Piero Mingoia fires Cambridge United to victory at Stevenage

Legge on target in U's win

Piero Mingoia unleashed an unstoppable shot to earn Cambridge United a 2-1 win at Stevenage in Sky Bet League Two.

In a captivating battle, there was very little to separate the two sides as they went toe-to-toe to try to negate each other.

It led to both defences having to be on their guard throughout the match, with the movement and pace giving the defenders plenty to think about.

United probably had the edge in the early exchanges, with Uche Ikpeazu having an effort on the turn that was easily held by Jamie Jones.

There was then a scare for United as Mark Roberts brought down Ben Kennedy, who was flying through and knocked the ball past the United centre-back, with the foul earning the visitors' player a yellow card.

Stevenage's Jack King had a header comfortably held by Will Norris, and two minutes later United had the lead.

Some good build-up play between Luke Berry and Brad Halliday saw the ball cleared for a corner, and from the resulting set play, Harrison Dunk's delivery was powerfully headed home by Leon Legge in front of the U's masses.

Norris preserved United's lead with a brilliant reaction save from point-blank range to deny Matt Godden.

And towards the end of the half, Fraser Franks made a great recovery challenge to redeem giving the ball away to deny Berry an almost certain goal.

But Stevenage were back on level terms within 35 seconds of the second half.

Ben Kennedy was given too much time just inside the United box to the left, and struck a curling left-foot shot low to an unsighted Norris' right-hand post.

Stevenage had a spell where they posed the more dominant attacking threat, but it was not long before United reasserted their ascendancy.

Ikpeazu, after a neat turn, fired an effort wide and then a flowing move across the pitch led to Mingoia sending in a cross from the right that Berry met suspended in the air, but with the keeper beaten it hit the post and bounced out to be cleared to safety.

Dale Gorman unleashed a 25-yard volley that stung the hands of Norris, and then Jennings attempted a curling chip that ended up on the top of the net.

The U's second goal came when Greg Taylor hoisted a deep cross into the box that seemed as if it would be comfortable for Jones to claim, but the Stevenage keeper flapped at the ball and it fell for Mingoia to unleash a fierce shot into the back of the net.

And in the closing stages, despite Stevenage increasing the pressure, United did not really look too rattled and stood firm to earn victory.