Dunne pleased with Cambridge resilience after snatching late point

Posted Sunday, September 23, 2018 by PA

Cambridge boss Joe Dunne was encouraged by his side’s improved resilience after they drew 1-1 with Mansfield.

George Maris struck with two minutes remaining to earn Cambridge a point and prevent them from losing at home for the fifth game in a row and deny Mansfield a victory that they had looked set for following Danny Rose’s goal in the first half.

It left Dunne pleased to come away with a draw.

“A point is the minimum we deserved today,” Dunne reflected afterwards. “We pushed a good side, having lots and lots of shots on target, things deflected wide, goalkeeper making saves; a really tough display. It shows a bit of resilience about us.

“To a man I thought they were excellent. I thought they controlled the second half, they’ve had minimum opportunities.

“Maybe a couple of weeks ago and with the mood we’ve been in lately, we probably would have gone on and lost that one but the boys really dug in. Great credit to them. Never did we drop our heads and the crowd never went low either so it’s a great reward for a really hard performance.

“The first half was always going to be tough but I don’t mind that if you’re still in the game. We were and I felt we could up our aggression, up our front foot work and we’d get something back. The players really believed that, they were good at half time. The changing room at half-time was player-led, which hasn’t happened often this season. I’m proud of them.”

Mansfield boss David Flitcroft rued his side’s lack of killer instinct after they were denied victory by Maris’ goal.

“It’s only a point,” he said afterwards. “When you’ve got three in the bag, to give them up and lose two points so late, it rips your heart out.

“We stopped moving the ball second half, stopped being brave on the ball. There was a fear for us getting on the ball and we gave Cambridge too much time. We had some really good positions where we can effect the game in the last third of the pitch and we almost gave those opportunities up, which allowed them to come at us again.

“The lads did really well in the first 30 minutes to get the goal. We looked very comfy, and it’s almost like we don’t want to go on and hurt a team and really be ruthless and go and get that second one. It gives teams hope, it allows them to throw more bodies up the pitch and they did that and they thoroughly deserved the equaliser.

“We’ve got to look at what we’ve got to do better in the key moments, and we didn’t control the game second half.”