Joe Dunne questions Cambridge’s mentality after Carlisle defeat

Posted Sunday, September 09, 2018 by PA

Joe Dunne called his Cambridge side’s mentality into question after Carlisle came from behind to record victory in the Sky Bet League Two clash at the Abbey Stadium.

Having gone ahead through Jevani Brown’s well-worked goal, the U’s went on the lose 2-1 following goals by Richie Bennett and Ashley Nadesan.

It consigned Dunne’s team to a fourth home loss in a row in all competitions, while Carlisle moved up to fourth in the table.

Referring to Bennett’s equaliser just before half time, Dunne said: It totally changed the game, totally changed the mentality of my players.

“Come on. Find some drive. It’s 1-1. We’d played brilliantly in the first half, dominated the game, should have been two or three up, the creative play was excellent.

“That one goal that brought them level, didn’t even put them in the lead, some of our players couldn’t cope with that.

“Did they really win the game, or how much did they need to do to win the game? How much did we do to lose the game? Unfortunately it’s a habit we’re in at the moment, especially here.

“It’s a super life lesson for anyone watching that game. You’ve got to learn to be mentally resilient and be able to keep going.

“It’s just a bit of fear in the second half after the goal went in, and some of my players are going to have to get rid of that.

“Otherwise, never mind football, it’s going to be a very tough life for them I think.”

Carlisle boss John Sheridan believes his side deserved to come away with maximum points, despite starting the match on the back foot.

“I wasn’t happy at all with the way we started the game,” he said.

“The best thing to come out of the first half was getting the goal because they could possibly have scored two or three.

“We started the game really slowly and I gave them a bit of a rollicking at half time. We were going in on level terms and we were lucky to be going in level.

“I’m obviously very pleased to come away with three points. Being honest it didn’t look that way when we started the game.

“In the first half-hour, Cambridge caused us a lot of problems. They got the goal and could have had one or two more. We didn’t start the game well at all.

“The biggest thing for us was obviously getting a goal just before half time because it gets us back in the game without us playing well.

“Second half I thought we played well. My players looked different. I’m not frightened to pick people out in the dressing room. The good thing about it is they responded really well.

“In the second half we looked comfortable. We controlled the game quite well.”