A COUPLE of howlers at each end within 10 minutes during the crucial last quarter condemned Cambridge United to an all-too-familiar home embarrassment.

It has become something of an Abbey Stadium tradition. United, on a good run, attract a big crowd then fall flat on their faces against apparent "no-hoper" opponents. Third-from-bottom Brighton, with five consecutive defeats behind them and just one goal, were perfectly cast to claim the kind of victory hopeless Hull were handed last season.

Without playing well, apart from one short spell early in the second half, Roy McFarland's curiously disjointed and sluggish side could have, and should have, scrambled a face-saving point. The Corona Kop were cheering the goal to make it 2-2 with 19 minutes to go when, somehow, Trevor Benjamin failed to score from a yard out.

Martin Butler screwed a pass across the face of goal, his huge young team-mate was there at the far post, but his awkward two-footed lunge sent the ball back past the startled Butler and wide of the other post.

"I was going to hit it with my left foot," said Benjamin. "But a defender was coming across me, and I thought I'd better go in with both feet, and didn't catch it right."

Ten minutes later centre-back Marc Joseph failed to catch Richard Barker at all, the substitute breezing past him as they chased a long ball towards the United box.

"Marc had two yards on their player at the start," stormed McFarland. "Nobody usually beats him for pace. It was a poor night for both of our centre-backs."

Barker went on to win a penalty which effectively decided the outcome. He was brought down by stand-in goalkeeper Paul Wanless, who the referee recognised was trying to get the ball as he collided with the striker -- instead of cutting him down with a professional foul -- and only punished him with a yellow card.

United were handicapped when keeper Arjan Van Heusden went off in the 32nd minute, after injuring a hand in a clash 20 minutes earlier with Gary Hart. But it was in midfield where they suffered, rather than between the posts. Wanless was an adequate replacement in goal, but his power was badly missed in the centre of midfield.

Just what kind of side inflicted the third home defeat of the season on United was highlighted by the fact that it took Brighton 22 minutes to make the emergency keeper handle the ball.

One player pulled the Seagulls out of the miserable rut leading them towards the bottom of the table.

Rod Thomas, on his 28th birthday and Albion debut, inspired a previously dispirited side with a series of quicksilver bursts, which produced the psychologically important first goal, and made United look leaden-footed by comparison in defence and attack.

The biggest League crowd of the season at the Abbey by almost 1,000, boosted by 800 noisy Brighton fans, was still in an upbeat mood, however, with the scores level at the break, encouraged by Neil Mustoe slamming a 44th minute shot against a post.

The optimism seemed justified for a while as Mustoe, Russell, Benjamin and Butler combined in some good moves down the left flank. Brighton were panicking in defence, but their second goal, against the run of play and like the first from a free-kick United could not clear, helped settle them.

United at last, in the final 20 minutes, injected the urgency missing from their play. But, with Butler still struggling to find his form of a few weeks ago and Benjamin fading, they could not beat a jittery defence until it was too late, five minutes from time when Brighton were two goals up.

Reasonable crowd with quid a kid promotion, I persuaded a mate to come along with his lad to experience "grass roots" football, instead of sitting at White Hart Lane.

Bumped into John and Julie down Mercers Row, although to be exact it was almost walked into their car door! Usual Moosenetters in the SC, bloke at the door won a prize in the raffle as usual. I couldn't find my notebook, which I assumed I'd left in the car, so short notes on the back of an old golden gamble ticket!

Chenery was back at 2, Taylor started with Andrews on the subs. bench. Drizzle at the start of the game made the grass slippery, our players seemed to have more problems standing up than they did.

Worrying moment early on when Joseph shadowed the ball back to Van Heusden when he should have played it away, which resulted in Van Heusden getting a kick on the hand as the forward kicked the ball out of his hands. No booking though, Van Heusden needing a lot of treatment and not looking too happy.

Brighton took the lead on 21 minutes, from a half cleared free kick one of their nippy players danced through the middle from just outside our penalty area, (more in danger of losing the ball to an attacker coming back from an offside position than one of our defenders getting a tackle in), round Van Heusden and scored.

We equalised on 30 minutes, a long kick from Van Heusden was headed on by Shaggy to Butler, who passed to Benjamin, who passed to Shaggy running through and he scored. Van Heusden got more treatment for his injured hand, but could not continue, so Wanless went in goal and Preece came on. There were 3 quick bookings, Shaggy for ?, their #8 for a late tackle on Preece, and their #9 for a late tackle on Russell. On 43 minutes Preece (or was it Mustoe) had a good shot from around 25 yards hit the foot of the post and rebound to safety. The first half lasted 50 minutes due to Van Heusden's injury.

