A 3-1 defeat at Stevenage Borough leaves Cambridge United needing to make up a two-goal deficit in Monday's Play-off semi-final second leg to have any chance of making this year's final.

Gary Brabin made bold changes to his team and formation, resting Chris Holroyd and the out-of-form Scott Rendell and starting with Lee Phillips and Danny Crow. A change of formation to wing-backs also saw Robbie Willmott rested, while Andy Parkinson missed out with the aftereffects of a virus and Josh Coulson and Jon Challinor were called up.

The changes seemed set to pay off as United dominated the first half, playing well and enjoying the lion's share of possession and chances. But the lack of a goal to cap the pressure proved costly when Stevenage were fired up by the controversial sending-off of Darren Murphy in first half stoppage time.

The linesman seemed to give the decision against Murphy for an aerial challenge that left Jon Challinor prone and holding his head, but TV replays confirmed that it was the Stevenage midfielder's head or shoulder that connected with Challinor, and not an elbow.

Fired up for the second half, the home side took the lead through defender Mark Roberts and although Phillips justified his selection with a well-taken equaliser a minute later, Stevenage skipper and leading scorer Steve Morison netted on 61 and 85 to leave United with a two-goal hurdle to overcome on Monday.

"It's not over but we've made it hard for ourselves," admitted Brabin. "I'm disappointed because I thought in the first half we were excellent. We had a game plan and it worked great in the first half, then the sending off caused a fracas that extended into the half-time. It seemed to unsettle us more than them and I'm disappointed that it's three individual errors that gave them their goals.

"The first half was exactly what we've worked on," he added. "We looked good, we looked comfortable, they didn't cause us any problems in front of our goal, and I was pleased with the way things went. But we came out for the second half and looked a little bit nervous on the ball, we got wound up by some of the decisions and lost our shape a bit, and we were punished for some individual errors."

On the red card incident itself, he commented, "From where we were, at first we thought something untoward had happened, but I've heard since that it wasn't. I haven't seen it and we weren't pushing for a decision. The referee has made a decision and I felt that affected his decisions in the second half.

"Stevenage came out with a bit of fire in their bellies and I think the referee realised he'd made a mistake in the half-time incident, and we weren't the same side in the second half. I was delighted with what we'd done in the first half but we didn't look the same in the second half and we were punished for individual errors."

It was Lee Phillips' second goal in just three starts for United and the striker staked his claim to keep his place on Monday with a hardworking, battling performance and a well-taken goal: "Lee worked hard and deserved his goal, and after bringing it back to one-all we thought we could take it on from there," said Brabin.

"But you can't afford to make that sort of mistake against someone like Morison and we felt we were chasing it in the end."

United's 1,600 supporters packed one end and a corner of the ground and Brabin added, "They were fantastic again and that makes it harder when you get beaten like that after the support we've had today."

Closing with a rallying call for Monday's game, the U's boss concluded, "We've just got to bounce back. We've got an uphill task but we've had a few knock-backs this season and a lot of times we've shown a bit of character and bounced back, so I've asked the lads for one more of those big efforts and let's see if we can claw this back."

Tickets for Monday's second leg go on general sale at 9am on Friday. The Ticket Office is open 10am-2pm on Saturday and Sunday to help supporters buy tickets for the game, which is all-ticket and kicks off at noon on Monday. Play-off tickets update

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