After ten minutes of shadow-boxing, in which the two sides tested each other out without incident, the U’s felt confident enough to commit more men forward and never looked back. A Simon Downer long-throw was punched back out to him by goalkeeper Ross and the veteran defender chanced his arm with a first-time effort from twenty-five yards, but with the keeper stranded he saw his shot curl wide of the near post.
The U’s midfield had gained the upper hand and when the visitors had a free-kick cleared, the increasingly influential Roarie Deacon broke free in the middle and fed Maxime Biamou on his outside. The French striker raced down the right before sliding the ball back inside for Deacon, who had continued his run, to surge into the penalty area. The former Crawley man didn’t realise how much space he had and snatched slightly at his shot dragging the ball wide of the near post.