Early in the second half their #2 was booked, and they almost scored an own goal with a miss-kicked clearance. They took the lead after 9 minutes, a free kick not cleared was scrambled in. Soon after their #7 was booked for kicking the ball away after conceding a free kick.

On 20 minutes their keeper made a hash of a clearance, Preece got possession, and running at goal with the ball was tripped just outside the penalty area. The free kick by Russell was deflected away. Soon after Shaggy had a good shot just past the far post, then from a good bit of play the ball was crossed from the goal line near the edge of the 6 yard box past the keeper into the middle of the goal where from about half a yard Benjamin managed to miss the target with a defender by his side! Unbelievable!

After 32 minutes Preece was substituted for Andrews. A couple of minutes later they got a penalty, the attacker pushed past our defender, put the ball almost into touch before running into Wanless and going down, for which Wanless was booked. They scored the penalty.

Shaggy pulled a goal back with a downward far post header that seemed to go through their 'keepers legs. Butler was substituted for Youngs, just before the end their #10 was booked. We pushed hard in the last few minutes, but didn't get any luck.

Brighton didn't look to be a particularly good team, but got a lot of luck especially when the ball was pinging around in their penalty area. Wanless didn't have a save to make. The team in general played fairly well, but individual errors from the forwards and poor crossing meant that we did not pressurise them as much as we should have, their keeper also didn't have to make any spectacular saves.

Duncan looked assured in defence, Russell, Mustoe and Preece worked well in the middle. Butler worked hard but for little reward. Benjamin could be said to have had an off day, perhaps trying too hard for any watching scouts. Shaggy did well, and is my MoM for his 2 goals.

I told my mate that he is not to come again if that is the effect he has on the team! Also I got home to find my notebook in an inside pocket after all! After this defeat I will be wearing the white Beaumont shirt for the next game!

Ratings: Van Heusden 6, Chenery 6, Mustoe 7, Duncan 7, Joseph 6, Campbell 6, Wanless 7, Taylor 8, Butler 6, Benjamin 6, Russell 7
Subs: Preece 7, Andrews 6, Youngs 6

The home disintegration continued as Cambridge United crashed to their third home defeat of the season in front of an impressive crowd.

Brighton came to the Abbey having only scored once in their last five matches, all of which they lost. Yet they left the Abbey with three goals and all three points as they performed a smash and grab raid, with referee Mr Dowde and his officials aiding and abetting this crime.

The game got off to a lively start, with Brighton having the better of the earlier exchanges. Indecision in the United defence went unpunished until the 23rd minute when Thomas put the seasiders ahead. He found himself one on one with the injured Van Heusden, and kept his head to take the ball around him and slot it home low into the bottom left hand corner of the net to give Brighton a lead, which until that point they probably deserved on the overall balance of play.

Van Heusden received his injury after a wicked tackle from Brighton forward Gary Hart as he left his studs in after challenging for the ball and despite being penalised was not shown a card for his deplorable actions.

The lead did not last for long however, as on 31 minutes a well worked move allowed veteran striker John Taylor to level the tie as he beat the Brighton keeper with a powerful shot from just inside the area. Shortly after the equaliser, Van Heusden was substituted and replaced by David Preece. Paul Wanless took his place in goal, which not only left the midfiled short of power, but also left United with an outfield player in goal for over half of the match.

Despite this, Wanless had little if anything to do for the remainder of the first period as Brighton failed to test anything other than his goal kicking ability. Indeed though, this could also be said for the Brighton number one, as despite neat build up play from United, we never really looked a dangerous force going forward. A fine shot from Alex Russell, which crashed against the post, was the only other real time United looked like taking the lead.

Brighton sensed their opportunity to end their recent run of dismal results, and started the second half in buoyant mood. Aitkin capitalised on this by putting Brighton back into the lead on 58 minutes as after an initial parry he leathered the ball into the back of the net, unchallenged and ultimately unmarked by any United player.

This goal however should have been cancelled out on 64 minutes when a clever move by Martin Butler gave Trevor Benjamin a seemingly certain goal from one yard, but at the last minute he was challenged by a desperate Brighton defender which made the ball fly wide of the near post.

Three minutes later David Preece was cut down on the edge of the area and from the resulting free kick Alex Russell drilled a shot that beat the wall but was cleared by a defender for a United corner. United were just beginning to show that they were getting back into the game, with the busy Preece and Mustoe beginning to carve holes in the shaky visitors defence.

Then came the sucker punch, and after another long ball a Brighton attacker shrugged off the initial challenge from Marc Joseph and rounded Paul Wanless before he was brought down by the stand in keeper. From the resulting penalty Minton sent Wanless the wrong way to give his team a flattering 3-1 lead on 83 mins.

