Cambridge United - 2 (Benjamin 74. Wanless 81.)
Crystal Palace - 0

A night that was cold and wet will certainly be a night that Steve Coppell will very quickly want to forget. The match started about half an hour late due to an accident on the motorway, which left a lot of the travelling Palace supporters still outside the ground at the appointed kick off time. Our supporters were seated in the only open part of the ground, and as the match gave them nothing to cheer about one can only assume that they all went home in a very despondent mood. The only thing now is for the team to pick themselves up once again, and come out with renewed vigour against an in-form Fulham next Saturday at Selhurst Park.

All the pundits (those so-called experts!) were tipping a 4-1 win to Palace, so we really should have known that things were about to go horribly wrong. The match started off reasonably well for the visitors, with Leon McKenzie missing an absolute sitter with only six minutes showing on the clock. Had this one gone in who knows what the result might have been. The first 20 minutes brought three clear chances for us to take to the lead, but neither Craig Foster nor McKenzie could convert either of the other two. Shortly after Cambridge brought a shudder not only to the visiting supporters but also to the woodwork, when a shot hit the post with Fraser Digby nowhere in sight. As if this was not bad enough Cambridge then put the ball in the back of the net, the referee ruling "no goal" for a very marginal offside play.

As the half progressed though Palace were more frequently getting to the ball first, and everyone was expecting the home side to run out of puff before too long. In injury time of the first period of play Simon Rodger saw his shot go just wide and Nick Rizzo picked up the first booking of the match. Though we had the greater number of chances Cambridge had most of the possession, and the second half left everything still to play for.

The second half got underway, but for some reason Palace did not seem to look as lively as they have done in a few of the previous matches this season. Once again Cambridge managed to bundle the ball into the back of the net, and again the referee came to our rescue, ruling offside once more. With 20 minutes gone Steve Coppell made his first substitution bringing Jamie Smith on for Nick Rizzo. Ten minutes later Trevor Benjamin popped up to score the home sides 3rd goal, and the first that actually counted on the scoresheet. Finally Palace were galvanised into a little bit of action, and almost immediately Fan Zhiyi had an opportunity to level the scores. Somehow he contrived to miss!

Heading into the last ten minutes of the match Cambridge were still hanging onto their lead, and Palace were looking less and less like scoring. The home side took advantage of that fact, and Paul Wanless made sure that his side would go through to the 4th round with a goal that sealed the fate of the match. An immediate substitution was made with Andrew Frampton being taken off and David Woozley coming on, but the cause was not helped a minute later when Hayden Mullins was sent off for a second bookable offence.

Without any further action taking place Cambridge duly took their place in the next round of the Cup, and we were left to rue what might have been.

Colin Pryce

Cambridge United: Shaun Marshall, Jason Kavanagh, Marc Joseph, Martin McNeil, Clive Wilson, Ian Ashbee, Paul Wanless, Neil MacKenzie, John Taylor, Martin Butler, Trevor Benjamin.

Substitutes not used: Arjan Van Heusden, Tom Youngs, David Preece, Alex Russell, Scott Eustace.

Crystal Palace: Fraser Digby, Andrew Frampton (David Woozley 81), Fan Zhiyi, Andy Linighan, Dean Austin, Hayden Mullins, Nick Rizzo (Jamie Smith 65), Craig Foster, Simon Rodger, Matthias Svensson, Leon McKenzie.

Substitutes not used: Steve Mautone, Chris Sharpling, Stephen Evans.

Attendance: 5,631

Referee: Mr P Taylor (Cheshunt).