On our last visit to Abbey Stadium, Cambridge United's Sam Smith snatched an equaliser in the final moments to send our FA Cup tie to a replay.
Back in November 2019, City went in to the game not only looking to progress to the second round of the cup, but also to make amends for the 4-0 loss that we had experienced in our previous league encounter with Cambridge just weeks before.
With few chances in the opening half, it was City's determination that broke the deadlock in the 34th minute through Alex Fisher's first goal for the club.
Not long after being superbly denied by U's defender Greg Taylor, Fisher stole the ball from Elliott Ward and rifled his shot past Callum Burton to send the Grecians into half-time with a narrow lead.
In the second half, City looked to kick on and double the advantage, and came close when Aaron Martin nodded wide from a Matt Jay corner. Soon after, Jay made a speculative attempt of his own from distance, but the effort was comfortably held by Burton.
On the hour mark, Randell Williams found himself in full-flight down the right-hand-flank and picked out Jay who put Burton to work once again with a low drive.
Up until this point, Cambridge had threatened little - in fact, they had yet to register an effort on goal - yet Harrison Dunk came close to equalising after 65-minutes with an overhead kick that was just inches wide of Jonny Maxted's goal.
In all, City crafted 14 chances of their own throughout the match, but with only three of them finding the target there was always room for the home side to find their way back into the game if they could find some impetus and accuracy of their own...
As the fourth official raised his board to signal four minutes of injury time it looked like City were heading home with the win, but with just moments remaining, Sam Smith latched on to a flick-on with his left boot and levelled the scores with Cambridge's first shot on target.
Cambridge United: Burton, Taylor, Ward (Dunk, 63), Taft, Knoyle, Lewis, Maris, O'Neil (Lambe, 63), Jones (Knibbs, 75), Richards, Smith).
Subs not used: Mitov, Dallas, Darling, Davies.
Exeter City: Maxted, Sweeney, A.Martin, Parkes, Williams, Atangana (Tillson, 78), Collins, Woodman, Fisher (Seymour, 82), Bowman (L.Martin, 77), Jay.
Subs not used: Visser, Moxey, Sparkes, Chrisene.
