Result: Darlington 2-0 Cambridge United
Darlington scorers: Naylor (86), Blake (89) ... groan!
Att: 2,087
United line-up: Barrett, Matt Joseph, Granville, Preece, Craddock, Raynor,
Ashbee, Wanless (Thompson 83), Taylor, Kyd (Richards 70), Beall.
Sub not used: Hayes
No-one from the mailing list attended so here is the report from my news page, collated from various news sources:
Darlington exacted revenge for their 5-2 drubbing at The Abbey in October by
recording their first home league win in almost two months and knocking United out of the automatic promotion places.
A sparse home crowd at Feethams saw Cambridge - missing top scorers Micah Hyde and Jamie Barnwell - play some nice football in midfield but fail to make the break-through. John Taylor came close with a header for United, but too many crosses were claimed by the Darlington 'keeper. For Darlington Brian Laws, who was short-listed for the United manager's job in November, nearly scored with a long shot that was just wide.
But the home side, who included two debutants, blew a gaping hole in our promotion hopes with two goals. On our current form, no United supporter will be surprised to hear that they were conceded in the 86th and 89th minutes of the match. The first came when a cross from the right bounced across the goalmouth and substitute Glen Naylor scored from close range - the ball possibly deflecting off the stretching Jody Craddock. Then a minute from time, with United inevitably pushing forward, a long ball out of defence set Robbie Blake racing clear of our stretched defence. He ran on to face Scott Barrett and beat the 'keeper with a powerful rising shot from 15 yards which flashed under the crossbar.
This second away defeat in a week sees Cambridge slip down to fourth place after spending almost the entire season in the promotion slots, while Wigan's away win at Exeter sees them move above the U's with two games in hand. Leaders Fulham had their lead cut to three points as they also suffered their second defeat in a week at the hands of lowly Torquay, and second-placed Carlisle took a point from Fulham's mid-week conquerers Colchester.
Back to Match fixtures, results and reports