ONE man can rarely be blamed for defeat in a team sport, but Andy Duncan must shoulder much of the responsibility for Cambridge United's first League defeat for two months. One booking for a defender in such a combative encounter was understandable, but two within two minutes looked careless if not downright irresponsible.

The usually level-headed centre-back got a slightly harsh yellow card for a challenge on Carl Griffiths, then seconds before the half-time whistle brought down David Morrison with a lunging, mistimed tackle on the edge of the box.

Instead of going in fairly satisfied and confident after a half in which they trailed to a goal from Leyton Orient's one real attack, but had much more of the play, United were in deep trouble. Rather than delivering a rousing rallying call to "Go get 'em" in the second half, manager Roy McFarland's time was taken up re-arranging his team.

That meant sending on centre-back Scott Eustace for his first League game of the season in far from favourable circumstances, and withdrawing the experience of striker John Taylor to make way for him. But Eustace was scarcely seven minutes into his debut when Martin Ling found a huge gap in the new defensive line. And 10 men, however "difficult to play against" do not come back from two goals down.

McFarland, who has worked so hard on the discipline of his side that they won the PFA Fair Play award last season was scathing of Duncan.

"It was a rash challenge so quickly after being booked," he said. "Andy let the side down. He's apologised, but that doesn't count for anything."

And John Taylor commented: "The sending off was decisive. I thought we were on top coming up to half time, despite being a goal behind, and could have gone on to get something out of the game."

If it is any consolation to Duncan however, a point looked like United's limit even when they were at full strength. They won more of the ball in the midfield battle against an Orient side missing the buzz of injured Billy Beall, but used it poorly whenever they got near the penalty area.

Just as in the goalless draw with Scunthorpe when Trevor Benjamin and Alex Russell were injured, United struggled up front without them. The United boss was fully justified in replacing the out-of-touch Benjamin with Michael Kyd, but the switch hardly electrified a far too predictable attack. Benjamin on his day supplies a power down the left flank few third division sides can resist, while Russell has skill on the ball the other hard-working and tough-tackling midfielders cannot match.

The general flow of the game was clearly indicated by the corner kick count -- 8-1 in United's favour -- yet ex-United goalkeeper Scott Barrett was not in need of any luck to keep Orient's first clean sheet for 11 games.

"I think I made one save," he said, (curiously forgetting his other just before the final whistle) -- "a Paul Wanless header in the first half. That was it. Cambridge had a lot of play, but I thought our defence was always on top."

United, roared on by almost 2,000 fans who admirably answered McFarland's call for support, desperately needed a goal in the opening 20 minutes when their sustained pressure must have sewed seeds of doubt in the Londoners defence. But the nearest they went to scoring was when defender Dean Smith sliced a clearance against his own post.

A moment of muddle in the other goalmouth midway through the first half gifted Carl Griffiths a goal, enabling Orient to play the safety-first game which best suits their more experienced defence. They managed just two shots on target, but the other was a spectacular finish from Martin Ling which effectively doomed United as early as the 52nd minute to their first League defeat since their last visit to the capital on December 18 at Brentford.

The only flicker of hope came in the 63rd minute, but it was immediately snuffed out when referee Clive Wilkes disallowed a goal after Butler bundled the ball and Barrett into the net. Ian Ashbee's shot bounced off a defender and was heading towards goal where striker and keeper clashed as they went for it. Butler appeared to be penalised, but Barrett confirmed the "goal" had been ruled out because the United man was offside.

Orient settled down to some comfortable defending as the irritating manic drummer in the centre of the main stand drowned out the dispirited amber army. And it took until stoppage time for United to carve out another opening, Barrett saving Butler's close range header from substitute Benjamin's cross, one of the few dangerous ones of the day.

Orient assistant-manager Paul Clarke, accepted United dominated the first quarter of the game, but said a little ominously for the promotion campaign: "We'd watched them and thought we could get at their back four."

