500 at the start, but a few less at the end (see later).
What was the atmosphere like among them?
Good atmosphere and everyone seemed to be behind the team. Great vocal support throughout the match - even I joined in a couple of times. The home support were definately of the `only sing when you're winning` variety. the atmopshere was tarnished though by the stewards and police who wound everyybody up (see later).
What did you think to the ground?
It is ok. The new away stand, in which we were, offered a very good view - even though it was 20 yards behind the goal! The rest of the ground looks dated but is adequate for the third division. The strange thing is we used to sit at the side when the open terrace was shut, but the seats have been taken out now which is unusual these days.
The home end is a smallish standing area which doesn't cover the whole end. To our left the away terrace was shut which left half of the terrace for home fans, to our right was the main stand which is showing sings of wear and tear even though there are worse ones around.
Our stand was a bit like Macclesfield's away end, and I'm told the bacon sarnies are still up to scratch.
Were the stewards/police noticeable?
Noticeable is a gross understatement. The away fans are so far away from the home fans that there is no chance of trouble even if anyne wanted it - which I'm pleased to say Scunthorpe fans don't. If the stewards and Cambridge police had not been there then there would have been no trouble....
A small section of Scunthorpe fans wanted to stand to support our team, they went to the back where they would not blok anyone elses view. Nobody was objecting to them standing and they were not causing any problems. As soon as the match kicked off the tannoy announcer.
"Will the Scunthorpe fans please sit down, it is part of the ground regulations," he said. Then the stewards moved in, and then the Cambridge police. Several fans were removed from the ground for `persistently standing`.
It just succeeded in winding everybody up and in some genuine non trouble making fans not seeing their team. It was pointless and increased the chances of trouble.
How did the newboys Strong and Dalglish do?
Chalk and cheese. Strong was my man of the match and was solid and reliable alongside Jamie McCombe who looks nothing like the player who first came into the side. McCome looks nervous these days and if Cliff Byrne does not join us then Greg Strong would be a good second choice if we could afford his wages. The two together would be formidable in the lower divisions, but I don't think we could afford to have somebody like Jacko in the bench.
Dalglish is one of those lucxury players who looks good in a winning side, but it is battlers who you need to change games. He is quick, but his shooting is about as good as mine and his crossing is at best adequate. Defensively he is less use than Peter Beagrie and didn't look interested in that aspect of the game. He was put through once and didn't even manage to get a shot at goal, but later had a couple of efforts from positions where he might score once in his whole career.
Brian Laws said that he was pleased with the fightback, did we deserve the point and could we have gone on to get all three?
I thought we thoroughly deserved the point. They didn't look at the races at the start of the game and we camped in their last third.
Kilford then gifted them posession in his own half, McCombe and Stanton were slow to react and we were 1-0 down. This gave them a huge boost and we didn well to get to half-time with no further goals conceded.
Once we had got the goal back we were the better side. It was a good game of football between two teams who both wanted to win the game.
I loved Laws' quote where he said we could not go to defend because we can't. At least he is honest.
Do you think Cambridge are good enough to reach the playoffs?
I don't think they will. They're a bit of a one man team - Dave Kitson. I overheard a conversation between twe Cambridge fans on the way out and the sumary was that they would get relegated without him. He is very much in the mould of Paul Hayes and looks a good player. Riza up front works hard much like Ghandi, but Kitson and Hayes together would be mouthwatering. John Taylor was on Five Live before KO talking about the finances and saying that whatever division they were in next season they would be running a squad of 18. That is not enough as you need 16 on a matchday alone, he said they weren't ready fro promotion on or off the pitch. this is reflected in them selling Tom Youngs on deadline day - no ambition there.
Finally, based on this performance, are you confident going into the game against Bournemouth on Saturday?
I am confident about our chances. A little concerned at Bournemouths result at Hartlepool.
Prior to that I was expecting them to come here and attack, and if they do that I think we'll beat them. If they come for a 0-0 then we might struggle as we often do against teams who put everybody behind the ball. If that is the case then the team and fans must be patient.
We are much better passing than going long ball and we must not get sucked into that style - like we did against Darlington. A goal in the last minute for 1-0 will do, as we have not gained any points in the last ten minutes yet this season we must be due some.
On the other hand no-one has scored more than two goals against us in a game, which considering the lack of clean sheets is astounding. We'll just ignore that statistic though.
The Bournemouth game is huge and I am looking forward to it already. I hope we turn up in numbers and get behind the team.
Keep the faith.
Our thanks to Steve for taking the time to answer our questions, if you would like to take part in Away Days in future please get in touch via awaydays@iron-bru.net