Leyton Orient1

Ibehre, 74

Cambridge United1

Youngs, 35

(League Division Three)

ORIENT manager Paul Brush was pleased to see his side bounce back from Tom Youngs' first half opener with Jabo Ibehre's 74th minute equaliser earning the O's a point, although he refused to comment on the performance of referee Iain Williamson who marred the game with some controversial decisions.

Brush said: "I'd rather talk about the game than him, because we didn't feel we got any decisions.

"I was pleased we showed the battling qualities we did in the second half against the wind. We went for it and overall we were unfortunate not to win the game.

"Cambridge are always dangerous on the break and they had a few breakaways, but we had the majority of the chances.

"It was another bad goal to concede. We know they are dangerous from set pieces but it just dribbled over the line.

"But the crowd got behind us and we showed a lot of character in the second half and it could have quite easily been three points."

In the opening period of the game neither side created any real clear chances and the best opportunity didn't arrive until after 29 minutes, with a stinging volley from Matt Lockwood from 20 yards out that Cambridge keeper Shaun Marshall did well to parry away for a corner.

However, it was Cambridge who opened the scoring on 35 minutes, after Luke Guttridge swung in a corner from the left that Orient stopper Scott Barrett could only clear with a weak punch.

The rebound fell kindly to Dave Kitson, and though his goalbound effort was brilliantly blocked on the line by Dean Smith, Youngs was quick to pounce to put Cambridge into the lead.

Throughout the half, the livewire Omar Riza had caused the Orient backline a number of problems with his pace, although he was unable to make a further impact on the scoreline.

After the interval the home side came out fighting, though Kitson should have perhaps extended the U's lead on 63 minutes but was unable to keep his close range volley on target.

As the half wore on the O's rallied and when Chris Tate was introduced to the action on 73 minutes he made an immediate impact just 60 seconds later when his cushioned header fell straight into the path of Ibehre. And displaying a real striker's instinct the Orient man coolly rifled his shot into the roof of the stranded Marshall's net.

The goal breathed new life into Orient who dominated the remainder of the match, though they were unable to conjure up any further real scoring chances.

Tempers boiled over in the 88th minute when Tate tangled with fellow second-half sub Fred Murray and players from both sides got involved in pushing and shoving. And while man in black Williamson had let the O's down for much of the night, Tate can think himself lucky to have only been shown a yellow by the lacklustre official.

ORIENT: Barrett, Smith, Joseph (Sub, Hutchings, 61), Jones, Barnard, Martin (Alexander, 61), Harris, Brazier, Lockwood, Thorpe (Tate, 73), Ibehre. Subs not used: Canham, Morris.

January 30, 2003 10:30