A supreme ten man effort brought Chippenham due reward as Ashley Edenborough’s stoppage time goal saw the Bluebirds leave Cambridge with all three points, simultaneously ending the table-toppers unbeaten league run.

Chippenham’s performance was even more credible as they had to battle the last half hour with ten men after Alan Griffin received a straight red card.

Griffin and Cambridge's Dave Theobald became embroiled in an off the ball pushing match and the Cambridge player ended up sitting on his backside.

Referee Wayne Porter, who had unsuccessfully appealed for a replacement official after only 15 minutes due to an injury, reached straight for a red card, although after the match the Cambridge camp admitted the referee had been conned.

Chippenham may well ask the home side for a copy of the match video to see if it can prove Griffin’s innocence.

The match had started brightly for the Bluebirds with Griffin winning the ball near the right corner flag in the fourth minute before knocking it forward to Lewis Powell.

Powell headed for goal and his shot from a narrow angle had Zac Barrett scrabbling across his goal to turn the ball away for a corner.

A minute later, Greg Tindle headed wide from a Scott Lye corner.

At the other end Cambridge almost snatched the lead after a free kick had been cleared by the Bluebirds defence.

As tall centre-back Theobald trotted back, the ball was suddenly returned and his instinctive header went straight to Ian Gill in the Chippenham goal.

For the remainder of the half Chippenham could only manage an off-target Tindle shot whilst Gill safely saved a David Kolodynski shot.

After Griffin’s dismissal Cambridge almost scored when teh aptly named Adrian Cambridge latched onto Gill’s clearance to the half way line.

The home skipper let fly from 45 yards and saw his effort sail over Gill only to bounce up and rebound off the cross bar.

The Bluebirds keeper did well to rush back and thwart Kolodynski’s follow-up effort.

The match changed on 77 minutes as Cambridge substituted their strike force and shortly afterwards Adie Mings brought on Ben Highmore and Ashley Edenborough.

Chippenham bravely kept two men up front and the Bluebirds substitutes posed a different threat.

Highmore almost scored on 89 minutes when he was sent clear but in a one on one with Barrett, the Cambridge keeper came out on top.

The dramatic winner came two minutes into stoppage time when a through ball found Edenborough.

As three defenders closed in he dribbled forwards a few yards before letting fly a low shot past Barrett.

Chippenham: Ian Gill, Alex Kite, James Martin, Ashley Williams, Steve Casey, Greg Tindle, Scott Lye, Iain Harvey (Nathan Rudge 90), Lewis Powell (Ashley Edenborough 79), Alan Griffin, Sam Allison (Ben Highmore 71) Attendance: 322