Cambridge United are currently 12th in the fourth tier of English football (confusingly called League Two), making them the lowest ranked team left in this season’s FA Cup.  Now through to the fourth round, Cambridge have been drawn at home against Manchester United, the most famous football team in the world, and winners of 11 FA Cups, 20 league titles, and 3 European Cups.  But how did it come to this?  Red cards, deflections and (disallowed) last-minute goals have all played their part in Cambridge’s cup run so far.

Round 1: Cambridge United 1 – 0 Fleetwood Town

The tale begins with a classic cup upset, as Cambridge knocked out League One’s Fleetwood Town.  After a tense first half, the game came to life with the introduction of Fleetwood substitute Jamie Proctor midway through the second half.  Proctor lasted just 11 minutes on the pitch before being shown a red card for trying to start a fight with Cambridge defender Richard Tait.  Cambridge capitalised on this advantage with a breakaway goal from Kwesi Appiah in the 80th minute, and held their lead without alarm to progress to the second round.

Round 2: Cambridge United 2 – 2 Mansfield Town

Cambridge had drawn 0-0 in their away league fixture against Mansfield Town earlier in the season, but their cup tie was to prove much more exciting.  The away side brought a traditional style of football, with bruising central defenders who looked incapable of completing a pass, and never looked like trying.  Still, Mansfield’s size and strength brought them two aerial goals.  They went ahead almost immediately from a Bingham header, but were soon pegged back by a classy finish from Luke Chadwick, a Cambridge local lad who started his career with Manchester United.  Both goalkeepers pulled off fine saves to keep the score at 1-1 until late in the second half, when pressure from a long free kick caused Cambridge’s Tom Champion to head into his own goal to give Mansfield the lead.  However, deep into stoppage time, as a mass of players flocked around a long ball into the box, Kwesi Appiah drifted into open space, found the ball knocked down to his feet, and poked home to take the tie to a replay.

Round 2 Replay: Mansfield Town 0 – 1 Cambridge United

Ten days later and the sides met again, knowing that either Bury or Luton Town awaited the winner in the next round.  There is no stronger case for retaining standing terraces in lower league football than the sight of less than 2,000 fans dotted around an 8,000 capacity all-seater stadium.  Still, the 300-strong travelling Amber Army did their best to create some atmosphere in the One Call Stadium, and they were quickly rewarded when Sullay Kaikai’s speculative strike took a huge deflection to dribble past the Mansfield goalkeeper.  Cambridge were largely content to defend as the weather deteriorated over the remaining 80 minutes, and were pinned entirely in their own half for the last quarter of an hour.  The plan looked to have backfired when Luke Waterfall netted for Mansfield in the dying minutes, but Cambridge were saved from extra time by a very, very late offside flag from the linesman.  News filtered through that Luton had beaten Bury 1-0 in their replay to set up a juicy third round tie.

Round 3: Cambridge United 2 – 1 Luton Town

40 miles might be a little too far to count as a local derby, but a strong rivalry has developed between Cambridge and Luton over recent seasons, as the two keep bumping into each other in league and cup competitions.  Both sides won promotion from the Conference to the Football League last season: Luton as champions and Cambridge, after finishing runners-up, via the play-offs.  After an even start, Ryan Donaldson won a penalty for Cambridge when he was tripped by the Luton goalkeeper Mark Tyler, who was lucky not to receive a red card.  Tyler tipped Robbie Simpson’s penalty onto the post, but the rebound fell kindly and Simpson slotted home for a 1-0 lead.  Luton pushed strongly for an equaliser in the second half, but that left space behind for Donaldson to dribble through from halfway and double Cambridge’s lead.  Luton created plenty of chances as cross after cross flashed across the face of the Cambridge goal.  Michael Harriman pulled one back for the visitors with a quarter of an hour to go, but Cambridge held their nerve to go through to the fourth round for the first time in 15 years.

Round 4: Cambridge United vs. Manchester United

Cambridge’s reward for their three cup victories is a dream fourth round draw at home to Manchester United.  The only time the sides have met previously was in the second round of the League Cup in 1991.  A late equaliser from Dion Dublin (who moved to Old Trafford for £1m 10 months later, and played four times for England) secured Cambridge a 1-1 draw at home in the second leg – though the Red Devils went through 4-1 on aggregate following a 3-0 win in the first leg at Old Trafford.

Manchester United entered this season’s FA Cup in the third round with an away tie against Yeovil Town, and were held for 63 minutes before goals from Herrera and Di Maria gave them a 2-0 win.  Louis van Gaal’s side will again have to adapt to intimate surroundings, as Cambridge’s Abbey Stadium, which is half standing terraces, has a total capacity that is just over a tenth of that of Old Trafford.  Despite the setting, Manchester United should have an overwhelming advantage, with their players earning (at least) as much in a week as their Cambridge counterparts do in a year.

The match will kick off at 7.55pm tomorrow, and with tickets now completely sold out, you’ll be pleased to know that the game will be televised live on BBC One.  Don’t miss it!