RANDALL BUTT reports as United give their supporters something to cheer about at the Abbey Stadium

THIS was the day the football came home, from Hillsborough, the City Ground and half-a-dozen third division outposts. Cambridge United ended the Abbey Stadium supporters' frustrating two-month wait for victory in spectacular style.

Three great goals blew Barnet apart as Roy McFarland's men at last demonstrated the form and finishing which makes them as welcome on their travels as Attila and his Huns in their heyday. They received the Mazda award for the country's October hot-shots and smoothly carried on where they left off.

Just after the midway point of the first half they were two goals up, the quality of the moves and power of the strikes leaving next-to-bottom Barnet in no doubt why there were more than a dozen big club scouts in the grandstand. The Londoners' coach Lil Fuccillo, one-time assistant to United manager Chris Turner, was certainly impressed.

"United had a purple patch in the first half we couldn't cope with," he said. "I can't remember seeing a Cambridge team play better football. The passing and movement had us at full stretch and, although our keeper has been playing out of his skin recently, he had no chance with any of the goals. I thought we matched them in the early part of the second half, but we needed to get the next goal before they did, and we missed a chance or two."

That was the crucial stage of the match because veteran striker Ken Charlery handed Barnet a lifeline with a morale-boosting goal three minutes before the interval. An equaliser might have sown seeds of doubt in a United side so desperate to end the comparisons between their home and away form.

They struggled for a while, unable to reproduce the flowing football and quick, clever interpassing which set up the first-half goals for John Taylor and Trevor Benjamin. And they needed a vital tackle from Andy Duncan in the 56th minute to keep them on course.

The young centre-back's day was in the balance at that stage. He had expertly stripped the ball away from Sean Devine when the striker threatened to break clear in the 37th minute, but five minutes later was responsible for the error which gifted Barnet their first goal.

But when Charlery raced into the box early in the second half Duncan slammed in another blockbuster tackle to stop him. Ten minutes of tense, evenly-fought football later, Alex Russell brought a bit of Brazil to an English autumn afternoon and it was all over bar the shouting: "Going up, going up, going up."

Barnet's eight-man defensive wall had not retreated 10 yards, yet the midfielder managed to bend the ball over them into the top right-hand corner at the far post. Add that to Taylor's 20-yard thunderbolt after running at the defence like a battering ram, and Benjamin's speed and power in the box when he pounced on a pass from Martin Butler, and you have three goals worthy of winning any match and establishing a team as one of the promotion favourites.

Charlery's second goal a minute from time, not much of a consolation for the fragile Londoners, was a reminder of United's lack of consistency at the back due mainly to wavering concentration. But McFarland admitted he had to accept such lapses from a defence in which the goalkeeper and two centre-halves had only 31 League appearances between them.

"I was glad Barnet didn't get their second goal 10 minutes earlier," he said. "But we deserved the win for the quality of the goals alone. It was good to send our home supporters away happy at last."

The good news for him and his directors was that there were around a 1,000 more of those supporters than in the early days of this campaign.

At long last three home points in the bag.

United made hard work of it however and in their now customary Jekyll and Hyde home form went from a position of cruising 2-0 and threatening to sweep Barnet aside to hanging on praying for the final whistle.

The game started fairly slowly with neither side causing their opposition defences any real problems. Barnet looked fairly comfortable on the ball but soon showed they bow under pressure and don't like having the game taken to them.

Uniteds' first goal came as just as they started to up the tempo and get at the Barnet defence, with both Taylor and Butler almost getting through in a space of a minute. Then with fifteen minutes gone John Taylor picked up a loose ball 25 yards out on Uniteds' right, sprinted into the penalty area as the Barnet defence crumbled and unleashed an unstoppable shot that flew into the top left hand corner of the Barnet keepers net. A great goal that must rank as one of the best Taylor has scored in his career.

From then on United kept up he pressure and Butler and Taylor worried the Barnet defence as they latched onto balls from Russell and Wanless. The pressure paid off after 26 mins when Benjamin, who had a very quiet game received a pin point pass from Russell following a swift break out of defence, Benjamin took the ball on a couple of strides and smashed the ball into the net, another spectacular effort for the United scrapbook.

