Calderwood delighted with positive response shown in Stevenage win

Posted Sunday, January 06, 2019 by PA

Colin Calderwood praised his Cambridge side for their response to their loss after their victory over Stevenage.

Cambridge bounced back from their 6-0 hammering at MK Dons on New year’s Day to record a 2-0 win. David Amoo’s second goal of the season set them on their way before Jevani Brown’s fine finish in first-half stoppage time secured the points.

With Macclesfield conceding in injury time to lose to Swindon, Cambridge moved five points above the relegation zone going into their huge game at Notts County next weekend.

“The result obviously looks like a big reaction from New Year’s Day,” Calderwood said.

“The quality of the opening 20 minutes set the tone and maybe settled the crowd a little bit, but it certainly settled ourselves down. We found some nice combinations and that gave us a threat and that threat obviously helps the atmosphere within the stadium.

“It gave us authority in the game. We’ve scored two and we’ve managed the second half, and there were moments where we might have gone on and increased the score.

“Whatever happened in the previous game, that was a good level of performance. You’ve got to give them a lot of credit for that level and obviously the result.

“We played well in the second half and I’m very pleased again with what I saw at home.

“It’s all about results. We’ve played well to get the result, now we’ve got to graft to get a result away from home.”

Stevenage boss Dino Maamria bemoaned the inconsistency of his team which sees them sitting middle of the League Two table.

“In a big derby game you can’t perform like that and we did,” he said.

“It’s been typical really, the first half of every game we play away from home we play really poorly. You can’t go away any place and give two goals away first half and give yourself a mountain to climb.

“I thought Cambridge were very, very good. They fought for their lives, they showed a lot of desire to win the game. Unfortunately we didn’t show that. That’s very disappointing.

“We showed we lack consistency. We’ve been up and down; we have a great performance and then follow it with a poor one. What that tells me is we’ve got some players who can’t sustain the level, maybe physically, maybe mentally.

“It’s a transition period for us. We’re 11th and we’re there for a reason. When we play well we win games and when we don’t play so well we don’t (win). We never play badly and win games. We never nick a result or a draw or scrap a win without being brilliant.”