FOR Bamber Bridge to have reached the second round of the FA Cup is testament to the effort and work rate of the team.

For the team to exit following a dodgy penalty awarded against them and having a goal disallowed, is just sheer bad luck.

The Brig boys raised their game to become an equal match for Division Two strugglers Cambridge United.

In fact, Brig dominated the first half of the game, leaving the stunned Us to watch in awe as Tony Greenwood's men took control of the game.

Both Steve Aspinall and Peter Smith had a stab in the first ten minutes, but they were both wide of the mark.

On 18 minutes, the travelling Brig faithful could see their team in the third round draw when Andy Whittaker bore down on Arjan Van Heusden and charged his clearance into the net.

But the referee saw a handball and not only disallowed the goal - he booked Whittaker as well.

Cambridge were slowly pulling back into the match but Brig were in full flow and stayed in control. Nigel Greenwood latched onto a loose backpass and shot just wide of the goal.

Cambridge's best chance of the half came in the dying minutes when Clive Wilson found himself with plenty of room to drive in a cross from the left and Michael Kyd met it with a powerful header.

But he hadn't counted on Craig Dootson, who worked wonders to collect the ball.

In the second half, chances went begging from Aspinall, Whittaker and Carroll, and Brig's luck was running out.

On 71 minutes came the most controversial moment of the match.

Jez Baldwin had been marking Trevor Benjamin for the duration of the match and the referee ruled that he pulled him to the floor in the penalty area.

Martin Butler sent Dootson the wrong way to put the Us 1-0 up.

Ian Vickers made a brief appearance towards the end of the match as Brig battled for the equaliser, but Cambridge held on to end up unworthy winners.

Brig ended their FA Cup account with a fantastic performance that did them proud. If they don't manage to get the Lucky Loser place in the third round, roll on next year!

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.