Spencer, Coulson and Williamson on score sheet in United win
Cambridge United returned to winning ways with a convincing 3-1 Sky Bet League Two victory over York City at the Abbey Stadium.
First half goals from Jimmy Spencer and Josh Coulson gave the U’s a half time advantage before Ben Williamson sealed the points to close the gap on the League Two play-off places.
Shaun Derry made one change to the side that started at Stevenage seven days earlier, with former Notts County striker Spencer replacing Ryan Donaldson.
Michael Coulson’s sensational 30 yard effort on five minutes, which rattled Will Norris’ cross bar, will have had many Cambridge United supporters fearing the opening goal would be in favour of the Minstermen.
However, it was United that took the early lead when loanee Ryan Haynes whipped in a lofted cross from the left wing that evaded the flailing Scott Flinders for Spencer to head home his second goal for the U’s in the ninth minute.
York came close to an equaliser soon after and probably would have levelled had Norris not shown sharp reactions to stop Bradley Fewster’s stab at goal four minutes later.
The then U’s wrestled the initiative in the game away from their Yorkshire opponents and despite Williamson poking wide when it seemed almost impossible to do so on 25 minutes, Josh Coulson was on hand to bounce the ball off the turf and into the roof of the net from the resulting corner.
The Minstermen responded seven minutes later when James Berrett pounced on a loose defensive piece of play from United, before thrashing a right footed effort past Norris from 25 yards to pull a goal back.
Ryan Ledson almost restored the U’s two goal advantage before the break, when he glanced a header towards the York target, but Flinders this time tipped over the bar.
United were out of the traps quickest in the second half, with Williamson, Dunk and Spencer all firing attempts at goal during the opening ten minutes of the half.
Scott Flinders was called into action once again when Dunk drove with the ball into a central positon before bobbling a shot towards the bottom right corner, which the York stopper parried away from danger.
However the pressure told shortly after the hour mark, when Flinders could only palm Spencer’s powerful drive into the path of Williamson who bundled the ball over the goal line.
With the two goal buffer restored, United took full control of the fixture and could have added another with Luke Berry chipping over the cross bar from the penalty spot on 77 minutes. But the U’s remained the dominant outfit in the contest and eased their way to the final whistle.
Cambridge Utd: Norris, Furlong, Legge, Coulson, Haynes, Berry (Donaldson, 78 mins), Ledson, Dunne, Dunk, Williamson, Spencer (Simpson, 87 mins)
York City: Flinders, Ilesanmi, Berrett, Satka, Coulson, Summerfield, Penn (Carson 78 mins), Cameron, Winfield, Fester, McEvoy (Hyde, 62 mins)
Attendance: 4,822 (424 away fans)
Vindis Man of the Match: Ryan Ledson