The Blues going into the game against Lye knew that defeat would make the challenge for the league title extremely difficult. Depending on other results they could be sitting as much as 11 points back from the leaders.

The visitors had crept up the table and were sitting a place and 4 points above United albeit having played 4 games more. Lye were a difficult prospect as United are one of the few teams to travel away and come back with all three points.
United did start the brighter of the two teams, Smith was in the game from the off and his great ball play had the Lye backline struggling to cope.

The first chance came for the Blues in the 4th minute, Smith had done well on the halfway line to get past 2 midfielders, having brought the ball forward into the last 3rd he passed to Nightingale. The attacker cut inside and played a smart pass into the feet of Jermaine Palmer, Palmer got away his shot but at the last second a defender slide in an deflected the ball out for a corner. The corner was dealt with well by the visitors.

Boafo was also getting forward down the right and in the 7th minute he sent in a hanging ball to the back post. J.Palmer got up well but couldn’t direct his header towards goal and it went out for a goal kick.
Lye won a free kick moments later deep in the United half the ball was hit long into the middle of the penalty box which was cleared just outside the box. A Lye midfielder retrieved the loose ball and having skipped past 3 United players got a shot away to the near post. Low was switched on and saved well at the near post.

The game began to get a little stop-start as the referee seemed to call a foul for nearly every tackle. The breaks in play was detrimental to both sides with the ball out of play for long periods.

United opened the scoring in the 21st minute. Boafo again found space down the right and instead of going out wide he came towards the middle of the pitch before crossing to the back post. J.Palmer nipped in front of his marker and flicked the ball into the left of goal. The was a slight delay to the restart as some attention was needed to a corner flag that was caught up in the celebrations.
The remainder of the half was rather strange, rather than pushing further forward Lye seemed happy with just the one goal deficit and was looking to get as many set pieces in the Blues half. United began to lose possession rather easily and the game once again entered a sloppy period.

Towards the end of the half Boafo had a chance to extend the lead, similar to the move that got United’s opener this time the right back decided to have a go himself and was only a matter of inches wide of the post with the keeper not able to cover.
The 2nd began very slowly with neither side managing to form any lengthy possession. That said it was the visitors who were higher up the pitch but similar to the first play was stopped frequently by officials.

Nightingale had a chance in the 52nd minute after Smith crossed in. A defender attempted a flying header clearance but missed completely and the ball found its way through to Nightingale, having controlled the ball a defender got between and managed to make a tackle. It may have been a better chance had the attacker took it first time.
Up the other end and the visitors went close in the 55th a long range shot, some 30 yards out missed the far post by around 3 feet from the number 9. An even better chance was missed by the visitors a minute later. The number 9 was involved again but this time he laid off to number 7. He saw the number 2 in space outwide and put in a great through ball. The number 2 sliced his effort from 7 yards out.
The game again slowed down as we hit the last quarter both sides having periods on the ball with the visitors looking the more dangerous without really causing the United keeper any problems.

The Blues were awarded a penalty in the 68th minute. A Hollis free-kick found Gerome Palmer who managed to control the ball, however as he did so a Lye defender caught him bringing him down. The referee pointed to the spot straight away.
Armstrong who has taken most of the Blues penalties this season stepped up but fired his shot to the left of the Lye keeper and the ball bounced of the left hand post and was cleared, had that gone in it would be safe to say that the home-side would be in a great position to wrap the game up, but the visitors took heart from the miss.

Jermain Palmer went close in the 77th minute, spotting the keeper off his line he lobbed the ball from 40 yards, the keeper chasing back managed to get a hand onto it to palm it round the post.
2 minutes later and Lye went close. Going forward in numbers the Flyers found space in the middle of the pitch 5 yards outside the box, the ball was chipped to the left, the Lye player struck the ball well but it was deflected up and just over the Blues bar by a Blues defender
Things took a turn for the worse when with 10 minutes to go Armstrong was sent off for a 2nd yellow. Lye’s number 2 was in acres of space on the right and turned inside to attempt to get into the box. Armstrong spotted the move and came to challenge, the number 2 checked inside and went over Armstrongs back. It was a very soft free-kick but as Armstrong had already picked up a yellow he was sent to the changing rooms.

The resulting freekick was hit low to the far post and Jermain Hollis managed to clear the danger.
From that point on you had a feeling it wouldn’t be United’s day and with just one minute of normal time remaining the visitors levelled.
Lye won a freekick out wide which was spun in to the near post. James Spray rose up and glanced the ball just past Low in the United goal. A killer for United right at the death.
United pressed during injury time but couldn't create anything in the way of attempts on goal.