Borough travelled to the Abbey Stadium armed with a two-goal lead from the first leg, but it proved to be insufficient against a dominant Cambridge United side. Stevenage took a defensive mind set into the game and rarely got themselves on the front foot, and in thye end they paid a high price for their trepidation.

At half time, with the scoreline blank, it looked as if they would scrape through, but two second half goals from the home side sent the tie in to extra time, and with just one minute left Scott Rendell scored his second goal of the afternoon to break Stevenage hearts.

With Darren Murphy free to take his place in the line up while the club wait for the results of Tuesday’s appeal hearing regarding his sending off in the first leg manager Graham Westley only made the one change, adding some more hustle to the centre of the park by bringing in Gary Mills at the expense of Junior Mendes.

With their two goal lead Borough were content to play largely on the back foot, inviting the home side forwards, leading to a nervy opening half hour for the visiting supporters. In truth Cambridge’s chances were few and far between despite enjoying the lion’s share of possession. Anthony Tomkins was allowed far too much space to run into the Borough area but his low drive was blocked, and moments later a low cross from the right from Dan Gleeson found Lee Phillips in space between the two centre backs, but his touch deserted him and the ball squirted wide of the post.

Just after the half hour Borough had a glorious chance to put the tie to bed when an overhead kick from Andy Drury sent Steve Morison racing clear. The striker took his time, ran in on goal, but dragged his shot wide of the post. Borough were creating a few chances of their own and a square ball from Bostwick found Murphy on the edge of the area, but his effort sailed over the bar.

With the game starting to open up the home side looked the more likely to break the deadlock, and they almost achieved that when a cross from Courtney Pitt found the usually lethal Scott Rendell, six yards from goal, but thankfully for Stevenage his header went straight into the arms of Chris Day. The next opportunity fell to Pitt himself as a loose ball fell to him 12 yards from goal, but he lashed his effort over with the goal at his mercy.

With Borough continually stretched down the right flank Westley made a decision to replace one of his three central midfield players, Murphy, with Lawrie Wilson, a switch that gave the midfield a more balanced look. The half almost ended on a bright note for Stevenage when Ronnie Henry broke forwards, played a one –two with Boylan and found himself in space in the penalty area but he hurried his shot and it was comfortably saved by Danny Potter.

It was not a first half that will live long in the memories of the travelling Stevenage fans but it was a case of job half done as they maintained their two-goal advantage while frustrating the home side and their supporters.

The second period began in much the same vein with Cambridge enjoying almost totally control but failing to call Day in to serious action. Borough paid the price for their lack of ambition on 55 minutes when Cambridge took the lead in somewhat fortuitous circumstances. The ball was fed out to Robbie Wilmott on the right, he cut inside Wilson and hit a speculative shot that looked to be heading safely wide until it took a wicked deflection of Laird that left Day wrong footed and only able to watch the ball float into the net.

The opening goal changed the whole complexion of the afternoon, A Cambridge side with spirits visibly lifted attacked with greater belief and they nearly levelled the aggregate scoreline when Wayne Hatswell rose at the near post to glance a corner from Pitt just wide of the post. With their grasp on the tie weakened Borough began to show more attacking intent and First leg hero Roberts almost scored a priceless goal. Substitute Calum Willock got a flick to a freekick by Mills and from close range Roberts stooped to head goalwards, but his header drifted just wide of the post.

The introduction of Willock added some bite to the Borough frontline, but it was still Cambridge who held sway their greater possession however was all too often wasted with a hurried final ball. For their part Borough were forced to live on scraps of possession, and breakaways. On one rare foray forwards Morison raced clear, but failed to get his shot away and failed to get his shot away.

There was an inevitability about Cambridge’s second goal with just 17 minutes remaining. Hatswell headed a ball back across goal and the predatory Rendell was on hand to tap home from close range. In truth with 15 minutes remaining there looked to be only one winner, Borough were in disarray and Cambridge were flying.

With the clock running down Borough were granted two last chances for redemption. Willock broke forwards, squared to Drury, who dinked the ball over Potter only for Hatswell to clear the ball off the line, Morison looked to have the chance to finish, but again Hatswell cleared his weak effort off the line. From the ensuing corner Bostwick rose above the defenders to power a header that looked bound for the goal, but Potter pulled off an amazing save to send the tie in to extra time.

Things went from bad to worse for Stevenage when Laird received his second yellow card for a foul on Gleeson, and the third consecutive time against Cambridge, Borough were forced to play with ten men. For Laird the personal repercussions were that he would miss Saturday’s FA Trophy final at Wembley. But for Stevenage the repercussions were far more serious as unlike the other two occasions they failed to stepm up when reduced to ten men. This time they huffed and toiled but were hanging on and it seemed as if they would survive for a penalty shoot out, but it was not to be. With just one minute remaining Carden sent in a low drive that Day could only parry away, and Rendell was on hand to tap home from close range to secure Cambridge a place in the play-off final at Wembley in two weeks time.

 STEVENAGE BOROUGH (4-4-2) C Day – R Henry, J Ashton, M Roberts, S Laird – A Drury (Sub: J Mendes, 100), D Murphy (Sub: L Wilson, 40), M Bostwick, G Mills – L Boylan (Sub: C Willock, 60), S Morison. Substitutes not used: A Bayes, P Vincenti. Booked: Ashton, Laird, Roberts. Sent Off: Laird

Referee: Paul Tierney

Attendance: 6507 (1173 away)