Colin Calderwood will ‘turn things round’ at Cambridge despite Morecambe defeat

Posted Sunday, December 23, 2018 by PA

New Cambridge manager Colin Calderwood has a clearer idea of the task facing him as his side suffered a heavy defeat at fellow League Two strugglers Morecambe.

The former Nottingham Forest boss, taking charge of the U’s for the first time, saw his side concede three second-half goals as they dropped five points behind the Shrimps in the table.

Vadaine Oliver, Andrew Tutte and Kevin Ellison all scored to leave Cambridge just one point above the drop zone and without a win in six games.

Calderwood said: “There were one or two good signs for me but overall there was a definite nervousness about the group which I think is borne out of the team being at the bottom end of the table.

“We had a few chances in the first half and if we had scored one things might have been different, but once they got into the ascendancy we didn’t arrest that charge and we will have to find a way to do that which is easier said than done.

“It was good for me to see the character of the players and it was easy to see how the goal deflated them and we didn’t really do enough.

“When we did get in good positions we didn’t show enough quality and that was frustrating.

“The first half was just about average and we fought hard but the second half they had a good period and we never really looked like stopping that or changing it.

“We will bang the drum and beat home the way we want to play and turn things round.”

Morecambe manager Jim Bentley was delighted with the way his side put their opponents to the sword, with two goals in the final three minutes making the game safe.

He said: “We got what we deserved today with a fantastic performance.

“I have been saying for a long time this season that we haven’t got the points our football deserved but today we did just that with a super second-half performance.

“We changed things around and put two up front to cause them problems and once we got our first goal I thought we were terrific.

“We always looked on top and when Andrew Tutte scored a second we added a third with some great football and I was delighted for the lads and for the fans because scoring three goals put a real smile on people’s faces.

“This was an important game for us as it was an important game in terms of league positions and it was great to start the Christmas period with a win.”