Sit back, hold tight and enjoy the ride. These words should be etched above the entrance to the Abbey Stadium, as once again Cambridge United produced a match firmly in the roller-coaster variety, and a fourth consecutive home victory to delight a bumper Boxing Day crowd. In the blink of an eye one point was turned to three as deep into injury time Neil Mustoe had the composure to swagger through the Rotherham defence and hit a shot low to the bottom right hand corner of the net to send the Abbey Stadium into delirious scenes of wild celebration and joy.

It was perhaps tough on a Rotherham side which produced a spirited second half display, but you wouldn't have to look very far or hard to justify this latest home triumph. The first half was controlled and dominated by a United team committed to attacking football, and being pushed on by a gale force winds could have scored a hat-full. It took only a minute before the nightmare of Millmoor was forgotten as 'King' John Taylor watched his 20-yard shot creep under goalkeeper Pollitt to give United the lead. He then went on to produce a spell of play in which he not only terrorised, but left the Rotherham defenders with blistered heels as he demonstrated exactly why he is playing as regularly as he is, the man wins matches and it's as simple as that.

After a poor defensive mistake from Garner, Martin Butler was cruelly cut down just inside the box by Warner but referee Mick Fletcher waved play on to the disbelief and astonishment of the crowd. The ball broke to Benjamin however who produced a fine cross which fell to Taylor on the 18-yard line. He fired another shot, similar to his first minute effort, but this time Pollitt smothered the ball to deny the veteran.

Rotherham had only a few glimpses of the Cambridge goal during the first period. This was mainly due to the fact our defence were being aided by the wind, but were also failing to put a foot wrong. Andy Duncan was a rock in the centre and alongside Joseph stifled out the dangerous White, whilst Chenery was busy making the right side of the pitch his own.

Benjamin then capitalised on some excellent play from Martin Butler to fire United into a two-goal lead. Butler latched onto a fine through ball from Russell and put the ball on a plate for Benjamin to fire home low to the bottom left hand corner of the Rotherham net. He then set about playing with the determination and imagination, which attracted so many Premiership scouts to the Abbey earlier in the season. On the half hour mark he ghosted in at the far post to meet a Jamie Campbell cross and cracked a header against the inside of the post. The rebound fell awkwardly at the feet of Butler and the Rotherham defence gratefully cleared the ball.

Despite United being two goals to the good there was a worrying feeling that supported by the gale force winds Rotherham, the leading scorers in the division, would be able to pull themselves back into the game during the second half. These fears were compounded as United began the second half almost unable to get the ball out of their own half. All of Arjan Van Heusden's kicks would fail to even reach the centre circle and hampered by the conditions Campbell was struggling to find accurate balls down the line. It took only 10 minutes of the second half before Rotherham jarred open the door of recovery as Alan Knill rose majestically inside the United box to power a header over the arms of Van Heusden to reduce the deficit.

Cambridge did not handle the goal well, and lapsed into a rather worrying spell where Rotherham emerged with the better chances. Jason White scampered through the challenges on 65 minutes only to hit his final shot wide of the goal. John Taylor was then replaced by Neil Mustoe, as his game had faded considerably after his electric opening.

'We're gonna score in a minute' chanted the Rotherham fans, as they too sensed it was only a matter of time before they drew level. Their chants were slightly inaccurate however, as it took three minutes before Knill rose once again on 69 minutes to head home an Andy Roscoe corner. Indeed Rotherham would probably have looked favourites for all three points, but this goal sparked a brave and concerted effort by the whole United team.

Martin Butler and Trevor Benjamin began to find space and time in the final third and after leaving two defenders in his wake a 70th minute cross from Benjamin was headed inches over by Butler who did everything but score a goal. A 74th minute free kick from Jamie Campbell appeared to be heading for the hand of Pollitt but the wind took it from his grasp, it fell awkwardly at the feet of Butler and the danger was cleared.

Mustoe's introduction and Roy McFarland's abandonment of the three pronged attack system looked to settle the team down into a strong rhythm of competent defending and neat counter attacking moves. Time was running out however, and the last gasp goals we have conceded to Hartlepool and Exeter must have been on the minds of the United faithful. Hurst looked as though he had snatched the points for Rotherham but his shot flew just over the United crossbar on 88 minutes.

