Cambridge United through to second round of FA Cup after seeing off non-league Bracknell Town at the Abbey Stadium

There was no FA Cup giant-killing at the Abbey Stadium this afternoon as Cambridge United negotiated their way into the second round with a 2-1 victory over non-league Bracknell Town.

Ninety-four places in the football pyramid separated these two sides ahead of kick off, but having shocked Vanarama National League outfit Dagenham & Redbridge to set up this tie, Southern League Premier South Bracknell will have been backing themselves.

And they were dogged throughout the contest, only to be ultimately undone by a goal in either half that rendered their late effort a consolation.

Unsurprisingly, hosting Cambridge dominated the possession from the first whistle but they struggled throughout the first half to carve out clear cut openings.

Jordan Cousins’ shot in the 19th minute was charged down by Bracknell’s stand-in goalkeeper Michael Eacott, who four minutes later saw Paul Digby’s shot from the edge box coming all the way and he got down well to make a routine stop.

However, in the 27th minute Eacott was powerless to prevent the part-timers from falling behind. Cambridge had struggled to speed up the play until this point, but a swift interchange just outside the area between Adam May and Fejiri Okenabirhie freed the latter and he swept in his eighth goal of the campaign in all competitions. It was also the first goal that United have scored in the first half of a game since their second outing of the season away at Fleetwood Town – a run of 16 matches.

Eacott was back on form again in the 35th minute, showing good reflexes to make a one-handed stop after May’s header back into a crowded area took an awkward deflection.

Up the other end, Cambridge goalkeeper Jack Stevens was largely redundant throughout the half, with Bracknell’s only attempt of note seeing skipper Ashley Lodge firing high and wide from 20 yards out.

Any hopes Bracknell had of getting back into the contest looked to have been extinguished three minutes into the second half – and they were the makers of their own downfall. Olukayode Osu was caught in possession inside his own box by May and in trying to atone for his error, the centre-back only succeeded in stabbing the ball beyond Eacott, who was unsuccessful in his desperate late dive to keep the ball out of the net.

Both managers used their benches soon after which disrupted the flow of the game for a period, but it burst back into life in the 68th minute in controversial fashion. Bracknell substitute Ben Harris broke clear and bore down on Stevens’ goal, only to go down under a challenge from Zeno Ibsen Rossi inside the area. Referee Richie Watkins adjudged that the Cambridge replacement had won the ball and awarded corner – a decision that infuriated Bracknell’s coaching staff, who demanded a penalty. The situation ended with Bracknell’s assistant Lee Riddell being red carded, while the corner came to nothing.

Perhaps spurred on by a sense of injustice, Bracknell showed a bit more adventure in the final 20 minutes and they were rewarded three minutes from time when Harris nipped in on the blindside of Cambridge’s centre-backs and fired home Max Herbert’s cross from point-blank range.

The revelation that there would be 11 minutes of stoppage time set up a grandstand finish and to Bracknell’s credit they threw everything they had at scoring a goal that would have earned them a replay, but Cambridge eventually saw it out.

Cambridge United: Stevens, L Bennett, R Bennett, Morrison (Ibsen Rossi 62’), Andrew (Haunstrup 58’), Cousins (Lankester 74’), Digby (Thomas 58’), May, Gordon, Kaikai, Okenabirhie (Janneh 74’)

Bracknell Town: Eacott, Tack (Burden 83’), Osu, Herbert, Legg (George 59’), Harrison, Jackson (Harris 59’), Grant, Lodge, English (Owusu 59’), Esprit

Attendance: 3,411 (345 Bracknell)