United line-up: Barrett, Matt Joseph, Granville, Thompson, Craddock, Raynor, Richards, Hyde, Kyd (Barnwell 46), Wanless, Beall.
Subs not used: Hayes, Palmer.
Booked: Thompson 26, 44 (both fouls); Richards 48 (foul); Raynor 60 (dissent).

Report from Ben Mynott:
Three mistakes and three goals. That said, although Cambridge played controlled and measured football for much of the game, Fulham created far more chances. On that alone they deserved to win - but not by a 3 goal margin. By the way, the "measured football" comment is straight out of the Daily Telegraph today.

One other mistake was made by the fans. This was to allow one Andy Fletcher to attend the match. I seem to recall banning him before - it is obviously he who is the jinx on CUFC and not his father. Paul, and a friend of Andy's accompanied Mandy and me, by train, to the match.

Barnwell was dropped to the substitute bench with Raynor taking his position as left wing back. Wanless was in the centre of midfield. Richards and Kyd formed the striking unit in the first half. Unfortunately, "unit" was the operative word as it really seemed like Richards was on his own in terms of work rate and general effort. This was in contrast to Fulham's front two of Conroy and Freeman who ran tirelessly and at interesting angles throughout the first half. From an early time I was saying our best chance was that these two tired themselves out and did not last the whole match at the same pace and incisiveness. My hope was realised but only after we had conceded the first 2 goals.

Mistake no 1 - instead of letting a ball go out for a throw in for Fulham, Granville who otherwise had a good game stretched to keep the ball in play. All he succeeded in doing was giving it to the Fulham No 2 who crossed to the far post where Conroy scored at the second attempt, reacting well to Barrett's good save.

Mistake no 2 - Tommo allows himself to be dispossessed by Conroy on the halfway line, when having plenty of time. Conroy races to the edge of the box with three defenders bearing down on him but lets fly a strong left footed drive into the net.

Mistake no 3 - on the stroke of half time Tommo is penalised at a corner for an off the ball incident with the Fulham No 6, resulting in a penalty and a sending off. We did not see the incident but the ref was in the perfect position. Papers suggest it was elbowing, but it was a real shame as the ball had been cleared; the third goal spoiled the game as a contest, especially with Cambridge down to 10 men.

For much of the first half (apart from the first 10 minutes when we looked like we would be overrun) we had controlled the game and played some neat but non-penetrative football. 2-1 to Fulham would have been a fairer reflection on play and chances combined.

In the second half Cambridge played really well with only 10 men; Barnwell came on in attack in place of Kyd, Joseph went to the middle of the back 3 and Beall went to right wing back. Of course, we don't know to what extent Fulham took the foot off the pedal - I'd like to think they hadn't. As the half wore on Cambridge played better and better football with some excellent sweeping moves but seemed unlucky enough or unable to create a clear enough opening. In the 69th minute the Fulham No 5 was sent off for a second bookable offence and the game continued to flow. No goals for Cambridge however and a further booking when Raynor protested too long when the referee failed to give a free kick on the edge of the area. Raynor appeared to be brought down by at least two Fulham players when cutting in from the left and shaping to shoot with his right foot. Indeed, the ref put the whistle to his mouth but then allowed play to go on.

The ref did not have a good game, failing to give free kicks to each side on occasions when it seemed obvious to everyone else in the ground that a foul had been committed.

Cambridge played the offside game very well in the second half and Fulham had far fewer chances although Barrett had to pull off two excellent saves and a handful of others. On chances alone Fulham should have won 6 or 7-1 but that would not be a fair reflection on the balance of play and the overall good football played by both sides. A thoroughly entertaining game with a lousy result.

I blame the shorts as well as Andy. I think Cambridge were aiming to pass to black shorts in the first half on occasions, forgetting they were being worn by Fulham rather than Cambridge players - we had had to wear white.

Summary - performance encouraging and entertaining but we're missing McGleish badly. He has linked so well with Richards and Hyde in particular. Rumour has it that he will be back on Saturday - let's hope so.

Ratings are difficult after a 3-0 defeat but I'll have a go. I feel I am being too generous given the result but two or three players are rated very low.

Barrett   -  8  (some fine saves)
Joseph    -  7  (quite sound and started many of our attacks in the second
                half)
Craddock  -  4  (seemed to think that Cambridge players were located in
                various parts of the stands)
Tommo     -  1  (he has to take a huge slice of the blame for the defeat, if
                only for his two mistakes which were very costly)
Granville -  8  (I thought he was magnificent except for the early error
                over the throw in)
Raynor    -  8  (involved in many of the more dangerous moments that we
                created especially in the second half when you might have
                thought he would tire)
Beall     -  5  (is showing the lack of half a yard of pace)
Hyde      -  7  (got better as the game wore on and would have scored more
                on his second half performance)
Wanless   -  6  (again he was getting stronger towards the end)
Richards  -  8  (tireless and aggressive)
Kyd       -  3  (and all those points earned in the first 20 minutes)
Barnwell  -  4  (hardly any better support to Richards than Kyd)

Man Of The Match Danny Granville, who shades it just ahead of Richards.

Shaggy's report:
Cambridge lost this match after 4 minutes with an appalling defensive error from Granville who having won the ball near the corner flag gave it straight back to the Fulham right winger. The cross came in, Conroy headed down, Barrett pulled off a miraculous save but the ball rebounded to Conroy who headed into the roof of the net.

Fulham were a massively physical side and there was a lot of pushing and elbowing going on off the ball throughout the first half. They were also very direct and Utd had problems when Fulham counter attacked as they were so fast at this. Utd's best chance of the first half came with the score at 1-0 when Beall was found by a superb Hyde pass. He half attempted to chip the keeper who was running at him but just ended up lobbing the ball into the crowd and flying over the keeper.

Fulham's second goal arrived when Thompson lost the ball on the halfway line because he was messing around with it. Conroy again finished well.

The final goal resulted from a corner - the ball was played in and a Fulham player ended up on the ground - the referee gave a penalty for pushing and sent Dave Thompson off for a second bookable offence. Blake slammed the penalty down the middle and it was 3-0.

Cambridge held their own in the second half despite being a man down. Some of the passing moves engineered by Micah Hyde were sheer class and Paul Raynor got some excellent crosses in. The problem was the lack of a finisher as Richards kept hammering the ball over the bar. Barrett also pulled off a couple of excellent saves and eventually parity in numbers was restored when Terry Angus was sent off for his 25th foul of the night (well that's what it seemed like!).

For those that weren't there, I would say that there is no need for concern about last night's result. Utd played all the football there was on show and had undoubtedly the most gifted player on the pitch in Micah Hyde. Fulham have obviously based themselves on Gillingham and will probably get promoted because they are very good at the physical game - personally, I'd rather watch paint dry than watch football played like that (I boycotted Utd at the height of Beck's excesses). The defending was the most worrying thing, particularly the lack of a left back but hopefully this will be sorted out soon.

SHAGGY

With thanks to Ben Mynott's Dad and Shaggy for their views.

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