He stressed it was "no more important than any other match," for the ex-United management team, but when asked where his boss Tommy Taylor was, grinned and replied: "He's drinking champagne with Barry Hearn... but it really was just another game."

CAMBRIDGE United's promotion campaign, stalled by a goalless draw and defeat in the last two games, has run into double suspension trouble. Centre-back Andy Duncan and midfielder Neil Mustoe will both be banned from the match at Exeter a week on Saturday.

Duncan was sent off during Saturday's 2-0 defeat at Leyton Orient after being booked for two fouls within two minutes, and Mustoe received his eighth yellow card of the season in the match.

"It's what we feared," said United manager Roy McFarland. "Two suspensions coming at the same time. It puts pressure on our small squad. The players involved must learn now the hard way that their actions harm the rest of the team.

"Before joining us they were mainly playing reserve team football with Manchester United, and the emotions of a match like the one at Orient are still a bit new to them. Also if you get sent off playing for the reserves at a big club it doesn't usually affect the first team, and hardly anybody knows about it. It's very different in our circumstances.

"I was pleased with some of our play at Orient. We had the better of the first half, despite them scoring, but we've got to work hard on our game in the final third. Michael Kyd did some good work down the right, but his crossing wasn't good enough to set anything up.

"The only consolation was the results going for us again. We still have that five points gap between us and the teams outside the top three."

United's scheduled match at Rochdale tomorrow night has been postponed again, because the Lancashire club must stage their Auto Windscreen's Shield tie against Halifax.

"I'm not too unhappy about that," said McFarland. "I thought we looked a bit weary on Saturday after that long Auto Windsceen's match at Walsall in midweek. At the moment I think it's best for us to have a free week to rest, train and build up for Southend on Saturday."

Cambridge crashed to their first league defeat in nine games as Orient manager Tommy Taylor finally put one over his old club. Taylor, who left United three years ago to take charge at Brisbane Road, had never beaten his old team in five attempts, but today finally laid the jinx to rest.

Ironically it was Cambridge who had started brightly, looking for the win that would have took them top of Division Three and after just five minutes O's defender Roger Joseph turned the ball against his own post. The same player then hacked a free-kick clear as the visitors made all of the early running.

Yet it was Orient who grabbed the lead with their first real chance of an ill-tempered game on 23 minutes. Carl Griffiths, back from a loan spell at Wrexham where he had scored four goals in five games, slipped the ball past Arjan Van Heusden after good work by Kwame Ampadu and Martin Ling.

The high-flying visitors were always going to struggle once they had defender Andy Duncan sent off on the stroke of half-time after picking up two yellow cards in the space of 60 seconds. His first booking was shown by Gloucester referee Clive Wilkes on 44 minutes, and seconds later Duncan sent Dave Morrison crashing to the ground and saw red.

From then on The O's, chasing a play-off spot, were always in the driving seat and they killed United off early in the second half when the inspirational Martin Ling chipped home a second. Livewire Ling pulled all the strings in midfield and earned rich praise for his 52nd minute strike which destroyed the opposition.

While Orient boss Taylor was celebrating with a glass of champagne he left coach Paul Clark to do the talking: "I was delighted with the commitment and the two goals were magnificent. Carl Griffiths was full of confidence and took the first one calmly while Martin was magnificent throughout and the goal was a rich reward," said Clark.

The coach continued: "We are now four unbeaten and the confidence has started to come flooding back and at this stage of the season the points are the most important thing."

After the second goal, chances were at a premium at both ends. The closest Cambridge came to finding The O's net came when skipper Paul Wanless sent in a close-range header but ex-Cambridge 'keeper Scott Barrett pulled off a neat close-range save.

After the break, ten-man United were chasing their tails with the home side making full use of the extra man. The O's came close to adding to their tally when another Cambridge old boy Tony Richards fired just wide.

