Friday night saw Cambridge United join forces with the city’s students, with discounted tickets offered in an attempt to prise them away from their books, and to head to The Abbey Stadium instead.

A good number of students attended the game against Bristol Rovers, in which the Us slipped to a 2-1 defeat, despite taking the lead through Barry Corr’s bullet header on thirty-three minutes.

Although one student jokingly told Varsity he had only attended to “see the Gas [Bristol Rovers]” in action, others claimed the deal, in which tickets bought through the TeamFirst app cost just £6, had attracted them to the Friday night fixture.

“It’s  the first time we have come down to The Abbey,” one said, “we saw the promotion on TeamFirst and decided, as it was a Friday, to come along.”

Another student, from Robinson College, had taken advantage of the dual benefit of the game being on a Friday evening, coupled with the low ticket cost, one which also included £3 entry to central club Kuda for those who so wished . He continued that, should more such opportunities be available in the future, especially on weeknights, he and his friends would attend Us games more regularly.

“I’m playing football on a Saturday and a Sunday, so I probably would not come then. Midweek and Friday night games are definitely the way to go.”

Whilst Cambridge United are not necessarily able to control the rescheduling of their fixtures, they will be encouraged by the student attendance for this game, especially with many pre-occupied with Halloween Formals.  Over 5,100 were at The Abbey in total, including over 500 who had made the long coach journey from the West Country.

Although it ended up being a frustrating evening for Richard Money’s men, who were downed ultimately by Rovers’ Matt Taylor seizing on a poor backpass, before calmly rounding Chris Dunn and slotting home eight minutes from time, it was a successful one in the building of ties between the club and the university.

Cambridge United gaffer Richard Money had told Varsity on Thursday how important a student fanbase can be for the Amber Army.

“If you come to university in Cambridge, you probably support something far bigger than Cambridge [United], but while they’re here it would be really nice if they also understood that we’ve got a really good football club in the city.

It’s [the club] about representing the city of Cambridge, and that means everybody who works or comes here for any period of time.”