United showed great character to come back from 2-0 down at Stevenage this afternoon in an amazing game that saw the home side hold on with just nine men.

United boss Jim Smith made changes to his team. Barry Quinn was given a new holding role in midfield alongside the recalled Carl Pettefer, whilst Andy Burgess started up front playing a supporting role just behind Rob Duffy. In fact straight from the kick-off it was obvious that Quinn was also fulfilling another role as he appeared to be man-marking Steve Guppy.

However, it was United's playmaker Burgess that almost set up the first chance of the match, when he picked out Pettefer with a lovely weighted ball over the top of the Stevenage defence in the 6^th minute.Pettefer then did well to release the breaking Chris Hargreaves, but before he could square the ball, good defensive work from the home side cleared the danger.

United had started the game well, but in the 16^th minute they fell behind against the run of play to a sloppy goal.United lost possession of the ball up-field, the ball broke to Adam Miller on the half-way line who then showed great awareness to draw in two United players, then great skill to make space for himself . Miller then played in Guppy and although Billy Turley did well to save his shot, United were powerless to stop Steve Morison's volleyed follow up.

It was a set-back for United, slightly unlucky as they had dominated the early play, but they now had too roll up their sleeves and fight their way back into the match.

But the only fighting came from the home side as in the 22^nd minute we witnessed an amazing few minutes.It started when Luke Oliver went straight through the back of Duffy with a nasty looking tackle. Credit must go to Duffy who did not retaliate; the same cannot be said of Hasim Deen who in the resulting melee appeared to throw a punch and was shown a straight red card by ref DJ Cann.Maybe because it was almost Christmas, Cann then showed another card to Oliver, although this time it was only a yellow.

United rallied against the ten men of Stevenage, and Duffy went close with a header and then Day just shaved the bar with another headed effort as United looked to get back into the match.Then quite inexplicably in the 33^rd minute, Phil Gilchrist gifted the home side a second goal.The ball was cleared long towards the United defence, and under no challenge, Gilchrist headed the ball into the path of Morison who lobbed the advancing Turley from the edge of the box.

United had turned from a team that were dominating against eleven men to a team that were being pegged back by ten and in the 38^th minute another defensive error almost killed the game off.Chris Willmott gave away possession, the ball was crossed into the United box where Turley showed his class to deny the dangerous Morison from eight yards.

United were being dragged all over the park and Bradley Johnson missed another good chance to finish off the game when he fired over the bar from the edge of the box two minutes from the break.

Somehow United managed to survive until the break and changes were made immediately, with Chris Tardif coming on for the injured Turley and Yemi Odubade coming on up front, with Willmott off and Quinn dropping back into defence. The away crowd, stirred up by a home sub at half time, were up on their feet and United were stirring. Julian tipped over a Hargreaves effort two minutes in, and there was a string of corners as The Yellows threw men forward.

It was brilliant stuff, and the ten men were suddenly looking like Dean Gaffney in a pit of spiders. United were coming at them, and on 54 minutes were right back in the game as Odubade did brilliantly on the right to send Oliver twisting in three directions at once and then square the ball for Duffy to score his fourteenth goal of the season.

What a game we had now, with Stevenage still going forward, with one time United trialist Adam Miller the driving force, but their task got a whole lot harder on 57 minutes as Odubade ran at Oliver once more. Oliver lunged and sent Yemi flying, and the home side were down to nine men.

Look, we're not making it up, this is all one game!

From the resulting corner Burgess floated the ideal ball in and it was the flowing locks of Chris Hargreaves that met the ball superbly to bullet the ball into the net and make it two all and game well and truly on. It was bedlam, with every United fan and player giving their all and the nine men somehow still finding the energy to not only hold firm at the back but also look dangerous on the break. Tardif made one great save from Morison with 20 minutes to go, and somehow the fear remained that the home side were going to find another goal.

United are very fortunate to have two fine keepers in their squad and that proved vital on 79 as Tardif somehow kept a Morison header out from a corner. Still Stevenage wouldn't give up, and ther game continued to look like a classic cup tie rather than a league meeting. Burgess stung the fingers of keeper Julian on 82 but either side could have emerged as winners in a quite extraordinary match.

In the end maybe a draw was the right result, but top entertainment and plenty of drama for the appreciative crowd who gave the players a standing ovation at the final whistle

Report Julian Hitchman and Chris Williams. Pictures Darrell Fisher