"We won't be back again next year" chanted the United fans, seemingly convinced that they had not witnessed the first step in the destruction of their team's promotion campaign. It wouldn't be hard though to find reasons why our day out at Brisbon Road could spell the start of a difficult and infinitely vital section of the season, as today was the kind of nightmare which is capable of doing untold damage.

A minute of madness from one of the most unlikely quarters cost United a game against an opposition that never looked as if they could produce anything other than mediocre and laboured football. Andy Duncan has probably had the worst week in his short career. On Tuesday it was his penalty miss which sent Walsall through to the final of the Auto Windscreens Shield. Just four days later he would be left pondering the 60 seconds of petulance - reducing United to ten men and robbing them of their best defender - which ended any aspirations to go top of Division Three. If Marc Joseph's silly booking at Scarborough, during a 5-1 victory, was worthy of a heavy club fine then the mind boggles as to what actions Roy McFarland will chose to take.

The early exchanges in the match gave little indication as to what was to follow. United were in total control, limiting Orient to hopeful long balls down the flanks whilst at the same time creating the better opportunities to take the lead. Michael Kyd continued with his promising form as he began to dismantle Orient down the right hand side, and indeed had the final ball into the box been of a better standard United could easily have been two goals to the good before they were hit with the sucker punch. Michael Kyd watched a deflected shot whistle inches wide of Scott Barrett's near post, and John Taylor then saw his former United teammate save his header from six yards.

From probably their first meaningful attack in the game, Leyton Orient capitalised on woeful defending to take the lead. Paul Wanless dithered with the ball at his feet, and an Orient player nipped in and stole possession. Then following a brief game of pinball in the United box the ball broke free to Carl Griffiths who stabbed the ball under Van Huesden to gave Tommy Taylor's men the lead on 23 minutes.

Surprisingly this goal did not appear to alter the pattern of the match, as United continued to look the more dangerous side against an Orient team who were obviously playing in their 'cup final'. Michael Kyd latched onto a Neil Mustoe through ball on the half hour mark but just as it looked he was favourite to level the score Roger Joseph put in a well timed tackle to concede the corner. Despite United having the lion's share of the possession during the first half, the distribution into the Orient penalty area was acting as catching practice for the immobile and dumpy frame of Scott Barrett.

The last minute of the half produced the rush of blood from Andy Duncan that I have already discussed. Indeed the last three minutes saw Mr Wilkes dip into his pocket on five separate occasions. Neil Mustoe had been booked two minutes beforehand, and Orient's midfield dynamo Clark also saw yellow as the game started to become out of control. Duncan's first booking was on 44 minutes after he felled Tony Richards on the edge of the penalty area. The second, just 54 seconds later, followed a crude mistimed lunge, which was not only out of character, but also out of order.

With Duncan disappeared any good work United had done during the first period. The players who had been drained by 120 minutes of football and a penalty shoot out just four days earlier knew they would be up against it in the second half. Ten men often prove a difficult unit to play against, but this is usually when they have something to protect. During the second period Michael Kyd appeared to be tiring by the second, and Ian Ashbee was providing no 'bite' in a midfield where United had to be dominant to take anything from the match. Scott Eustace replaced John Taylor during the interval, and looked both composed and competent on the ball. He also showed, in patches, the ability to find accurate distribution from defence, something that for much of the encounter Jamie Campbell failed to muster.

It took Orient just 7 minutes of the second half before they doubled their lead, and effectively ended the encounter. Tony Richards, who was their best player for the afternoon, pressured Van Heusden into a hurried clearance. The ball went out of play, and a quick throw-in released Martin Ling to attack an out of shape defensive unit. He did that with comparative ease and dispatched a shot from just inside the area, which looped over the hands of the Dutchman to secure the three points for Orient.