Then, following an Andy Duncan through ball Martin Butler raced into the 18-yard box and unleashed a shot, which beat Pollitt at his near post. Unfortunately the ball rebounded from the foot of the post and fell to a defender to clear the danger and set up another Rotherham counter attack. It looked like the chance had passed, and United would join the host of other top half teams to drop points at the weekend. Neil Mustoe had other things on his mind however, and secured all the points with a very late winner.

From a Jamie Campbell cross he showed neat control to fire the ball home low under the goalkeeper. The final whistle arrived moments later to ensure United took all the points from an entertaining and hard fought encounter. The whole team played well, as a group and not as individuals. Despite another two set piece goals conceded, United defended very competently with Chenery and Duncan having exceptional matches in the harsh conditions. Paul Wanless was like a pig in muck, a battling performance to confirm he is still the player we know he is.

A fine performance and result to brush away the Christmas cobwebs. Last season we would have lost this match, and probably have lost it in the very last minute. This time though it was another example that this season we seem to have that one credential people can't survive without, the one thing you need in this division which has deserted us over the last few seasons. That thing, luck, could be seen to have been deserved due to the commitment and work rate of the whole team who strove United to make sure Cambridge got all the points.

Will Jones

The ritual swapping of draw tickets in the Supporters Club went three ways today, with Peter Laborne joining Dave Brown and myself. For those who have not been in the SC, you buy a strip of 10 or 15 numbers from a roll. The start and finish numbers are entered into a machine which randomly picks a number between the two. Today it turned out that a roll of tickets with numbers between the start and finish was not sold, so after the machine was programmed it turned out that the winning ticket was one of the unsold group! So the button was pressed repeatedly until they were sure they actually had sold that ticket number. What normally takes less than a couple of minutes to do today took nearly 15 minutes, and still we didn't win!

There was a minutes silence before the game in memory of Bill Cawdery, who died last Saturday. Bill had been at the club many years.

A good crowd was heartened by the result from Southend! (where P*sh lost 2-0)

Van Heusden was back in goal in place of Marshall, Shaggy keeping his place in the team. I assume we won the toss and decided to attack the Abbey with the strong but swirling wind and rain. In this type of weather we need to score 3 with the wind to give ourselves a chance in the second half!

The first real shot of the game came in the first minute, a low shot from around 25 yards looked to be covered by the keeper, but somehow he managed to let the ball squirm under his body and into the net to give us the lead. We played the ball around well, making use of the wind when possible, Chenery having a lob shot saved, even Joseph had a long range shot which went over.

Rotherham had to make an early substitution when their #5 fell awkwardly on his shoulder and was stretchered off. They had their first chance on 11 minutes, a free kick a few yards outside our penalty area was easily saved by Van Heusden. Our quick breaks from midfield caused some problems for them, and usually resulted in a corner. From one of them Shaggy tried a backheel flick which went just over. We scored again on 24 minutes, a period of pressure from us had the ball going around their 6 yard box, Butler knocked it back to Benjamin who shot in from around 7 yards.

5 minutes later Benjamin hit the post with a stooping header from a corner, the rebound went across the goal and away. Shaggy and Butler linked well, a good cross from Butler was put over by Benjamin. A good Chenery cross was just missed by Benjamin, then Wanless headed wide from a Campbell cross, and just before the end Russell had a shot saved.

As expected they started the second half pushing up on us, a cross/shot was watched past the post by Van Heusden, then one of their midfield ran through the middle unchallenged but shot wide. 9 minutes into the half they got 1 back, a curling free kick was headed just over the finger tips of Van Heusden but under the bar.

When we kept the ball down on the ground we could move forward, but too often it was played in the air and possession was lost. After 20 minutes Mustoe came on for Shaggy, and we reverted to a 4-4-2 formation to bolster the midfield. Soon after they equalised, a near post corner flicked on to the far post for an easy nod in from a yard or so. At times we seemed intent on giving the game away, unnecessarily giving the ball away or failing to tackle properly. On one occasion their forward kept the ball when "tackled" by 6 of our players!

We played well at other times, a good move ended with a cross which their keeper dropped but we could not take advantage. Butler had a good cross forced away for a corner, then towards the end had a shot hit the base of the post. We got what turned out to be the winning goal after 45 minutes, a long cross from our left fell to Mustoe about 10 yards out, who turned quickly past a defender and shot in.

The referee was very lenient, they got away with a number of late tackles, some from behind, but only had 3 booked. He did allow any advantage when possible.

