A CONTENDER for goal of the season, this early in the campaign, broke 10-man Chester City's resistance at a crucial stage of a bruising clash. A goal down and a player short, they were nevertheless playing the sort of football early in the second half which earned them their shock victory at Carlisle two days earlier.

"I was happy," said their manager Kevin Ratcliffe, a rare state for a man who has had to dip into his own pocket recently to pay bills for his cash-strapped club.

"But you don't expect a goal like that. It was a tremendous strike our keeper had no chance with. We'd done well to take control, I thought, after a sending off that shouldn't have been more than a yellow card. But that killed us."

Cambridge United skipper Paul Wanless was their executioner, with a fabulous 25-yard thunderbolt which threatened to add to the Cheshire club's money troubles by breaking the net. A loose ball bounced in front of him in the 58th minute and in an instant it was flashing into the top right-hand corner of the goal.

Like a short power-punch under the heart which can suddenly pole-axe a boxer, it happened so quickly if you blinked you missed it, as did goalkeeper Wayne Brown. There was hardly any back-lift to the kick. It was one of those magic moments for a player when timing, power and direction combine perfectly.

One Cheshire radio man, running out of superlatives, raved: "It was a shot which would have beaten Banks, Seaman and Shilton put together!"

England's finest would also have struggled to stop United's first goal, a cruise missile of a free kick from 20 yards by Alex Russell, which curled around the defensive wall and flew low inside the left-hand post.

The kick was awarded in the 29th minute for the foul Ratcliffe wrongly claimed should only have merited a yellow card. For once a linesman lived up to his fancy Dan title of assistant referee, and was allowed to play that role by the man in charge, Nottingham official Fraser Stretton.

The referee failed to see centre-back Andy Crosby holding back United striker Martin Butler as they chased a through ball, but up went his assistant's flag and stayed there until it was noticed. There was no other player between Crosby and the keeper. He prevented Butler getting a possible shot at goal and fully deserved to be sent off.

Unfortunately for Chester they learned nothing from the incident, and had obviously forgotten they had two men sent off in their previous home match. They continued to play a strange blend of clever passing football, laced with headless-chicken challenges producing three more bookings, a red card for goalkeeper Brown and an injury-time penalty.

United, inspired by old midfield maestro David Preece, matched their football and showed them how to keep their cool when under pressure in defence. It was easily their best display in the League this season, player-coach Preece, called up to sort things out after Saturday's shambles, taking some of the play-maker pressure off Russell and providing classy passes to exploit the power of Butler plus the lightning pace of teenager Tom Youngs.

The Mildenhall youngster, making only his second start in a League game, just needs to add a bit more strength to his game to become a real threat to the other forwards in the squad.

United were guilty of dropping back at times and allowing a 10-man side to take charge, albeit without ever threatening goalkeeper Arjan Van Heusden, but they also managed to keep the ball for long spells and carve out attacks which could have almost doubled their score.

Russell was unlucky to see a 57th minute shot slam against a post and an 84th minute drive bounce off the crossbar, before substitute Trevor Benjamin went charging through in injury time to win the penalty Wanless despatched with nonchalant ease.

DAVID Preece laid down a challenge for his Cambridge United team-mates after the back-to-form 3-0 victory at Chester last night. The 36-year-old player-coach, who inspired a much-needed win following two defeats, warned: "Everybody has to fight harder now for a team place.

"We probably didn't change things around as much as we should have done at the start of the season, but we have a nucleus of 15 or 16 players and we are going to use them.

"There were two changes for this match, and no-one can feel complacent. There was a bit of a lack of effort in the Hartlepool game. We were passing the ball quite well, but much too slowly. You have to play at pace in this division, and we did it better against Chester.

"They are a good footballing team, and it didn't seem to affect them much when they had a player sent off early on. But we made a lot more chances than them, we could have had five or six goals. They were rushing in a bit and they paid for that, whereas we were more controlled in our defending, which is why scouts are looking at players like Marc Joseph and Andy Duncan."

Duncan described the performance as "a very good team display. "It was probably the best we have played in the League," said the ex-Manchester United centre-back.

Cambridge United maintained their ability to produce what you least expect. Just as even the most optimistic of Uniteds fans were fearing the season may fall apart at the seams, the team conjure a masterful performance to reaffirm their credentials as serious promotion contenders, and maintain our remarkable record of never having lost at Chester for over 28 years.

The game got of to a slow start, with United having the best of the opening chances. Tom Youngs found himself with a glorious opportunity to put the U's ahead on 15mins but his goalbound shot was blocked at the last minute by a frantic Chester defender.

Then came the pivotal point in the match. Running on to a through ball, Martin Butler was manhandled by Chester centre-back Andy Crosby only to see the referee wave play on. Then the assistant referee signalled for a free kick to United, and with Crosby being the last man, after brief consultation, the referee had little option other than to send the defender off.

Front the resulting free kick Alex Russell gave the keeper no chance as he drilled a low shot into the bottom right hand corner of the Chester net. Chester then barely got a sight of the ball for the remainder of the half, which by its conclusion should have seen United add to their lead.

Chester started the second half brightly, and on 47mins Gary Bennett turned like a dinosaur in the box and drilled a shot straight at Van Heusden. For the first 10 mins of the second half you would have been forgiven for thinking Chester were playing with the extra man as they tirelessly closed down every United pass and showed determination beyond their wages.

The sure-to-be future first team regular Tom Youngs impressed with his speed and ability to play the percentages. He created many chances in the match and on 58mins was involved in the move which finished Chester. After bravely going in for a 50-50 challenge the ball broke to Wanless, 29 yards from goal, who unleashed an unstoppable shot, which flew into the top left hand corner.

