Cambridge Climb After Late Winner

Saturday's League One action featured plenty of drama, but none more so than when Cambridge United hosted Crewe Alexandra. A game that had both teams wanting to win, as the possibility of moving up to 6th place in League Two and a spot in the promotion qualifications was always going to add a little bit of extra spice to this clash.

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Turnaround complete. 🤯#CamUTD | https://t.co/rfv2SfRMyc pic.twitter.com/PelEzNhj8q

— Cambridge United FC (@CambridgeUtdFC) November 29, 2025

In the first half there weren’t any goals, but there were plenty of key moments with Cambridge dominating from the start. In the 3rd minute, Cambridge created their first chance of the game from a corner as captain Michal Morrison had a header sent wide of the post. However, this was far from the last chance of the first half, as in the 31st minute Liam Bennett wasted a great opportunity, hitting it straight at the keeper.

Substitute Mamadou Jobe had yet another chance for the hosts from yet another set piece on the stroke of half-time but failed to find the net, and the first half ended goalless.

Crewe had been on the back foot since the first whistle, forced to defend stubbornly, and they had done exactly that for the first 45 minutes. The Railwaymen still had hopes of winning and pushing themselves into the play-off spots; however, they would need to be better going forward to have any hopes of doing that.

By the time the referee blew for the halfway period, Cambridge had already generated 0.4 xG and had 3 big chances, somehow missing all of them. Crewe had only managed 3 shots in the entire first half and boasted half of the xG that Cambridge had generated. It was obvious at half-time that if a team was going to walk away with all 3 points, it was going to be Cambridge United, especially after how strong their first period had been.

While Cambridge had been very good throughout the first half, they had been wasteful, and eventually, they were punished - against the run of play, Crewe took the lead from a corner, a scenario that Cambridge had been executing so well in the first half. Tommi O’Reilly stepped up and swung in the set piece for Crewe, and it was met by 20-year-old striker Emre Tezgel to put Crewe in front after just 9 minutes of the second half. This was just one of their two shots that they had in the second half, but unlike Cambridge (so far), they made it count.

It looked like Crewe Alexandra would take all 3 points from this game - they defended diligently and resiliently all the way up until the 82nd minute, when Mamadou Jobe redeemed himself for that first-half miss and finally put the ball into the back of the net to make it 1-1. After so many chances, so many opportunities missed, they finally made one count and got back on level ground. Crewe had been defending so well and keeping them at bay, but they couldn’t hold out for all 90 minutes

As the clock kept ticking, the game grew gradually more tense, with Cambridge still pushing for all 3 points; however, Crewe weren't budging. It looked inevitable that the points would be shared, with both sides losing the chance to push into the top 6.

Big Mams begins the comeback! 💪 pic.twitter.com/wGlV9hb6Tn

— Cambridge United FC (@CambridgeUtdFC) November 30, 2025

But in football, there is always one last chance, one last opening, and in the 96th minute, it came in the form of a massive opportunity for Cambridge. Josh March brought down Ben Purrington in the box, giving away a penalty at the death and the best chance for Cambridge to take the lead and win the match.

23-year-old Ben Knight stepped up to take the spot-kick, and duly converted, sending the penalty into the bottom right corner, putting Cambridge 2-1 up and winning them the match with virtually the last kick of the game.

Cambridge deserved this win, having dominated the whole game with 60% possession, 16 shots to Crewe’s 5 and 6 big chances to Crewe’s 1. There was certainly some luck involved in the penalty won in the last minute of the game; however, on this occasion, the stats do indeed tell the story - Cambridge outplayed their opponents and took full advantage of the opportunity to move into play-off contention, sitting in 6th place and in the promotion qualification play-offs. The big question for Cambridge now is, can they keep this going, and will they be able to go straight back up to League One?