The home team never looked like building on their lead and United could probably point to the better opportunities for the remainder of the match. Indeed, there were two quite blatant incidents which should have lead to the deficit being reduced. On the hour mark Martin Butler latched onto a Michael Kyd pass inside the penalty area, and was crudely bundled to the ground by an Orient defender. Amazingly the referee ignored the appeals for a penalty, apparently convinced that United's leading goal-scorer had chosen to dive as opposed to shoot at goal. This was nothing to what happened just three minutes later. Jamie Campbell watched Ian Ashbee meet his corner kick with a powerful shot from outside the area. It struck a defender on the heels and spun into the air. Martin Butler beat Scott Barrett to the ball and in doing so made contact with the 'keeper. The goal was disallowed and the final nail had been driven into a day of disappointment and anguish for the 2,000 or so United fans who made the short trip down the M11.

Trevor Benjamin and Richard Walker entered the game late on, and had little opportunity to make any impact. Benjamin won most things in the air, but the whole balance of the team never recovered after the incidents at the end of the first half. The fans were downhearted and only at times managed to get behind the team. Indeed the many who chose to desert United for the last few minutes of the game, hoping no doubt to avoid the traffic, missed Scott Barrett saving a diving header from Martin Butler which followed a fine run and cross from Trevor Benjamin.

Martin Butler joined Paul Wanless and Neil Mustoe in the referee's notebook just before the end of the game, to make a perfect end to a perfect afternoon. Before the game Barry Hearn held up a ten pound note, and offered to buy the whole Cambridge United team for it. Highly amusing at the time, but I suspect after the game he would only have offered half that amount.

It was a sobering day all in all. United desperately missed Alex Russell's classy play, and once they had lost Andy Duncan knew it was going to be difficult to get anything out of the game. The defeat was the first in the league for nearly two months, and probably the most disappointing all season. Leyton Orient were nothing special, and should have been left in the wake of passing and precision by United. There are two ways that the team can react to this setback. The first is get up, dust themselves down and get on with the job at hand. The second possible reaction just isn't worth thinking about.

Man of the match: Martin Butler had another hard working performance, during which he was at times knocked off the ball a little easily. However, considering his relentless and superb performance just four days earlier at Walsall, this was a display worthy of at least a goal.

"The bigger the game, the bigger the disappointment". That quote is from Dave Mansfield (no relation to John and Julie) who came to the match today, along with a premonition of a 1-0 defeat and a player sent off, although he wasn't sure which team it would be! As Cardiff only drew the night before a win would put United at the top, but the chants of "We'll be top by five o'clock" turned out to be premature.

We got to the ground just before 2 and found long queues, so missing out a stop in the pub was a good idea. Russell was still not quite fit so Ashbee played, with Kyd in place of Benjamin. Barrett and Richards played for Orient, Matt Joseph on the bench, but no Beall.

United had the best of the early exchanges, Kyd running at and beating the full back for a cross which came to nothing, then a long throw was headed back by Taylor to the far post to be hacked away at the last second. Wanless had a good shot take a deflection straight into Barretts hands, and a Kyd header from a quickly taken free kick was deflected away for a corner from which Taylor had a header saved. We had a series of corners and free kicks which came to nothing. Then after 22 minutes we conceded a goal, slack marking and poor tackling meant their #10 (Griffiths) found himself a few yards from our goal with only Van Heusden to beat, which he duly did. We must have had at least 2 chances to clear the ball but couldn't.

Mustoe tried a long shot which went high, and Wanless had a header saved after a near post corner was nodded on. Mustoe was booked on 37 minutes, then on 42 their #7 kicked the ball away when we were awarded a kick and he was booked. On 44 Duncan got booked as their player seemed to fall over his leg as he turned, but 2 minutes later Duncan went for a tackle, but caught the man and went off for a second bookable offence. If Campbell had defended properly Duncan would not have been in the position to have to tackle.

The sending off is our second of the season, which is still only half the number of sendings off Orient have had, and before todays game we had 29 bookings to their 4. Which is the dirtier team?

