An entertaining night at The Lamex ends in victory for Stevenage thanks to a Jordan Roberts strike...
After the fixture’s postponement back in December, Cambridge United returned to The Lamex Stadium for a cold Tuesday night in February. Stevenage came into this one off the back of a well-earned 1-0 victory over Wycombe on the weekend, as they searched for back-to-back home victories.
The Gaffer made three changes from Saturday, as Finley Burns, Luther James-Wildin and Jamie Reid returned to the starting eleven, in place of Dan Sweeney, Alex MacDonald and Nick Freeman.
The atmosphere inside The Lamex Stadium was electric as the game got underway, as local rivals came face to face with a big three points up for grabs.
The first real chance of the game came after nine minutes, as Jamie Reid was sent through on goal, but his low effort was denied by goalkeeper, Jack Stevens.
Stevenage were by far the brighter of the two sides over the first 20 minutes as they applied relentless pressure on the Cambridge defence. Every time the ball was lost, it was immediately won back as Boro looked to gain an advantage in the game.
The U’s slowly grew into the game, but Boro defended well and continued to get the ball forward at the earliest opportunity. Stevenage caught their opponents on the counter attack on several occasions in the first half as they edged closer to an opening goal.
The hosts pressed relentlessly, and eventually after 35 minutes, they deservedly took the lead. Cambridge lost the ball on the edge of the area and Finley Burns capitalised. The ball then fell to the feet of Jordan Roberts who fired low and hard into the back of the net.
The remainder of the half was comfortable for Stevenage as Cambridge offered very little going forward, and Boro were able to clear their lines. Jack Lankester did have one last effort to give his side the lead, but Taye Ashby-Hammond held on calmly as the referee blew for half-time.
The second half soon got underway with Stevenage attacking towards the North Stand, looking to potentially extend their lead and see out the victory.
A couple of chances came Stevenage’s way in the first ten minutes of the half as Louis Thompson and Kane Hemmings both fired wide of the mark.
Then, on the hour mark, it was Jake Forster-Caskey’s turn to try his luck as he cut onto his right foot before curling his effort just wide of the post.
Cambridge were looking to find an equaliser with twenty minutes remaining, as Stevenage had to be resilient and determined to keep a hold of their clean sheet.
Boro were under pressure for the next five minutes, but they defended superbly, with the midfield trio especially working very hard and intercepting the ball when needed.
Down the other end, the hosts came incredibly close to increasing their advantage with two corners in the space of two minutes. Both corners unsurprisingly met the head of Carl Piergianni, but Cambridge managed to clear the danger.
With ten minutes of the ninety to go, the gaffer made his first two substitutions as Kane Hemmings and Jake Forster-Caskey made way for Nesta Guinness-Walker and Nick Freeman.
Five minutes later, substitute Guinness-Walker was called into action in attack, as Jordan Roberts laid the ball off to him just inside the area, but his effort sailed over the crossbar.
Two further subs were made with a handful of minutes remaining. It was Jordan Roberts and Jamie Reid to leave the field, being replaced by Harvey White and Vadaine Oliver.
Five additional minutes were held up by the Fourth Official as Stevenage had a big task on their hands. Until the very last second, Boro ran their socks off and saw out the game to perfection.
Eventually, the long-awaited final whistle was blown, awarding Stevenage all three points on an entertaining night at The Lamex. The result sees Boro climb back into the play-off places with just 11 games to go.
Attendance: 6,553 including 1,384 away.