Rovers comeback to defeat U's at the Abbey
Two second half goals for Bristol Rovers saw the Gas come from behind to defeat the U’s 2-1 under the Friday night lights at the Abbey Stadium.
Barry Corr’s eighth goal of the season had given United the advantage at the break, who they looked comfortable for a long period in the second half, before Ellis Harrison and substitute Matt Taylor turned the score in the visitor’s favour.
Richard Money made three chances to the side that beat Yeovil six days earlier, with captain Mark Roberts returning from suspension to lead the U’s out, whilst Robbie Simpson and Chris Dunn also made their return to the starting line-up. Double goal scorer at Huish Park Rory Gaffney took up a place on the bench having been passed fit to play during the latter stages of the week.
Although the game began at a steady pace, the U’s certainly enjoyed the better of the first 15 minutes with the returning Simpson and Roberts both shown flashes of goal, but neither able to trouble Rovers’ goalkeeper Lee Nicholls.
As the first half progressed, the game closed up with little goal mouth action for either side taking place up until the half an hour mark.
It therefore took a piece of magic from Harrison Dunk to break the deadlock on 33 minutes, when the U’s midfielder delivered an exquisite cross to the back post for Barry Corr to score his eighth and simplest goal of the season so far.
It took just three second half minutes for Bristol Rovers to produce a chance on goal better than anything they had in the first 45 minutes, when Ellis Harrison clipped the top of Chris Dunn’s cross bar with a close range header, to send a warning to the U’s.
United did take heed and remained resolute, disciplined and well-organised in defence to maintain their one goal advantage through into the final third of the match.
However, it was the visitors who registered the next foray of note, when substitute Matt Taylor charged into the U’s box down the right and fired a vicious strike at Chris Dunn who was only able to parry the ball into the path of Harrison to finish comfortably and level the scores.
Richard Money made an immediate double substitution, with Mickey Demetriou and the popular Rory Gaffney introduced to liven up the U’s attacking options.
However, it was the Gas who were to score the decisive goal in the fixture when Taylor latched on to Greg Taylor’s back pass before rounding Chris Dunn and giving Rovers the lead eight minutes from time.
Cambridge United: Dunn, Sesay, Roberts, Taylor, Dunk, Donaldson (Newton, 82 mins), J.Hughes, Berry, L.Hughes (Gaffney, 68 mins), Simpson (Demetriou, 68 mins), Corr
Goals: Corr
Bristol Rovers: Nicholls, Brown, Lockyer, McChrystal, Mansell, Harrison, Gosling, Clarke, Easter (Taylor, 63 mins), Bodin, Sinclair
Goals: Harrison, Taylor
Attendance: 5,115 (562 away)