Eustace came on at the start of the second half in place of Taylor, and played alongside Joseph. After 6 minutes we conceded another goal, a long ball headed on, their player lobbed the advancing Van Heusden. A good interchange by Kyd and Butler in their penalty area saw Butler pushed over just as he was about to shoot, but no penalty was given. On 17 minutes corner was half cleared, the shot was deflected and dropped into the net for us to pull a goal back but was dis-allowed for offside. Benjamin came on for Kyd.

The referee, who was not endearing himself to United fans, then got in the way of movement by Ashbee which knocked him to the ground and gave Orient possession, but at least he blew the whistle to stop the game while he got up, and the resulting drop ball was given back to Van Heusden. Their #5 got booked for tripping Benjamin as he ran past, then Butler was booked for I think a late tackle, as was their #7 soon after.

5 minutes from the end Walker came on for Ashbee. In injury time a Butler diving header from a Benjamin cross was saved by Barrett. The crowd was 6,222 which is just below Orients best of 6,340 against Brentford. There didn't seem to be many spare seats, so I reckon there must have been close to 2,000 United fans there today.

Although we had a lot of possession we didn't make the best of it. Long balls to the front got us nowhere, and our short passing game never really got going as passes went astray too frequently or were not accurate or quick enough. Van Heusden could do nothing about either goal, and had only a couple of routine saves to make.

Campbell had one of his less good days, his passing when we were attacking too often meant attack turned into defence. The rest of the defence did OK, as did Eustace when he came on, although he doesn't look too good if a player runs at him, but I don't know if centre of defence is his prefered position though. In midfield we suffered as players made the wrong decision, as I said playing the ball too long, or too short and getting us nowhere. At the front the various combinations of players tried hard, but didn't often get quality ball to do anything with.

MoM is not easy when no-one stood out of a poor bunch, Mustoe just shades it over Butler for his workrate.

Ratings: Van Heusden 6, Chenery 6, Mustoe 7+, Duncan 6, Joseph 6, Campbell 5, Wanless 6, Taylor 6 (Eustace 6), Butler 7, Kyd 6 (Benjamin 6), Ashbee 6 (Walker 6).

So we have to hope that this game is just a reaction to the hard game at Walsall, and that by next saturday we'll get back to winning ways at home to Southend.

THE STUNNING OPENING
Utd began with their familiar 4-3-3 formation but with Ashbee in midfield in place of Russell and Kyd taking Benjamin's wide position (albeit on the other side of the field). Utd began in stunning fashion passing the ball effectively and introducing Kyd's wide play at every opportunity. Kyd seemed to easily have the beating of the Orient left back but sadly his crosses were easily cleared or went out of play. In this early period Orient couldn't break out of their own half as the Utd midfield was winning everything and should really have taken the lead from a free kick. This was floated in towards the far post where Kyd headed just wide.

OVERCONFIDENCE LEADS TO MISTAKES
Sadly, this period was destined to do Utd no good at all as the players became overconfident and sloppy. An early warning came around the quarter hour when some defensive interpassing around Utd's own penalty area almost led to an interception by the Orient strikers. However, this warning went unheeded as Paul Wanless was caught in possession on the edge of his own box. Ben Chenery managed to get a wonderful tackle in but the ball fell at Carl Griffiths' feet and he proved his undoubted ability at this level by calmly slipping the ball past van Heusden.

NO TURNING BACK
The opening goal completely rattled Utd and they went into their shells for the rest of the first half. Orient's midfield began to take control and the game looked to have changed its course irrevocably. Utd's management team must have been praying that the team could hold out until half time which they managed to do. Sadly, they failed to make the break with a full quota on the field.

STUPIDITY REIGNS
Two minutes from half time, Andy Duncan committed a foul worthy of a booking just outside the box. He was rightly shown the yellow card and the subsequent free kick was wasted. The game moved into injury time and Campbell was caught out of position as Orient attacked down the right hand side. There was little danger in the attack but Duncan came across and produced a wild challenge which could only have one result. A second yellow and an early bath. With these fouls went Utd's chances of getting anything out of the game. Not only were they down to 10 men but the normally calming presence of Duncan had been removed from the team.

