Altrincham arrived at the Trade Recruitment Stadium determined to frustrate United's slim title hopes, and their resolute defending and heroics from goalkeeper Stuart Coburn saw Sunday's match end goalless and the title go to Burton despite defeat at Torquay.
The Robins sat deep throughout, with Chris Denham the only man occasionally getting forward on the break, and club captain Robbie Lawton revealed that they had planned to weather the early storm and 'make a game of it'.
"We had no intentions of coming here to just roll over," he stated. "Graham Heathcote said we owe that to the league and to the likes of Burton.
"Although we were lacking numbers going forward, we thought if we got a decent ball forward we might have been able to nick a goal. But we certainly weren't going to come here and make it easy for you."
On goalkeeper Coburn, he commented, "There will be praise for our keeper, and he is a top keeper and puts in performances like that week in week out, but it wasn't just about him. The whole of the back four were solid and everybody did their bit. But saying that, Stuart bailed us out a couple of times."
With over 7,000 in the ground the atmosphere was electric in the opening stages and Lawton said the early pressure was something his team had expected: "The crowd was something else, and for the first 15 minutes it was like the Alamo for us.
"It felt like every time we turned around you had the ball and were heading back towards us! But they quietened a bit after they realised we had come to make a game of it, and that was part of the plan - to ride out the early pressure and the noise from the fans.
"As for the play-offs, Stevenage are the team I fancy so if you beat them in the semis it's yours, so all the best."
Interview by David Gray
[Match report] [Fixture list] [League table]
Make Your Click Count For The U's - talk about it on the Message Board!
You are respectfully reminded that any article, as with all content on this website, unless otherwise stated, is subject to copyright © and the Official Cambridge United Website must be acknowledged as the original source including all quotes.
AT090427 web@cambridge-united.co.uk
