AT THE ABBEY with MATT GOODING CAMBRIDGE United will be glad to see the back of January. On Tuesday night Exeter City inflicted a fifth defeat in seven games on Jimmy Quinn s side, beating the U s 1-0 at the Abbey Stadium. Despite a promising debut from n

AT THE ABBEY with MATT GOODING

CAMBRIDGE United will be glad to see the back of January.

On Tuesday night Exeter City inflicted a fifth defeat in seven games on Jimmy Quinn's side, beating the U's 1-0 at the Abbey Stadium.

Despite a promising debut from new striker Mark Beesley, signed from Forest Green Rovers for an undisclosed fee, United struggled to break down the massed ranks of the visitors defence. Having dominated possession in the first period, they fell behind when Exeter broke away and forced a ­corner, which Dan Seabourne nodded in at the far post.

Again United enjoyed plenty of ball in the second half, but too often the final pass let them down. They could have stolen a point at the death, but Exeter keeper Alan Marriott made a superb diving save to foil the impressive Lee McEvilly.

United did pick up three points last Saturday when they beat struggling Altrincham 2-1. Mark Convery scored a deflected winner after Colin Little had equalised McEvilly's first half opener.

The club's annual meeting took place on Monday night, and saw several changes made at board level following chairman Lee Power's resignation. Finance Director Geoff Peck, a close friend of Power's, also quit, as did vice chairman Johnny Hon.

Phil Law was named as new chairman, with fans director Brian Attmore taking the post of vice chairman.

One of Law's first acts as chairman was to reject a five-figure bid from a League Two club, believed to be Rochdale, for top scorer Scott Rendell.

With the transfer window set to close today (Thursday), U's fans will be hoping the club can hang on to Rendell, who has already notched 22 goals this season.

With the FA Trophy third round taking place this weekend, United have no game on Saturday, and can instead look forward to their crucial league fixture against Stevenage in 10 days' time.