Why don’t we start this match report with two statements:

1. United fans left Hillsborough on Tuesday night slightly ruing the fact they couldn’t make their late onslaught count and take home all three points.

2. United fans were disappointed to find out that point wasn’t enough to keep them in League One’s top six as they dropped to seventh.

The fact that both these things can be true might be the biggest sign yet of how positive a situation United find themselves in right now. To go to a ground where recent memory has only yielded a 6-0 and 5-0 defeat, to once again come from behind in front of a team with quality across the park in front of 30,000 fans, and to be the team that had the biggest shout of actually winning the game especially in the latter stages, shows all the signs of why we should sit here excited about the potential of this team. There are things to fix, absolutely. But whisper it quietly: this might be a serious football team worthy of a fight for the top 6.

At this point, we are not where we are by accident. A drop off may still come, and it may see this still faint dream of a promotion challenge seem like a fanciful dream from the past, but the points we’re picking up are deserved.

On Tuesday night we saw yet another feather in the cap of this spirited U’s side. After succumbing to just their second defeat of the season against Plymouth on Saturday, the question quickly turned to one of football’s most iconic portmanteaus: bouncebackability.

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But life in League One means that the challenges come at you thick and fast. After Plymouth, we now have the prospect of a midweek trip to Hillsborough to face newly managerless Sheffield Wednesday in front of 30,000+ fans (with an extremely healthy contingent travelling from Cambridgeshire). It’s the fourth game in 10 days and undoubtedly one of the sternest challenges on the fixture list. You have to go back to the end of the last League One season for the last time Neil Harris lost back-to-back league games with United, and that was with a dispirited and beleaguered side doomed to relegation.

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Cambridge United’s defeat on Saturday was only their second in 12 League One matches this season. They’re three points off an automatic promotion place. And still they could be doing better. The fact that such a statement can be made should say everything about where the team is under Neil Harris.

“We did score two goals and we are scoring goals at the moment. I have to appreciate that and I do appreciate that, but it’s hard to really focus on that when we’ve not got at least a point out of the game today,” Harris said afterwards, United having scored two but conceded three in a gripping home loss to Plymouth Argyle.

Harris and his Standards must naturally always expect more, and both the nature and the quantity of the goals being conceded is an obvious concern, but it’s important to take stock of the bigger picture. Throw in the fact that Saturday was a superb spectacle to watch, can fans have been too downhearted when they headed home to dry off at 5 o’clock?

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But such is the continuing story of this remarkable League One season that Neil Harris’ team are experiencing. Tuesday night brought another example of what is feeling quite special about this side; even when playing quite poorly, their mentality was indefatigable. It rescued what felt like the most unlikely of points and kept that loss column to just 1.

So what can we expect from the next side to come up against United at the Abbey? Just like every week, here’s your preview of the game featuring all the key info and best players to watch out for.

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But while it kind of doesn’t feel like we should be 4th, it also doesn’t really feel like we shouldn’t be 4th… does it? There’s been both bad luck, referee issues and individual mistakes, but also some good luck, highlighted perfectly by Connor Taylor’s beautiful own goal vs Wycombe recently.

If bad luck and good luck are canceling out, are we overperforming? It seems like this team is able to fight their way to a scrappy point (or 3) even in off games. And when things click, they really click and 4th, 3rd, or even something more seem possible.

But then you look at the Expected Points tables… FotMob puts us 14th. Opta Analyst has us 15th. Impect has us 15th.

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Footballers must dream of situations like it. Three minutes into injury time. 2-1 down. A dangerous cross from the wing to attack. Get a run on your man. First contact. Close range header. Keeper no chance. 2-2.

Connor Taylor produced such a moment at the Abbey Stadium on Tuesday evening. The only problem for him is that he is a Wycombe Wanderers defender and his header was inexplicably into his own net, turning three points for his side into one and salvaging a draw for Cambridge United which had seemed a distant possibility since the moment Jayden Wareham had put Wycombe ahead just before half time.

Wareham’s second soon after the hour made it the first instance of United going 2-0 down all season. They’d only gone two behind four times, 2-0 thrice and 3-1 once, in the entire League Two campaign last year, only one of which came after October. Still they came back to grab a point.

Losing is seen to be a habit. When things are going against you teams transpire to lose even if they don’t deserve it. Cambridge United are taking the opposite approach. They can barely stop collecting points from losing positions; in their last eight League One games they’ve been behind in six of them, scored a goal in the 89th minute onwards to change the final outcome in four, been beaten in none.

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By Julian Roberts

There won’t have been a more popular goalscorer than Saturday’s matchwinner. You could see it in the dugout, with the players and staff mobbing the diminutive Northern Irishman in the full-time celebrations. And you could feel it on the terraces, the unbridled joy of a last-minute winner magnified by the scorer being such a likable and hardworking player that you can tell it meant the world to.

