United came from behind again to win 2-1 against another fancied side, this time at home to Oxford United in front of the TV cameras, and manager Jimmy Quinn believes the wins against York and Oxford will make people "sit up and take notice" of Cambridge United.

Oxford's Gary Twigg gave the visitors the lead four minutes before half-time when he profited from a defensive error and half-clearance, but Leo Fortune-West  levelled the scores with his first goal for the club five minutes the other side of half-time, and after hitting the post earlier Lee Boylan made no mistake with the 94th minute winner.

"We had to defend well and work hard in all departments to match them tonight, which we did, and it was just about trying to get back into the game after going a goal behind," said Quinn afterwards.

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"We should have dealt with the ball better than we did when we conceded, but what great character again. We've got a good bunch of lads in there and although I don't want to talk about promotion I'm confident that we'll be OK this season because we try to play good football.

"Conceding the goal put us on the back foot and we were a little bit untidy in one or two things," he added.

"I didn't think we switched the play quickly enough or well enough in the first half, and I said to the lads if we can get the ball into those wide areas a little bit earlier we'll have an opportunity to get back into the game and possibly win it.

"I'm not being disrespectful but I told them 'we're playing Oxford United not Manchester United, they're a team in our league'. They're a big, strong team but I said we have a chance if we tidy things up a bit and get to the second ball quicker and switch the play better.

"To be honest I'd have been happy to take the 1-1 draw the way the game was going, because Oxford are a decent side and they'll be there or thereabouts, so to get the winner in the 94th minute - there are no comebacks from that.

"It's a great feeling and I'm absolutely delighted for the players."

Quinn added, "I think it was a good advert tonight for the Blue Square Premier. Both teams try to play decent football and it was a good move leading to the winning goal. Lee is a goalscorer; he's a poacher. Sometimes he does shoot when maybe he should pass it, but he's going to get a lot of goals for us this season because in those positions you do need to be selfish and Lee has a good strike on him. He was very unlucky not to score before that, when he hit the post."

Quinn made three substitutions in the last 12 minutes and explained that he felt the side needed freshening up for the closing stages.

"I've got some great young players here that can go on and they have bundles of energy," he explained. "We'd put that much effort into the game and one or two were just a little bit tired, and I felt we just needed some fresh pairs of legs on there and it worked for us. Lee does that all the time in training and it's a great feeling to beat one of Jim's teams. They're always very strong and it's a great three points for us.

"I had my captain Danny Brown out through illness and Mark Convery, who's a terrific ball player, missing through injury, and considering we were without two of our big players I thought the lads that went in there did a terrific job and all credit to them."

Leo Fortune-West scored his first goal for the club with his 50th minute header from Dan Gleeson's cross but was clearly unhappy with himself when he made way for Scott Rendell with seven minutes remaining and Quinn explained, "He came off just to get a fresh pair of legs on there.

"He needs a bit more match sharpness and he admitted that after the game, but he's a handful and he will cause defences problems.

"I'm just delighted with the result," he concluded. "We started this at the end of last season and the lads know it's about carrying it on. We're more than capable of winning a match against anyone in this league but there's a long way to go and we have to stick to the plan and make sure we're all working hard for one another.

"That was a great result and it will certainly make other teams sit up and take a bit of notice."

United's next match is at home to promoted side Farsley Celtic on Tuesday (7.45pm).

[Match report] [Fixture list] [League table]


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