United looked as if they would run riot with the Barnet defence panicking every time Butler and Taylor surged forward, Benjamin missed a couple of half chances and Taylor had a shot well saved, plus he was inches away from connecting to an excellent cross fro Russell that skidded across the penalty area, eluding Taylor, Butler and then finally Benjamin. The Barnet keeper then had to dash out and save bravely at the feet of Ashbee after a neat one two with Taylor put Ashbee through on goal, unfortunately the keeper just got to the ball first.

And then as if someone had flicked a switch,United stepped off the gas and started to let Barnet back in the game, at times they defended so deep that only Benjamin was on the half way line and there were a couple of warning signs as Barnet wasted a couple of half chances, Charlery most noticeably heading wide when well placed following a corner, and then Duncan getting in a superb tackle on Devine as he raced clear towards Marshall in goal. Then just as if looked as if we would hang on until half time we gifted Barnet their first goal, United had four attempts at clearing the ball which each time was scuffed or booted straight to a Barnet player before finally, Duncan hit a clearance that hit McNeil on the backside, the ball fell straight at the feet of Charlery who gladly poked it home. 2-1 at half time and we were starting to get a feeling of Deja-vu.

United started the second half where they left off, defending very deep and surrendering midfield almost completely to the point where the front three were limited to the occasional break away as the service from Russell and Wanless dried up. Barnet had plenty of posession although they didn't really cause the United defence too much trouble.

Thankfully after 67 mins Russell gave United the breathing space they needed when he spectacularly curled a free kick over the Barnet wall and into the corner of the net, another cracking strike.

The game dragged on with United looking pretty woeful in truth with no real shape and most of the play was in Uniteds' half as they dithered time and again, either failing to clear their lines or aimlessly giving the ball away in midfield, much to the frustration of the United bench and fans. Having said that, for all the self-inflicted pressure United put themselves under, Barnet failed to cause either Marshall or the defence any trouble at all until the last ten minutes.

United should have had a fourth when Russell received the ball just to the right of the penalty spot following a rare United attack that contained any quality, but with the goal at his mercy he curled his shot wide of the right hand post when he might have done better to take the ball on and opt for power.

There was a scare for United following yet another aborted triple attempt at clearing their lines when Campbell kicked the ball straight to Charlery just inside the United area but Marshall rushed out to narrow the angle and forced the Barnet striker to fire wide when he should have really scored. Then with a minute to go another blunder in the U's defence let Charlery in for his and Barnet's second, a harmless looking through ball should have been cleared as Chenery and Marshall both left it to each other, Marshall then rushed out at the last moment, Chenery kicked the ball against him, the ball fell to Charlery (again) who sidestepped Marshall and hit the ball into the empty net.

The fourth official held up the board indicating 2 mins would be added, and here we were in familiar territory having squandered a two goal lead again, hanging on for the final whistle which mercifully the ref blew before United could finish self destructing.

Three welcome points from an odd match that the U's could have won by a street or quite conceivably drawn or even lost. It's difficult to put your finger on quite what the problem is with United's home form as it seems to be a mixture of tactical ineptitude and mental strength. The mental strength is never more evident than when we play away from home and tactically we seemed to have it spot on for the first half an hour today.

Without taking anything away from Barnet, who tried hard but are quite a poor side, most of Uniteds problems today were self inflicted and with a little more guile and self belief the victory should have been resounding, instead of being a close thing in the end. Having said that the side is still learning and the youngsters are gaining in experience all the time. As RM commented after the game, Marshall and McNeil have a total of nine and a half league games experience between them and we are still not at our strongest but are still picking up points.

Tuesdays game against the old enemy will be a new experience for all but a handful of the United team and hopefully will prove to be another step in the upward learning curve of this impressive and spirited young side.

Devastating finishing allowed Cambridge United to score three wonderful goals and end their home fans two-month nightmare. Six times now this season United have scored three goals, but until yesterday they had all come away from the Abbey. It could have been so many more as Barnet began to show midway through the first half why they are languishing near the bottom of the league and allow struggling mediocre bottom half teams such as Peterborough United to put nine past them at home.

Unorganised, immobile and seemingly untalented at the back Barnet began to press the self-destruct button as they backed off one of the most dangerous and creative attacking teams in the lower divisions. In a blistering first half-hour United set about to bury their recent home hoodoo in style.