ALL CHANGE
The inconsequential first half performance of John Taylor led to him being removed to accommodate Scott Eustace in defence. It was clear right away that Eustace was no Andy Duncan and poor marking from the centre halves led to Orient's second goal. A long ball was flicked onto Martin Ling running towards the edge of the box - his finish was outstanding as his rasping shot looped over van Heusden and into the net. The game was all but over.

GAME OVER
With the score at 2-0, Orient relaxed and let Utd have a little more of the ball. Sadly, the extra man generally told although the ball did end up in the Orient net on one occasion. Butler chased in on a deflected shot and headed in as he challenged Scott Barrett. It looked a clean header but the goal was disallowed for the challenge. The game petered out and Utd had lost through a combination of overconfidence and stupidity allied to Tommy Taylor's excellent midfield tactics once the game had settled down. Orient were not anything special but their tactical plan had clearly worked.

ARJAN VAN HEUSDEN
Absolutely no chance with either goal and had little else to do in the match.

BEN CHENERY
Yet again proved that he cannot attack but his defending was good. His tackle after Wanless had lost the ball deserved more than it got but it is in his favour that most Orient attacking came down the other flank. Offensively, he was useless though and I cannot recall a single decent run from him.

JAMIE CAMPBELL
The opposite to Chenery - useless defensively but a very handy attacking full back. He was regularly in the thick of the attacks and managed to produce the odd decent cross. However, he was constantly caught out of position and his flank was regularly used as the prime method of attack by Orient.

MARC JOSEPH
The best of the Utd players on view but suffered firstly from Duncan's recklessness and then from the inexperience of Eustace. His long throws were inconsequential though and must be practiced if we are to get anything out of them.

ANDY DUNCAN
Looked his usual calm self to begin with but later began to get sloppy when he had the ball at his feet. Difficult to know what he was thinking when committing his two fouls as they were so reckless and out of tune with the player we all know. No complaints about his dismissal.

PAUL WANLESS
Little point in fighting so hard in midfield if your prime contribution to the game is to gift the opposition a goal. However, his midfield performance was well below par as he, Mustoe and Ashbee were outfought by Orient's classier midfield players.

NEIL MUSTOE
Another to get a stupid yellow card and was lucky not to be sent off as he was seen talking back to the referee on more than one occasion. His passing was poor and he was another of the midfield trio that lost the initiative during the first half.

IAN ASHBEE
Well, he's no Russell but his passing really ought to be better than this. Went missing for large portions of the game. A very disappointing performance.

JOHN TAYLOR
Looked to have suffered more than most from the Walsall match as he was never at the pace of the game. Rightly taken off at half time.

MARTIN BUTLER
Never gave up and should have been rewarded with a consolation goal. However, he was too easily marked and shepherded away from dangerous areas by defenders who really should not have been able to do this.

MICHAEL KYD
A very bright start but faded very quickly and was almost invisible in the second half when he was switched to the centre.

Subs:

SCOTT EUSTACE
Immobile and caught out very early in the second half. Sadly, Eustace is no replacement for a player like Duncan and althought he is large, he has no command of the air. His passing was also far too tentative.

TREVOR BENJAMIN
Had little effect when coming on

RICHARD WALKER
Only on the field for 5 minutes.

Man of the Match: Only one player played to anything like his potential so the best of a poor bunch was MARC JOSEPH.

In a game that hinged on the uncharacteristic sending-off of Andy Duncan, United's two month unbeaten run in the league came to an end today as Leyton Orient gave Tommy Taylor his first win against his old club.

Roy McFarland made one change to the starting line-up, replacing Trevor Benjamin with Tuesday's goalscorer John Taylor. Michael Kyd kept his place in the three man attack after an encouraging performance at Walsall, and Ian Ashbee retained the number eleven shirt in the absence of the injured Alex Russell.