The weather definitely affected the match, but we coped much better in general. Once again we missed too many good chances. Not a great performance, but a game that we would probably have lost last year after being brought back to 2-2. In the first half both our full backs pushed up well and put in good crosses, but in the second Campbell particularly had trouble keeping the ball on the pitch. Duncan and Joseph played well in the centre of defence. Van Heusden had little to do, although perhaps he should have got fingertips to the ball to prevent their first goal. His kicking from pass backs still needs a bit of work.

In the middle Russell again was outstanding, making himself available and looking to make things happen. Wanless was in his element, running all over the place. Ashbee did a reasonable job. At the front Butler did well, holding the ball despite a number of fouls, and was unlucky not to score. Taylor had a relatively quiet game but showed experience with some good touches, but in the second half was unable to get forward quickly enough. Benjamin seemed to be trying a bit more than of late, a fact not lost on the defender who somehow managed to tackle Benjamin by placing his inner thigh on the end of Benjamin's studs. I should think he is still speaking in a high voice!

Ratings:
Van Heusden 7, Chenery 8, Ashbee 7, Duncan 8, Joseph 8, Campbell 7, Wanless 8, Taylor 7 (Mustoe 8), Butler 8, Benjamin 7, Russell 9

Lets hope we end the year with another win.

Goal-hero Neil Mustoe boosted his chances of a recall to the starting line-up when he scored a late, late winner after coming off the bench this afternoon. United made just one change to the side beaten on TV by Brentford last Friday, Arjan Van Heusden replacing Shaun Marshall in goal for a game that was played in horrendous conditions.

United sailed into a second minute lead when Ben Chenery passed to John Taylor and the 'King of the Abbey' fired in a shot from 25 yards that squirmed under the embarrassed figure of Mike Pollitt and into the net. With the swirling wind and rain at their backs United continued to create plenty of chances and could have been four or five goals up at half-time. Instead the lead was only 2-0, the second goal coming after 25 minutes when Martin Butler showed good close control to chest the ball down into the path of Trevor Benjamin who thumped the ball home from 10 yards.

However the conditions had little to do with Rotherham's revival as United conceded two goals from set pieces and brought back the old nerves about playing at the Abbey. Alan Knill was the Millers' hero, narrowing the deficit in the 55th minute with a powerful header from an Andy Roscoe free kick, and then levelling the score in the 69th minute with a close range header, this time from a corner.

United looked nervous and edgy and it was Rotherham who looked most likely to go on and win the game, until a successful tactical change by Roy McFarland. He sent on Neil Mustoe for the tiring John Taylor and the change to 4-4-2 brought about the required change. The U's enjoyed more possession and started to make headway in the gale, and fittingly it was Mustoe (right) who outpaced the Millers' defence to meet Jamie Campbell's cross in the box and fire home the winner in the second minute of added time, his first goal for United.

Mark Johnson's Man of the Match was John Taylor: "The years in his legs made light of the heavy ground".

Speaking to Mark Johnson for Clubcall (0891 555885) after the game, Roy McFarland said he felt his side could have been as many as six goals up by half-time, they had played that well. He pointed out that a lot of chances fell to Trevor Benjamin, who was greeted by chants of "sign the contract for the lads" in a reference to his as-yet unsigned new contract.

"He got himself into scoring positions, which he hasn't been for the last month or so," said McFarland, but went on, "We couldn't get the goals and because of that we put ourselves under pressure.

"We changed to 4-4-2, got another midfielder in there to try and get some football going. Neil Mustoe did well coming on, I'm pleased for him that he got the goal. He's a little unlucky to be out of the side, but Ian Ashbee has been playing well for us."

Arjan Van Heusden was recalled in goal for Shaun Marshall, but McFarland was quick to praise the 20-year-old who has played since the Dutchman broke a hand against Brighton in October: "It's no disgrace for Shaun. He's not let anyone down, not me, not anyone at the Club. I said to him today, 'Don't worry son, you'll get your chance again and you'll be back in the side again'. I now know what I can expect from Shaun and without doubt that has improved the squad. It was the same when young Martin McNeil came in for Marc Joseph when he was injured, and I now know what he can and can't do. It might be good for Shaun to have a break. 'Ice' came in today and did well."

On the tactical substitution that saw Mustoe replace Taylor, the manager explained, "We couldn't get the ball to the front three, that was the major reason for the change to four in midfield. John Taylor looked a little bit tired but he'd done the damage in the first half, he scored the first goal.