John Taylor had another inspired game as he dug deep once again to notch himself one peg nearer to being the highest scoring United player in history. On 15 minutes he picked up a fine pass from Butler and turned on a sixpence to run at the Barnet defence. 25 yards from goal, and with the Barnet defence closing in, he unleashed a thunderbolt of a shot which left Lee Harrison helpless as it rippled the net to put the U's into a deserved lead.

United then began to play with the movement, accuracy and vision which has seen them rise to third in the table and gain awards for being the most prolific team in the country during the month of October. Alex Russell and Martin Butler were terrorising the Barnet defence, which despite their lowly league position had only conceded seven goals away from home all season.

Shortly after Taylor's goal Mike Basham in the Barnet defence had a rush of blood and after a lofted ball from Campbell decided to head the ball across goal into the path of Trevor Benjamin. Stevie Searle saved his team-mates blushes by racing across to prevent Benjamin from doubling the lead.

It was not long though before the United lead was doubled, and indeed it was the in-form striker who pulled the trigger to seemingly kill off a Barnet side who have only scored six goals away from home all season even before the half time whistle was blown. He latched onto a fine pass from Russell on 26 minutes to neatly control the ball inside the box before delivering a scorcher of a shot high into the roof of the net.

This seemed to spark the match alight as for the remainder of the half we were treated to a thunderous exchange of attacks, which were delivered and created with devastating speed. At the back United began to look stretched as Barnet realised that to sit back against United was going to be suicidal. On 40 minutes it looked as though they would pull themselves back into contention as Shaun Devine found himself with a clear run on goal. Just as he was cocking the trigger an exceptionally well timed tackle flew in from Duncan to rob the former highly rated striker.

It was only a short lived disappointment though as after 42 minutes a Duncan clearance hit McNeil to present former Peterborough hit man Ken Charlery with the chance to add another goal to his list against Cambridge Untied. He fired home low to the bottom right hand corner of the net to give the Barnet fans huddled behind the goal something to cheer about.

Perhaps this goal served as a reminder that the game was far from won, and certainly sparked a worrying reaction from the team at the beginning of the second half. We went from a team looking like we could notch up cricket score, into one where we gave away possession cheaply and allowed the Barnet midfield to take control and look the most dangerous of the two teams.

The fourth goal of the match was looking most likely to go to the visitors, but Alex Russell had other things on his mind. After Butler was brought down on the edge of the Barnet box he delivered a wonderfully accurate curling shot into the top left hand corner of the goal to seemingly settle the game once again on 69 minutes.

Two goals adrift Barnet looked dead and buried and the result should have been put beyond a shadow of doubt ten minutes before the end as a fine cross from Butler was met by Russell who somehow managed to hit his shot high and wide when it appeared easier to score. That looked like it might be costly as a few minutes later Charlery once again found himself with the ball at his feet with just the goalkeeper to beat. He neatly controlled before proceeding to hit a dreadful shot wide of the mark much to the delight of the Newmarket Road end.

Once again though the pattern of the match continued as the same player made amends five minutes later. He capitalised on a defensive blunder and indecisive goalkeeping as he found himself with an open goal to stroke the ball into and reduce the deficit to a single goal with still a minute and injury time to play.

It seems nowadays that you know you have watched Cambridge United if all your nails are bleeding, and this was no exception. For the last three minutes of the game it was a nervous and tentative affair to say the least. Marshall and Campbell looked like they were going to leave one clearance to each other before Marshall booted the ball into touch. John Doolan perhaps had the best chance to give Barnet a barely deserved point but hit his shot not just over, but out of the stadium and into the front car park.

With the ball, disappeared Barnet's chance of a point as referee John Brandwood blew for time from the resulting goal kick to ensure the three points went to the correct team, and to settle the nerves of the United fans.

Overall it was a very hit and miss performance with United looking world beaters for much of the first half, then ending up hanging on by a thread at the end against a poor and visibly talent-less Barnet team.

Martin Butler despite not scoring highlighted that there is much more to his game than just putting the ball in the back of the net. His superb running and ability to hold up the ball and spot runs were an invaluable aspect of the win as he never lowered his unbelievable work-rate at any moment in the entire 90 minutes.

Alongside the brilliant Benjamin who took his goal wonderfully we probably have the best strike force in the lower leagues and with the likes of Russell, Taylor and Kyd to back them up we have the variety and attacking formation to dismantle any Division Three defence.

