, and Jutkiewicz headed for goal!
The ball flew just over the crossbar and out of bounds!
In the 16th minute of the match, Northampton's free-kick attack was easily caught by 17-year-old Heffernan, who then made a long kick that went directly over midfield!
Vardy held off Peterson and directly flicked the ball to Ashley Hill. Facing Kieron Freeman, Hill showed no fear. He skillfully pushed the ball to the right, directly dribbling past Northampton's new £300,000 signing! Unfortunately, Hill's one-on-one shot hit Stockdale's arm and slid out of bounds!
In the 31st minute, Kieron Freeman dribbled directly to the right side of Cambridge United's penalty area byline, preparing to deliver an amazing cross to create a scoring opportunity for Northampton!
Facing Clark's defense, Freeman accelerated and changed direction to the left, attempting to get past his opponent!
However, a sudden sharp pain shot through his right leg! This stopped his attack, and he slowly lay down on the ground!
Clark stood dumbfounded, not immediately counterattacking with the ball, but instead kicked the ball directly out of bounds. Northampton's team doctor quickly ran onto the field with a medical kit, and after a quick check, looked helplessly at Head Coach Sadler, making a substitution gesture.
Huang Hao was also incredulous. £300,000, and that's it? Changing direction to dribble past someone, and he gets injured directly?
Fortunately, it wasn't a Cambridge United foul, otherwise he would definitely become the target of condemnation from major and minor newspapers tomorrow.
Freeman's injury did not disrupt Northampton's overall strategy, as his position was right-back.
Although 17-year-old Heffernan was the busiest person for Cambridge United in the first half, he consistently kept the goal intact! In the last minute of first-half stoppage time, Northampton won a throw-in near the byline of the penalty area.
Mootz and Rogers executed two consecutive passing combinations, then suddenly pushed the ball into the middle of the penalty area!
Although there were four defenders in Cambridge United's penalty area at that moment, no one touched the ball!
Jutkiewicz, lurking in the middle, retreated slightly, then took a direct shot!
Heffernan couldn't save it, 1:0! Northampton took the lead!
The excited Jutkiewicz immediately did a backflip, directly igniting the atmosphere at Sixfields Stadium! In the 69th minute, Cambridge United formed a triangular passing group on the left side of Northampton's penalty area!
Tutanda, Sager, and Matthias Kite, a series of brilliant combinations, directly brought the ball into Cambridge United's penalty area!
Sager attracted two players to double-team him, then lightly tapped the ball back to Kite in the middle!
Kite's curved shot was unleashed! He shot the ball directly into the left side of the goal! Cambridge United equalized!
Just 3 minutes later, Cambridge United's defense made a serious mistake!
After Northampton took a throw-in from the sideline, Alden quickly passed the ball to Jones on the right side of the big penalty area.
At this moment, three Cambridge United players ran towards Jones, completely oblivious that there was no one near McKay behind them!
So, after McKay received the pass, he easily scored! Cambridge United's defenders once again paid the price for their youth!
Ultimately, Northampton defeated Cambridge United 2:1 at home, narrowing the points gap between the two teams to 21 points.
Cambridge United finally ended their unbeaten streak at 30 matches, but for the Cambridge United lads, such a performance was already enough to make everyone look at them with new eyes! At the start of the season, they were just seen as a relegation-threatened team, but now they are dominating the League One standings in first place!