United however did not let this throw them off their patch, as they continued to dominate possession and two minutes later reduced the deficit when Taylor scored his second of the match to cap a fine all round performance.

We then laid siege to the Brighton goal as they kept 11 men behind the ball in a naive but successful attempt to keep United at bay. Tom Youngs was thrown on in place of the hard working but ultimately ineffective Butler, and showed a neat touch and ability to turn defenders and create opportunities. Indeed in the fourth minute of injury time after pinball in the Brighton area, he could have given United the point they deserved but was unable to react quickly enough and the ball was cleared.

Chenery and Campbell reverted back to their early season technique of crossing the ball into the crowd, as on three or four occasions good attacking moves were ruined by poor distribution and inaccurate final passes. At the back Joseph probably had his worst game of the season, and on numerous occasions the impressive Duncan spared his blushes as we came worryingly unstuck at the back against a visibly inert Brighton team.

The players were applauded from the wet and windy Abbey turf, on a night when we never really got going until it was too late. The goalkeeping situation is a mitigating factor, but not sufficient to excuse away such a poor result against such a poor opposition.

Two tough away fixtures at Cardiff and Halifax will test the resolve of this team to the full, and give us a clear indication of how serious our quest for automatic promotion really is a division where even the mediocre are able to achieve.

Ben Chenery passed a late fitness test to reclaim the number two shirt, and the other change to the side which beat Hull 3-0 last weekend was the return of veteran striker John Taylor. On-loan striker Wayne Andrews dropped to the bench, alongside David Preece and Tom Youngs.

The rain was pouring down on Cambridge this evening and the game got off to a patchy start on the slippery surface. The opening 20 minutes were poor, with United playing the prettier football but Brighton were more purposeful in attack without really threatening United's goal.

In the twelfth minute Arjan Van Heusden was injured in a collision with Gary Hart when the Brighton man chased a loose ball through and his momentum carried him into the Dutchman as he collected the ball. There looked to be no intent but the referee gave a free kick anyway after Van Heusden had received treatment.

In the 22nd minute the visitors took the lead through mid-week signing Rod Thomas. A Jeff Minton free-kick squirmed through to Thomas who rounded Van Heusden and slid the ball into the net from close range. Van Heusden received more treatment after the goal but continued, and United levelled in the 31st minute.

John Taylor (right) recorded his 62nd League goal for United when Hobson missed a header and Trevor Benjamin fed the ball through to the player-coach for him to slip it past the 'keeper from ten yards out. Taylor's goal takes him one ahead of Tom Finney in United's League goalscorers chart, with only Alan Biley - watching tonight's game - ahead of him on 74.

Unfortunately after more treatment and a long consultation on the pitch, Arjan Van Heusden could not continue and in the 34th minute he was replaced by David Preece, and skipper Paul Wanless took over the goalkeeper's jersey for the third time in his U's career. He hardly had anything to do until half-time while United looked more effective after the change, and in the 44th minute Neil Mustoe saw the second of two long-range shots hit the upright. Mr Dowd played five minutes of stoppage time before the break. (Half-time 1-1).

The news of Arjan Van Heusden during the interval was that he had been taken to hospital for X-rays on a suspected fractured hand.

Brighton made a change at the beginning of the second half with Richard Barker replacing Hart, but there was very little incident before Brighton took the lead. An Alex Russell free-kick on 50 minutes was played low into the area and Sturgess scooped it high over his own bar, then five minutes later Albion scored. A Minton free-kick bounced off Jamie Campbell in a crowded box and fell to Derek Allan who lashed it home, giving Wanless absolutely no chance.

United appealed for a penalty in the 66th minute when David Preece was brought down on the very edge of the area in front of the Newmarket Road terrace, but a free-kick was awarded. The ball went behind for a corner which Alex Russell took, Brighton appeared to have cleared the danger when John Taylor recovered the ball and fired in a shot from the edge of the area that was just wide. Shortly afterwards, and no doubt in front of several scouts, good work by Butler set up a chance for Trevor Benjamin but he somehow missed the target and hit the post from all of a yard out!

Wayne Andrews replaced Preece on 78 minutes as United tried to exploit his pace in the latter stages, but it all took a turn for the worse in the 81st minute when Barker breezed past Marc Joseph and tumbled over Wanless as he came for the ball. Referee Mr Dowd awarded a penalty but acknowledged that Wanless had gone for the ball by showing the yellow card and not a red, before Minton gleefully sent the stand-in goalkeeper the wrong way.

The disappointment of the bumper Friday night crowd was tangible but John Taylor popped up three minutes later to give United late hope of a fight-back. He met a cross from Russell and headed through Brighton's non-existent defence to score his and United's second, closing the gap to Alan Biley's record just a little more.