At the back despite the poor clearance that allowed Barnet to score just before half time, Andy Duncan was simply mind-blowing and if he was still in the stand England defender Rio Ferdinand would surely have had impressive things to report back to his manager after this impressive display of control speed and timing. Young McNeil had another faultless game, probably his last for a while with the return of Marc Joseph, but it is very encouraging to see we have such a reliable and able replacement should our central defensive partnership develop injury problems at any other stage in the season.

Ian Ashbee put in another average performance which will probably not be enough to see him chosen ahead of a fit again Mustoe on Tuesday. Jamie Campbell appears to have improved his distribution and control a lot and put in a fine performance in which he was not scared to venture forward and deliver some decent crosses.

A vital victory which has set up Tuesdays local derby very nicely indeed. With the opportunity to go top, and to move twelve points clear of our arch rivals United are expecting to take approaching 3,000 gloating fans to London Road. I seem to remember last season we went to Posh when they were near the top and us in a mid-table position, with them saying they were going to put ten past us. In reality local derbies are levelling encounters. Despite our obvious higher level of ability both going forward and at the back, we must be wary that they will be going all out to get us back for ending their whimpering and lame efforts to escape this division last season.

Our team was as in the programme, even the substitutes were correct which must be a first. Ex-U's Manuel and McGleish were on the bench for Barnet. We attacked the Abbey in the first half although there was no wind to take advantage of.

Barnet showed their physical side from the start, Butler getting a bang on the back of the head in the first minute. On 12 minutes a half cleared corner was hammered back by Ashbee, but his goal bound shot was deflected away. Almost immediately Butler was tackled from behind, but nothing was given. Soon after we scored out first goal, Taylor getting possession near the wing after the ball was kept in by Butler, turned inside one player, looked up for some-one to pass to, saw the defenders leaving a gap so he ran into it and unleashed a superb shot into the far corner from 25 yards.1-0.

At this stage we were playing well, causing a lot of trouble for their defenders with low crosses, but not able to convert them into goals. On one occasion a defender couldn't shepherd the ball out for a goal kick, so chose to head across his own goal past his 'keeper, unfortunately Benjamin was just beaten to the ball by another defender.

Russell was playing well in midfield, and from one of his careful passes into the penalty area Benjamin was able to turn across the defender and shoot in from 10 yards for our second goal.

We continued causing problems, Wanless shot over having been set up by Butler, and succesive crosses from Russell on our right were cleared with some difficulty. Barnets best chances were given to them by our mistakes, McNeil missed a through ball but was saved by good covering and a fine tackle by Duncan. 4 minutes from half time Barnet scored, a clearance in our area hit a fellow defender and fell nicely for Charley who scored with Marshall having no chance. (Has Charlery ever not scored whenever he has played against us?).

We'd played well for 35 minutes or so, but allowed Barnet an undeserved goal. During the half McGleish had been warming up in the corner near the Abbey when there was a chant of "going down to the Conference" to which he shook his head and pointed to the pitch as if to say he expected to be here. Manuel came on for the second half, and went almost unnoticed as he didn't get sent off or even booked! I don't remember him even fouling anyone, perhaps it was an off day!

Duncan continued to tackle well, robbing Charlery in the 48th minute. Soon after Russell had a shot saved fairly easily. On 61 minutes #10 was replaced by McGleish, and got surprisingly little stick from the crowd. From a short corner the ball was headed in (I think) by Taylor, but ruled out for offside.

Butler was fouled just outside their penalty area, and from the free kick Russell sent a super shot round the wall and into the far corner to put us 3-1 up. We made more chances, Butler having the best when put through but a last ditch tackle took the ball from him as he was about to shoot. Butler also had a good run down the right, his cross volleyed wide by Russell.

84 minutes from the end Charlery made a good chance which he put wide from 8 yards, although he did score 2 minutes from time when Marshall and 2 defenders got in a muddle and the ball fell kindly for Charlery and he scored with ease.The last few minutes passed without any real problems, although the thought was there that we could throw away a couple of points at the death.

