Cambridge United came through an epic tussle with Cheltenham Town in Sky Bet League Two, with Barry Corr scoring in the final ten minutes to secure a 4-3 victory at the end of a thriller at the Abbey Stadium.
In an action packed clash, the U’s twice came from behind, were award two penalties - missed one, and saw off a late fightback from the Robins to take the spoils.
An unchanged United side fell behind early in the contest, with George Lloyd flicking Carl Winchester’s shot past David Forde from four yards out to break the deadlock inside three minutes.
However, the U’s responded well and were level before the ten minute mark after Greg Taylor bust past his marker from a George Maris corner to force the ball over, for his third goal in United colours.
But within three minutes Gary Johnson’s visitors were back in front, with the Robins’ top goalscorer Mohamed Eisa curling an excellent free kick into the top corner with his right foot.
A hugely open game continued as George Maris saw a fine dipping shot saved by Flinders at one end, before Eisa had an opportunity one-on-one with Forde at the other that he fired over. Paul Lewis was too denied by the Cheltenham keeper, who stopped a bullet header from the midfielder at point blank range.
The U’s looked to have levelled moments before the break when Billy Waters smashed the ball in from close range, only for referee Brett Huxtable to controversially call play back for a foul on Jevani Brown and award United a penalty, which Medy Elito went on to fire over the cross bar.
Joe Dunne elected to make one change at the break with David Amoo replacing Paul Lewis to give United additional width in the second half.
It took the U’s just seven second half minutes to level once more, with Brown playing the ball into the feet of Maris who fired the perfect left footed shot across goal to find the bottom corner.
With the momentum of the game now in their favour, United soon grabbed a lead of their own. Amoo flew into the Robin’s box at full pelt before being floored unfairly in a challenge for a second United penalty, which this is time Jevani Brown coolly slotted home in front of the Newmarket Road End
But the pendulum of the game swung once more in favour of Cheltenham after a ten minute period of pressure on the U’s goal, which ended with Eisa equalising when finishing calmly under Forde 13 minutes from time.
However, the stage was set for the man United fans lauded onto the pitch during his substitution midway through the second half. A persistent run from Jevani Brown saw the tricky midfielder tip toe through the Cheltenham box to set up Maris, who was denied by Flinders before Barry Corr swept the ball into the roof of the net to take the roof off the Abbey on the 81st minute.
Joe Dunne’s side showed great guts in the final stages to see out the result and secure a memorable victory in front of the Abbey faithful.
Cambridge United: Forde, Halliday, Taylor, Taft, Carroll, Lewis (Amoo, 45 mins), Deegan, Brown, Maris, Elito (Corr, 56 mins), Waters (Dunk, 70 mins)
Cheltenham Town: Flinders, Cranston (Wright, 61 mins), Atangana, Winchester, Boyle, Sellars, Eisa, Morrell, Moore (Grimes, 56 mins), Chatzitheodoridis, Lloyd (Rodon, 65 mins)
Attendance: 3,853 (138)
Vindis Man of the Match: George Maris