'Billy' Beall was missing for Orient, but ex-Us Scott Barrett and Tony Richards started the game and former United skipper Matt Joseph, the third Joseph involved today, was on the bench. The army of travelling Us was estimated at easily 2,000 as they took their places in the sun before kick-off.

United got off to a bright start and forced a couple of early chances before the home side settled. After just three minutes Michael Kyd got away down the right, beat Roger Joseph and his cross was headed behind for a corner, which Paul Wanless met but put wide. United were camped in Orient's half and John Taylor flicked on Marc Joseph's fifth minute long throw, but the ball hit Roger Joseph at the far post before bouncing off the said post. Some good work by Jamie Campbell in the 14th minute set up Wanless again, and his 20 yard shot was luckily deflected through into Barrett's hands. Three minutes later Campbell's quick free kick was met by Kyd but his header was deflected wide.

Then very much against the run of play Orient took the lead through Carl Griffiths. It was the Welshman's first game after returning from a successful loan spell at second division Wrexham and he profited when Paul Wanless lost possession and United's defence made a hash of clearing their lines. They had two good chances to do so but Ling's ball deflected to Griffiths who beat the advancing Van Heusden.

United continued to look the better side and dominated until about the last ten minutes of the half. In the 36th minute Michael Kyd ran at Roger Joseph and seemed to have beaten him until the defender stuck out a boot and knocked the ball away for a corner. Ashbee's corner kick was met with a diving header by Paul Wanless but Scott Barrett got down well to save.

United then had a nightmare end to the half when Andy Duncan suffered a rare rush of blood to the head and got himself booked twice in the dying seconds. He was booked twice for fouls, the second a lunging tackle when covering for Jamie Campbell, and can have no complaints about the decisions as Mr Wilkes had shown yellow cards to Mustoe and Clark in the preceding few minutes in an effort to cool things down. Tony Richards' 45th minute freekick bounced off the wall and Wim Walshaerts' shot was eventually smothered by Van Heusden. (Half-time 1-0)

Roy McFarland gave Scott Eustace his United debut by sending him on in place of John Taylor for the second half, leaving the pacy pair of Kyd and Butler up front to try to salvage something for United. Orient had the initiative early in the half as United tried to get to grips with the changes and went further ahead after seven minutes. Tony Richards broke through and under a lot of pressure Van Heusden cleared the ball, but from the resulting throw-in the ball ended with Martin Ling who advanced and caught Van Heusden off his line with a 20 yard lob.

Weary-looking United were left seeking a huge comeback and it looked more unlikely as the game went on. On the hour, Ling fired a freekick just wide although Marc Joseph nearly got a touch that might have diverted it in to his own goal. Then Kyd found Butler who burst into the box and looked to be bundled over, but the referee was not impressed.

United's travelling support had further reason to complain at Mr Gilkes three minutes later when Ian Ashbee met Campbell's corner on the edge of the box, his shot was deflected high into the air and Butler beat Barrett to the ball as it came down. The ball hit the back of the net but Butler had made contact with Barrett and the chance was disallowed. Trevor Benjamin replaced Kyd after 62 minutes and Tommy Taylor sent on Amara Simba for Griffiths shortly afterwards.

United threw caution to the wind by pushing forward in search of something from this game, while Orient hit the Us on the break without really looking like adding to their lead. It took until the 77th minute before the home side won their first corner, and Ben Chenery was the only defender back at one stage as his teammates went in search of goals. Debutant Scott Eustace looked a reasonable player once he had settled in and showed deceptive pace for a big man, but Benjamin was disappointing again and made little impression apart from one run in the 93rd minute. He broke down the right and crossed, but Butler's diving header was saved by Barrett.

Mark Johnson's Man of the Match: "Martin Butler - chased lost causes in difficult circumstances and on another day would have bagged a couple."

United stay second in the table with a game in hand on leaders Cardiff, but the Bluebirds extended the gap to three points with their draw last night. Brentford moved into third place after winning today and Leyton Orient moved up to seventh.