Duncan is my MoM for some superb tackling, but only just over Russell who had a good first half and scored from the free kick. Benjamin had a very quiet game, I thought perhaps he could have been replaced by Kyd for the last few minutes. Shaggy did well, especially when having a word with Duncan after a tussle between Duncan and McGleish which almost got a bit nasty. Marshall didn't have a real save to make, but then neither did his opposite number! The rest of the team played well in the first half, not so well in the second, mainly due to giving the ball away too often especially in our half of the pitch. Still it's 3 points at home, something we haven't seen since the Orient game.

I don't think the referee booked anyone in the whole game, and on the whole had a reasonable game.

Ratings:
Marshall 6, Chenery 7, Ashbee 8, Duncan 9, McNeil 7, Campbell 7, Wanless 7, Taylor 8, Butler 8, Benjamin 7, Russell 8.

Now to another away win on Tuesday!

Before today's game Cambridge United collected the Mazda award as joint top scorers in the country last month, and then resumed where they left off with three excellent strikes - although a late strike from Barnet ensured a nervous end to the game.

United were unchanged today while Barnet had two ex-U's Billy Manuel and Scott McGleish on their bench and Darren Currie, who came to The Abbey on trial last season, in their side.

Under a cloudy sky the game got off to an indifferent start, with most of United's moves petering out in the packed midfield area. After 10 minutes a cross from Barnet's Warren Goodhind caused some confusion in the defence but Shaun Marshall tipped it behind, and from the corner Ian Ashbee broke out but the move died in midfield.

After 13 minutes Ashbee, Martin Butler and Ben Chenery combined well but from Chenery's cross the shot was blocked by Phil Simpson. Two minutes later United took the lead through John Taylor when the 34-year-old took Butler's pass inside in his stride and a struck a wonderful left-foot shot from 20 yards, giving Lee Harrison no chance at all.

In the 26th minute Trevor Benjamin added to his growing reputation with the afternoon's second fine goal. Taylor started the move on the halfway line with a pass to Butler, the striker took the ball forward and fed Russell on the right wing, the midfielder played a fine ball inside the full-back and Benjamin brushed off the Barnet defenders and lashed a left foot shot past the helpless 'keeper.

There followed a period of end-to-end action and in the 33rd minute Devine set up Ken Charlery who headed wide when it looked easier to score. Two minutes later, after a great United build-up, Wanless fired just over from the edge of the box, and in the 38th minute Sean Devine scampered into the area only to be robbed by a perfectly-timed tackle from Andy Duncan. In the 40th minute Martin Butler's cross was only inches in front of Trevor Benjamin, then two minutes later Barnet pulled a goal back thanks to errors by the normally immaculate Duncan. He missed his first clearance, his second hit defensive partner Martin McNeil and ex-P*sh striker Ken Charlery was in the right place to strike the ball past Marshall. (Half-time 2-1)

At half-time Billy Manuel replaced Mike Basham and took just 27 seconds to give away his first free-kick! The goal had definitely lifted Barnet and for a spell United looked nervous, probably afraid that the home game jinx was about to strike again. But the storm was weathered and the scoreline remained at 2-1, although on another day another referee might have awarded a penalty to Barnet after an hour. A Barnet cross found Sam Stockley who got past Jamie Campbell and then fell theatrically when challenged, but Mr Brandwood was not fooled and he waved play on.

United extended the lead on 67 minutes after a slightly fortuitous decision at the other end. Martin Butler was felled just outside the box and Alex Russell curled the free-kick over the wall and under the bar for his fifth goal of the season.

In the 78th minute Butler burst down the right but his cross was slightly behind Russell who could only spoon the ball over the bar. Seven minutes later Ken Charlery made himself space for a shot at goal but missed by a mile, but he made amends in the 89th minute to give the home fans a nervous few minutes at the death. A defensive mix-up between Chenery and Marshall allowed Charlery to run into the box on his own, and despite Marshall's late charge off his line Charlery was again in the right place to pounce on the loose ball and tucked it home. But despite another two minutes of injury time United managed to avoid the familiar last minute self-destruction and held on for the three points.

Martin Butler had an excellent all-round game that only lacked a goal as reward for his running and effort, while John Taylor continues to defy the years by playing the full 90 minutes and capped today's display with a goal that must rank among his best. Despite his mistake for the first Barnet goal, Andy Duncan also caught the eye with some good tackling, especially when possession was being given away in the second half.