United were held to a goalless draw by non-league Crawley Town on Saturday, but the United boss Denis Smith was pleased that his side came through the game unscathed.

Chris Hackett went close for United, but they felt aggrieved that they were denied penalties when Ben Abbey was twice sent sprawling.

"To be honest, it was a game to get through more than anything else because we had already arranged this one before the Chelsea fixture came up," Smith admitted. "Ideally, I wouldn't have wanted to go ahead with the game, but it went fine considering everybody was absolutely shattered. People don't realise what a tough week it was for the players because on top of training, they had the matches and it really takes it out of them.

"But Steve Anthrobus, Simon Weatherstone and Sam Ricketts all did well and Lee Jarman played three of the best passes I've seen in a long time they were top-class."