IT was another case of what might have been as the Dragons crashed to defeat at the Abbey Stadium on an afternoon that might have promised better.

Wrexham had a great chance to take the lead on only five minutes, when Adrian Cieslewicz combined with Neil Taylor on the left, the Poles' back heel allowing the fullback to cross into the area, where Nathan Fairhurst's diving header carried over the crossbar from about 10 yards.

The first yellow card came on nine minutes, when Mansour Assoumani fouled Chris Holroyd about 10-yards outside the penalty area.

The free kick was slammed low by Wayne Hatswell and found a way through the wall at ankle height to beat Chris Maxwell inside his right hand post.

United should have doubled their lead within a minute as Holroyd dived in at the near post, but attention from Westwood meant he didn't get a clean contact with the goal at his mercy.

Wrexham pressure resulted in a shot from Cieslewicz on 16 minutes, when his shot was driven into the ground almost bounced up and over Danny Potter, but the keeper stretched to tip ball over his bar for a corner.

Another free kick just outside the Wrexham box, allowed Robbie Willmott the chance to test Maxwell again, but this time the keeper was a match and tipped the ball round his left hand post for a corner.

A Cambridge corner on 35 minutes was taken by Willmott and Brian Saah used his height to good advantage in beating Maxwell to the cross, but the centre half's header was off target - a let off for the visitors.

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There was an early effort from Gareth Taylor, whose shot was just off target but at least had some venom in it.

Then Mark Jones picked out Neil Taylor on the left and as the defender closed in on goal he delayed his effort allowing full back Dan Gleeson to close him down.

Tsiaklis was not afraid to chance his arm and two long range efforts carried over the target.
The Reds had switched to 4-4-2 with Neil Taylor pushing forward and Mike Williams moving to left back.

A break in play for a clash of heads on 60 minutes also saw Lamine Sakho introduced for his debut, which was followed by Marc Williams appearing five minutes later.

Wrexham's possession almost saw them back in the game on 67 minutes, when Sakho's effort from 20-yards was jumped on by Williams and hacked off the United line by a Glesson.

Dean Saunders used his final substitution when sending on Wes Baynes for Cieslewicz with 16 minutes remaining.

Marc Williams was fortunate to only concede a foul when his arms seemed raised when coming into contact with Saah, but Mr Kinseley was content to take no further action.

United seemed happy enough to defend in numbers and then look to attack on the break.

It was a ploy that worked well and brought them a second goal on 80 minutes, when Wrexham failed to clear their lines and as Robbie Willmott cut inside Obeng space opened for the shot, which he accepted and beat Maxwell at his near post, although there did seem to be slight deflection on the effort.

With the Reds now well stretched, Cambridge's Courtney Pitt picked out his fellow substitute but Mark Beesley wasn't able to finish from a promising position.

Wrexham might have been the better side in the second period, but they really didn't put enough pressure on Danny Potter.