Things are on the up for Cambridge United. Having spent the last ten years in the doldrums, fighting off financial liquidation and battling it out in the non-league spectrum of football, they made it back to the professional league system last season. And then Manchester United came knocking.

For a club like Cambridge United, once treading the banks of a financial quagmire, to now receive a financial windfall of the kind seen not only through the game last week, with live television coverage and in front of a full-to-bursting R Costings Abbey stadium, and to be able to do it all again in two weeks’ time in Manchester, has been something of a miracle. A ‘Utopia’, as Jez George, the club’s Chief Executive, described it.

Last week’s performance by the League Two side was extraordinary. Their organisation, resilience and sheer determination completely dwarfed any of the technical flair and prowess that their multi-million pound megastar opponents attempted to offer in return. They came to the Abbey and were thwarted. It was the stuff of dreams for the U’s faithful.

But the most important statistic of all was the attendance at the Abbey. Full to the brim with 8,000 regulars and university students alike, all urging their local side on. In fact, it could easily have been possible to fill the ground three, or maybe four, times over.

The game undoubtedly captured the city’s imagination. You only had to walk through the centre of town to see scarf sellers flaunting their match day goods. This game was unmissable, and, for at least one day, everyone in Cambridge was a U’s supporter.

And this can only be a good thing. It has always been difficult for Cambridge United to entice the student population to make the trip to the Abbey and stand in the Newmarket Road terrace. Students are busy. The ground is on the outskirts. The standard of football has not been high enough.

But these excuses may just have been supplanted with the events of the last couple of weeks. It’s not hard to find someone from the university who was on the terraces last Friday.

Juan Luis Bradley, from Fitzwilliam College, is just one example, describing his experience as “a memory to be cherished for a very long time indeed.”

Students flocked in great numbers to get tickets. And they were served up a treat by the home side.

The real task for Cambridge United is to sustain this sudden upsurge in interest. Working with the university to pull curious football fans away from their desks and spend their pennies on pies and bacon butties must be a priority.

Indeed, the U’s have made attempts to engage more with the university. This is evident from the support and training they currently give to our football Blues side. Danny Kerrigan, the club’s Community Trust Manager and former Cambridge Blue, told me how they have started to firm up links with the University.

“The relationship was really cemented with the University football team at the start of last season. Cambridge United committed to coaching the team, and Jez [George] managed Blues games throughout the season.

“I also met Jez through his involvement with CUAFC, and was offered the job of Community Trust Manager. At least part of the reason why I was hired was to provide a stronger link with the University.

“This season we gave free season tickets to all college captains, to try to encourage them to attend more regularly. We have also provided further discounts for college teams who have come as a group.”Things are clearly moving in the right direction. But more can still be done. What is clear, however, is that this FA Cup tie has given Cambridge United the opportunity to tap into the student market like never before.

You only have to see the way the student media interest in the side has rocketed.

Cambridge United will desperately be hoping that they have done enough to get Cambridge students to become regulars at the Abbey during term time.

But especially in the wake of their Manchester United heroics, the Amber Army could not have secured a better opportunity to gain more recruits.