Cambridge United continued their return to winning ways with a second consecutive home win, this time against Altrincham whose performance belied their fifth-from-position position in the table.

The result was given added value with the news that leaders Aldershot and Burton lost, while Forest Green Rovers and Tuesday's opponents Exeter City drew, leaving ten points covering the top five and a five points gap to the chasing pack.

Lee McEvilly gave United the 23rd minute lead but the win was hard-fought as visiting keeper Stuart Coburn denied the U's again and again with a string of superb saves, and when Colin Little equalised with ten minutes remaining it looked as though the game would end in frustrating stalemate until Mark Convery's shot as deflected past Coburn with five minutes left.

"We played some really good football today but we came up against an inspired keeper," acknowledged U's boss Jimmy Quinn afterwards.

"I thought we were only going to get a point out of it but we had a little bit of luck in the end. We've been encouraging Mark Convery to shoot and he pulled the trigger and it took a deflection, and I think that was the only thing that was going to beat them today.

"I'm disappointed in the goal," he added. "We had chances to clear the ball and we overplayed a little bit, but I can't fault the players' efforts. The result was going to be more important than the performance today but we actually performed quite well so all round I'm pleased that we've come back into the game.

"Last year that would have been a game that we'd probably have drawn or lost. You can see the difference, and the difference here is the supporters. I can't believe what I'm hearing and seeing - they're sticking behind the team right until the last minute and our lads are running to the last minute, which is what we're looking for.

"That's a fantastic result. I've just heard that Aldershot have lost, Burton have lost, and Exeter and Forest Green have drawn, so that's a really important result and it gives us the confidence to build on it now for Tuesday.

"There are a lot of games still to to be played. People having been saying 'Aldershot have won it' but they haven't won anything. I've been in this league long enough to know that when the pressure comes on and you've got to get across that finishing line it's very, very hard to do.

"Once you go on a run of one or two poor results, Aldershot have got a very young team and I just think that with the experience that we've got in parts of the team will hold us in good stead. We've just got to keep plugging away, and with the fantastic support we've got here it's very important that the lads go out and give it everything they've got like they did today. I'm delighted with the three points."

United were prevented from creating a two-goal cushion by Stuart Coburn and Quinn credits the Robins keeper for setting up a tense finale: "I think if we'd have got that second goal their heads would have dropped and we'd have got a few more, but all credit to Altrincham.

"I thought they competed and the lad O'Neill came on at the end and caused problems with his runs, they competed in the midfield and they put a man on Courtney in the hole so you'd have to say Graham (Heathcote) has done well with his tactics, but I thought that on overall play we did enough to win it."

Quinn praised the character of his players for bouncing back to take the lead again within five minutes of the equaliser and he also praised the support again, which was boosted by over 1,000 Junior U's members, friends and families in the South Stand.

"To come back and score again was fantastic and that's all credit to the fans today; they've helped us get the extra goal. Whereas last year it all used to go quiet, the fans are still sticking behind the team and as a player that gives you a massive boost. That second goal was sucked into the net by the fans behind the goal and it's all credit to them that we've got three points."

Before the start of the season Quinn restricted his initial ambitions to reaching the safety of 50 points and that was achieved today with a win that puts United on 51 points, something he recognised in cheery fashion: "We said let's not go shouting about anything until we got to the 50 point mark and anything after that is a bonus, and we've got there.

"Obviously we've been doing well and it's great to get two back-to-back wins after a bit of poor form, although I have to say there were some crazy fixtures with all these cup games. It's all about keeping in contention and we dropped behind by a couple of league games on some teams so that can affect you, but the lads have shown a lot of character in these last two games to get the points.

"It was a comprehensive win against Droylsden who won today, so it tells you how well we played the other night and you can see from a lot of our passing that we were confident; we just couldn't get that second goal to kill them off."

United are next in action at home to Exeter City on Tuesday 29th January (7.45pm).

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