Disrupted by an early change inside the opening 10 minutes, the green and whites recovered to take the lead just past the midway point of the half.
Alex Dobre’s strong run and shot forced a save that was only into the path of Courtney Duffus to notch his first goal for the club.
A confident and assured performance, Dobre almost made the lead more comfortable but the one-goal proved enough as a vital three points were collected.
Darren Way opted to make wholesale changes for the return to Huish Park with some bold selection choices.
Academy graduate, Daniel Ojo, was awarded an EFL debut at left-back whilst Yoann Arquin was deployed in the unorthodox position of centre-back.
Recalled to action, Alefe Santos and Matt Worthington partnered up in the middle of the park whilst January acquisition Duffus was given a first start in green and white to complete the changes.
Having featured last weekend, Craig Alcock (knee) and Alex Pattison (back) joined Omar Sowunmi (ankle), Josh Grant (ankle), Gary Warren (hamstring), Sessi D’Almeida (shoulder) and Gabby Rogers (calf) on the sidelines.
With those injuries forcing a different looking back four, it was disrupted further just 10 minutes in when Arquin took a knock and had to be replaced by Tristan Abrahams.
The attacker’s introduction saw Bevis Mugabi move inside to accommodate Browne at right-back, with the substitute filling the wing position.
Taking a moment to readjust to the changes the visitors enjoyed a spell of territory and forced the first save of the game from Nathan Baxter.
Jabo Ibehre’s shot from the angle had to be dealt with and was parried away by Town’s captain for the day.
Settling down after the defensive disruption the hosts grew into the match with Santos beginning to pull the strings in the centre of midfield.
Bringing others into play the Glovers soon took the lead, with Dobre doing all of the hard work.
The Bournemouth loanee drove into the U’s box before unleashing a low drive that forced Dimitar Mitov into a low save that only fell to Duffus a yard out, marking his first start in style.
Looking rampant following the opener Way’s side almost grabbed a second in as many minutes.
Browne spotted the run of Alex Fisher through the middle and when the pass was made the striker’s first-time sweeping strike trickled inches wide of the post.
Close to doubling their lead the green and whites settled for looking comfortable, as Santos and Worthington took control in midfield whilst youngster Ojo marshaled the speedy David Amoo well.
Keeping the threatening Cambridge man at bay for much of the opening 45 minutes it wasn’t until the stroke of half-time that Amoo almost made an impact.
Driving in off of the right-wing he raced into the box but under pressure from Mugabi blazed a strike inches over to see Town retain the lead at the halfway stage.
A rare foray forward for Colin Calderwood’s side, Town were soon back on the front foot after the restart.
Dobre, a constant thorn in Cambridge’s side, almost got the goal his performance deserved only for Mitov to once again parry away the winger’s venomous strike.
Facing the prospect of two defeats in a week the U’s then rallied and had two good chances of their own, only failing to score due to good defending and dreadful finishing respectively.
First up, Browne produced a perfect last-ditch challenge to deflect Ibehre’s shot onto the outside of the post before Alex Jones somehow stabbed Amoo’s low cross wide from inside the six yard box minutes later.
Fortunate not to have been pegged back the Glovers then almost doubled their lead in fortuitous style.
Duffus peeled out onto the right wing and looked to find strike partner Fisher in the middle, but his cross-cum-shot looked destined to loop into the back of the net prior to Mitov intervening and tipping over the bar.
With both sides making a number of substitutions the tempo of the match was disrupted heading into the final quarter-of-an-hour before that man Dobre almost brought it back to life.
Cutting in from the left to brilliantly beat two defenders, he finally beat Mitov with a blistering strike only for it to somehow fly wide.
Knowing the importance of victory the home faithful rallied behind the green and whites for the closing stages and the twelfth man were left on their feet as the full-time whistle blew to applaud a strong performance and vital victory.
Yeovil Town: Baxter; Mugabi, Arquin (Abrahams 10′), Gafaiti, Ojo (Dickinson 74′); Browne, Santos, Worthington, Dobre; Fisher, Duffus (Gray 77′).
Bookings: Gafaiti 55′, Fisher 58′, Abrahams 90′, Baxter 90′
Subs not used: Nelson, Zoko, Seager, Arnold.
Cambridge United: Mitov; John (Brown 64′), Darling, Taft, Taylor; Amoo, Deegan, Maris, Lambe; Ibehre, Jones (Hepburn-Murphy 63′).
Bookings:
Subs not used: Iron, Lewis, Davies, Osadebe.
