Joe Dunne: Cambridge showing resilience

Posted Sunday, March 11, 2018 by PA

Cambridge caretaker manager Joe Dunne believes his players are getting a reputation for never giving up, after they snatched a late equaliser in their 1-1 draw at Wycombe.

For the second week in a row, the U’s scored late to earn a point against one of League Two’s high-flyers, as Paul Lewis picked the third minute of added time to score his first goal for the club.

Cambridge have lost just once in their last seven games, but this was another blow to Wycombe’s promotion hopes as they are now two points off an automatic place.

Dunne said: “I’m just pleased for the players because we worked so hard on the pitch and it’s a great reward for them to say that we’ll keep going until the very end.

“We’re building up a little bit of a rep that you’re going to have to go some [to beat us] and that’s what we want.

“If we keep giving honest endeavour, we’ll get a bit back and sometimes, like at Accrington, you don’t get it and sometimes, like today, you do.

“I’m exceptionally pleased with the resilience of the team.

“It needs everybody and it takes everybody and what we’re seeing is impact from the bench.

“Paul has come on early and it was one of those where I wondered ‘do I risk Paul?’ because he hasn’t played a lot of games, but he showed great energy and commitment.

“Obviously his chances have been limited, but he took his chance today.”

Wycombe took the lead in first-half stoppage time when Adebayo Akinfenwa flicked in Scott Brown’s deep free-kick with a deft header.

Having kept themselves in the game, Cambridge had their reward at the death when Lewis found the bottom corner after a long ball wasn’t cleared.

Wycombe manager Gareth Ainsworth said: “It’s a tough one to take today because I thought there was a foul in the build-up to their goal.

“I think a lot of people will agree with me but the referee didn’t and that’s the story of the game.

“I think they’ve had about two shots on our goal, which is frustrating because we limited them and we had some good chances – I thought they rode their luck at times.

“We hit the post, had one off the line and Bayo’s left-footed shot, so it wasn’t a pretty game and I don’t believe that was totally the way I wanted us to play.

“Cambridge came with a plan to use their two big front men and ultimately they’ve created a chance that they’ve scored from at the end.

“We didn’t feel under any threat, majorly, but they’ve come up in the 93rd minute, like we’ve done quite a few times.”