Match report on Cambridge's home match against Crawley

United got their first point on the board with a 2-2 draw at home to Crawley Town.

A great atmosphere and pouring rain greeted the players as they ran out for the beginning of this evening match. On paper both teams looked equal in capability and key areas however the way the game begun you wouldn't of judged the teams as equal by any stretch of the imagination. From kick off it seemed as if Crawley would attack from the off. After just 7 minutes Crawley took the lead, with Cambridge still seeminly back in the changing room a very poor corner was never dealt with and up popped that man Tubbs to poke the ball past the completely stranded Brown in the United goal. It was almost as if the United defence didn't even know eachother. Before they even had time to recover it was two. The U's continuing to lose possesion cheap and easily Crawley ripped through the defence with some lovely interplay, the defence was turned inside out and there was Tubbs again to cooly finish for Crawley. Tubbs seems to love playing at The Abbey with that being his third goal in two games at The Abbey. United were a complete and utter mess, all the big names were nowhere to be seen, Carden, Miller, Saah, Wright. However things all seemed to click at once for United, a sensational break from a Crawley corner seeing the ball cleared to Platt who carried it from just outside the United area all the way up to 25 yards from the Crawley goal, it seemed he'd waited too late to pass the ball with Carden, Miller, Russell and Willmott in support but he'd played it just right laying it through to Russell who squeezed it past Jordan the Crawley keeper. The goal sprung United to life it was like a new side had emerged and when a Willmott free kick could only be pushed onto the post United were really in the ascendency. It wasn't long until the game talk yet another turn, a corner to United being attacked by none other than Brian Saah who headed home from close range que exuberent celebrations from all United faithful. From there it looked like it would be Crawley that would be lucky to go in at half time on level terms and the pressure was certainly getting to certain members of the Crawley team, especially Jordan the keeper who looked extremely rattled, a few dubious refereeing decisions enraged the United fans before the man in the middle called time on a very entertaining first half. The second half followed on in much the same fashion.Both sides had more than enough chances to steal the points, Brown having to claw a deflected clearence off his own line and Coulson making a very un-orthodox clearence to keep out a vicious strike. United also had their chances but it was almost too much of 1 step forward two steps back, there was a lot of complex and skillful interplay but it seemed to be getting United nowhere whereas a ball into the box may have been a better option. Marriot came on to replace Konal Platt but Marriot had very little time to make an impact and with minutes to go still hadn't touched the ball. Despite the little time to play the referee still managed to put himself in the spotlight with yet more odd decisions. But the game did end 2-2 which on the contrary was probably a fair result with both sides having more than enough chances to take the points on a lively evening in Cambridge.