After that United never looked back, literally. David Preece started to play like a 20-year-old, and in the last half an hour underlined that he is still one of, if not the best midfielder in the lower leagues.

At the back United never really looked troubled as the superb Joseph and mind-blowing Duncan combined to produce another shut out, which if they continue to play together will be one of many. Van Heusden had little to do all match, but showed that he had worked hard to improve his dead ball distribution which was nothing short of excellent.

Five minutes before the end of the game, Chester keeper Wayne Brown was booked for dissent by referee F Stretton after failing to take a free kick from the correct place. Five minutes later, as he cut down Trevor Benjamin just inside the box he regretted this as he was shown his second yellow card of the match and was another Chester player, the fourth in two home matches, to have the first use of the shower gel.

Paul Wanless buried the resulting penalty to steal the show and confirm in my mind that he is one of the most complete players I can ever remember seeing at United. He can pass, shoot, tackle, score and defend. I almost forgot, he is quite possible the best outfield goalkeeper in the country.

A wonderful performance to warm the hearts of all United fans fearing that after two straight defeats, and two awful performances, we were going to struggle. We now have two away wins under our belts, against two teams who are not likely to be beaten many more times at home. We must now restore the confidence of our home supporters as Roy McFarland states promotion campaigns are based on a good home record with away point scattered in.

We left at 4.00pm and arrived at the Deva Stadium at 7.13pm, after getting stuck in traffic on the M6. There were two changes to Saturdays team with Tom Youngs on instead of "Bruno", and Preece on for Kyd.

We looked as bad as we did on Saturday to start with, and we thought here we go again!!! We made a few chances in the opening minutes with the team shooting towards us. There were a couple of balls played forward for Butler to run onto, the first one the defender managed to clear, but the second one Butler was pulled back. The referee didn't manage to see it but the linesman did and he kept his flag up until the referee noticed. (he could quite easily have lowered it like most of them do) The referee went over to the linesman and after a brief consultation called the offending player over. Out came the red card and a very sorry looking captain left the field. (21 mins)

A free kick was awarded and up stepped Alex Russell to take it. He managed to lift the ball over the wall and into the top of the goal. If it had been David Beckham then the press would have been ranting for days!!!

The second half started slowly but we soon got into our stride. There was some good passing of the ball like we know we can play. Alex Russell had a shot hit the bottom of the post and he managed to hit the rebound which managed to curl round the upright and out for a goal kick. We pressured them for a good 20 minutes and it finally paid off with an excellent shot from Wanny from about 25 yards out. You could see it going in the top corner all the way.

Butler was substituted half way through for "Bruno" and he looked lively. I think "Ice" only had a couple of saves to make in the whole game. In the final few minutes their keeper was booked (don't know why?) and then soon after he brought "Bruno" down. Penalty. (about the 3rd one Trev has got).

Wanny stepped up to take it and "yes", 3-0 to Cambridge. I would say that there was around 50-60 there. The final whistle went and the players came over to applaud the fans, it is a pity that Roy still can't bring himself to do this???

The big surprise in tonight's starting eleven was Tom Youngs, who turned 19 yesterday, being named to replace the injured Michael Kyd. The other change was David Preece coming into the side in place of Trevor Benjamin, surprisingly perhaps as the big teenager was one of the few players to emerge from Saturday's defeat with a little credit.

The game got off to a steady start with both sides taking ranging shots at the opposition goal. Chester looked uncomfortable when attacked at pace and were restricted to a couple of long-range chances while Ian Ashbee fired wide after ten minutes and Paul Wanless fired tamely after controlling the ball and turning to shoot.

In the 27th minute Martin Butler burst through in pursuit of the ball and was hauled back by the last man, and although the referee missed the incident his assistant did not. He drew Mr Stretton's attention and Andy Crosby was duly shown the red card. Midfielder Alex Russell (right) stepped up to bend a stinging 20 yard free-kick round the wall and low into the corner of the net for his first United goal.

Unsurprisingly Chester pressed forward immediately in an attempt to level the score and the game was far from over as the half wound down. Russell curled the ball over the bar from another free-kick in the fourth minute of first half injury time. (Half-time 1-0)

Chester resumed strongly after the break as they sought the equaliser. However United weathered the storm and had the first serious chance in the 54th minute when Tom Youngs scampered clear and won a corner, the ball was not cleared and David Preece struck the rebound only to see it clear the bar. However United's next, similar, effort was on target!   Butler and Russell combined to create danger in the penalty area, the ball was half-cleared to Paul Wanless and United's skipper hit an absolute screamer from more than 25 yards to score a stunning first goal of the season.

From then on United were fairly comfortably in control of the game and Arjan Van Heusden really only had one save to make, while Russell hit the Chester woodwork twice and David Preece had a masterful game on the left of midfield. Tom Youngs looked promising up front, as he did during the pre-season games, and will have done his prospects no harm tonight.

Trevor Benjamin came off the bench to replace the tiring Martin Butler with ten minutes left and the game was sewn up deep into injury time when the big teenager once again earned a penalty for the U's. It was the 94th minute when goalkeeper Wayne Brown took Benjamin's legs away from him after a raiding run into the box, conceding an obvious penalty. Brown had already been booked for dissent in the 88th minute and the referee produced a second yellow and then the red, although arguably the offence merited a red card in its own right.

David Flitcroft went into goal as Paul Wanless took responsibility for the penalty, but the Chester midfielder could do nothing as Wanless calmly sent him the wrong way for his second and United's third of the night.