Pied piper Maris leads U’s to victory

JOE Dunne was full of praise for midfielder George Maris after he inspired Cambridge United to a comprehensive victory over Crawley Town.

Maris put in an impressive performance in a deep-lying midfield role for the U’s, scoring the second goal with a stunning free kick, then creating the third for Jevani Brown.

Jabo Ibehre had opened the scoring early on, with Josh Payne’s penalty the only response from the Red Devils.

Cambridge interim boss Dunne said: “That’s what George can bring, he can get on the ball and make forward passes, and the key thing is he’s adding goals to his game.

“Goals and assists from a midfield player is exciting but he’s still got work to do and it’s my job to help him continue his development.

“I was pleased with our intensity. We had a game plan and I thought our start was excellent. That set the tone and we took control after that.”

The game was just four minutes old when Cambridge took the lead. Brown’s corner curled high into the sixyard box and Ibehre climbed highest to head in his seventh goal of the season.

Maris was at the heart of much of Cambridge’s good play as the home side bossed proceedings and he doubled his team’s lead in style with a curling free kick which found the bottom corner after Ibehre had been fouled 25 yards out.

Crawley’s best effort of the half came from Karlan Ahearne-Grant, who chipped a shot into the side-netting from a narrow angle after rounding David Forde.

But Harry Kewell’s men grabbed a lifeline four minutes after the restart when Ibehre’s clumsy challenge on substitute Enzio Boldewjin saw referee Craig Hicks point to the spot. Payne made no mistake from 12 yards.

Maris then saw another effort from distance strike the post, before his clipped through-ball found Brown, who sidestepped keeper Glenn Morris and rolled home into the empty net.

Kewell, whose side are now five games without a win, said: “We gave away two sloppy goals in the first half, and that makes it very hard.

“The referee has questions to answer because I felt a few of his decisions were interesting.

“We passed the ball well at times but we need it to stick better up front.

“We are not going to let the season fade away. We will play right to the end, but just need to be a bit more aggressive in forward areas.”