Shayne Lavery had quite the afternoon. He registered an assist and then a matchwinning goal in amongst a nearly flawless 45-minute performance that helped swing the game in United’s favour. Only seven minutes after coming on, he showed a fantastic turn of pace out wide and hit the byline before drilling an instinctive pull back that found an awaiting Ben Knight to tuck home. And then, after tirelessly running channels and proving a constant menace to Barnsley’s inexperienced backline, he turned the rebound from a Louis Appéré shot home in the 92nd minute from point blank range to take all three points. Neil Harris called it the best 45 minutes he’s seen by any player in the whole league this season.

These returns are the least his performances this season have deserved. And it’s not the first time Lavery has changed games from the bench. He’s been a half-time substitute three times this season, each time with the U’s being 1-0 down. They’ve gone on to take 7 points from those fixtures. If you add in Oxford away, where he entered the pitch in the 55th minute and was at the heart of the move that Knight equalised from just two minutes later, then it’s clear how influential his impact has been. On Saturday, he put the icing on the cake.

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I wrote in the Barnsley preview that where we end up at the end of October will be the biggest clue yet about what we’re actually dealing with with this United side. Well, a Shayne Lavery last minute winner meant the U’s start that block with three points, and now it’s the prospect of back-to-back home games to see if Harris’ team can keep the pace up with the very best in the division.

First up is the visit of the Chairboys. Read on for your usual match preview, featuring all the info, key numbers and players to watch for Tuesday’s game. We do one of these for every single league game so if you’re not signed up already, you know what to do.

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We’ve seen a few half-hearted celebratory fist pumps from slightly embarrassed Cambridge United players over the last 18 months, but Shayne Lavery’s effort after Saturday’s game at Barnsley will take some beating.

Where Neil Harris (who, perhaps unsurprisingly, Sets The Standards in this area) approaches the fist pump with the vigour of a man who needs to punch his way through a concrete wall to save his family, Lavery chose to simply swirl his hand around gently, like a trainee cowboy making his first attempt to lasso an errant calf. A few more hours on the training ground to perfect his technique are certainly required.

We are fortunate that Lavery approaches the task of putting the ball in the goal with much more gusto. His close-range finish in injury time earned the U’s a 2-1 win at Oakwell, meaning we are now a tantalising one point from the League One summit.

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Barnsley away kicks off a crucial period, with the next two Tuesday nights occupied by a league fixture. It includes two trips to Yorkshire, the visit of 2nd-place Plymouth and topped off with an early Saturday kick off in East London. Where the U’s sit on the other side of this block will be the biggest indicator yet of whether we should really move our yardstick of expectation, or whether it’s just been a late summer flurry we’ll look back on fondly.

A trip to Oakwell kicks things off, and here is your one-stop cheat sheet featuring all the key info and stats you need to know about our opposition.

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By Matt Caspell

We saw a new version of Cambridge United on Saturday for this season, or rather a reversion to the U’s from last season’s successful League Two campaign. Rugged, hardworking and persevering. Defensively durable, but lacking in attacking bravado.

The script for the game was flipped on its head as early as the sixth minute, when returning Blackpool captain George Honeyman inexplicably swiped at U’s skipper Dom Ball right under the referee’s nose. The officials were left with little choice but to dismiss Honeyman.

And the red card left Cambridge with a different challenge than they’d originally started the game with. As most travelling sides would when a man down, Blackpool retreated, put 10 men behind the ball, and adopted a siege mentality. It’s not exclusively a Cambridge United phenomenon that breaking down 10-man opposition is difficult, but it did potentially lay bare some attacking shortcomings. Question marks remain about United’s ability to break down resilient, defensive units that will put 10-men behind the ball.

It must be said, it’s a real testament to Neil Harris’ men that this is the grade of problems we’re experiencing, where the other three teams promoted with us from League Two last season each occupy a relegation spot.

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Cambridge United returned to League One action for the first time in a fortnight on Saturday and continued their outstanding start to the campaign with another victory as they saw off Blackpool 1-0.

Of the four teams promoted to the division last season the U’s are the only ones not currently down in the relegation zone. They’re flying high in fifth, three points off leaders Plymouth with a game in hand and one of only four teams to have been beaten just once thus far.

There were a few notable new additions at the weekend. United sported a one-off fourth kit inspired by Pink Floyd’s Syd Barrett in aid of World Mental Health Day, and BBC Radio Cambridgeshire handed a debut to UTAS frontman Julian Roberts as summariser.

He was promptly thrown the hospital pass of needing to fill 15 minutes of air time when kickoff was delayed until 3.15 but produced a performance that drew glowing reviews (although saying so may raise questions about whether he added in this bit of the article himself during the editing stage).

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But there is a long, long way to go. The first challenge on the resumption of league action is to build up the same momentum we were showing in our unbeaten month of September. The run of fixtures in October provide an interesting mix of challenges, which will be a big indication about how serious this team really is. That starts with the visit of Ian Evatt’s Blackpool side, who are hoping that the break is a chance to reset and rediscover some of the form from the opening few weeks of the season.

Happy Saturday everyone and welcome to your one-stop cheat sheet of Cambridge United vs Blackpool, featuring all the key info and stats you need to know about our opposition.

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