Cambridge boss Calderwood: A lot of things went in our favour

Posted Sunday, September 15, 2019 by PA

Colin Calderwood admitted Cambridge rode their luck as they ended a run of three consecutive defeats with an entertaining 3-2 win at in-form Crewe.

The U’s profited from key decisions by referee David Rock, which left Crewe boss David Artell raging.

The official sent off veteran midfielder Paul Green for a late challenge on Samir Carruthers in the first half before awarding a controversial second-half penalty which Sam Smith converted to win the game.

Smith, on loan from Reading, set his side on the way with a cool finish for the opener, but Crewe hit back to lead after the break through Eddie Nolan and Chuma Anene.

Calderwood said: “It is the first time in the league this season that we’ve scored the first goal and that helped, but the sending-off, like a lot of things, went in our favour.

“We were 1-0 up…but got ourselves in a right pickle. We lost Carruthers and in a five-minute spell they got back in the game.

“We lost composure and credit to Crewe with 10 men as they really probed and pressed us and we were hanging on at the end as well.

“But we dug in and got ourselves a penalty. I’m looking back at other games where we should have got draws as a minimum, so the points gained today are compensation for those.”

If Smith’s early strike was not enough of a setback to Crewe’s hopes of staging their best start to a season in 70 years, then the dismissal of Green certainly was.

After showing plenty of attacking style in winning five of their previous six games, they needed a boost and they got if from on-loan FC Midtjylland forward Anene.

A spell of four goals in nine minutes saw the game swing back and forth, with Nolan sliding home from a corner and Anene showing a neat touch before firing in.

But Paul Lewis was left unmarked to level for the U’s and when Nolan appeared to catch Luke Hannant as the wing-back dashed into the box it allowed Smith the chance to net his second from the spot.

Crewe boss Artell said: “The ref gave a penalty for a perfectly brilliant tackle and you cannot legislate for that and for him to get so much wrong.

“The best thing about it is that his boss Mike Jones (PGMOL) has been here to see it.

“He (Rock) can go back to being an architect or maths teacher on Monday thinking nothing is wrong and ref again on Tuesday night.

“But we were 2-1 up and you have to ask did we really understand the game? Why were we still going gung-ho trying to get a third rather than shutting up shop for 20 minutes?

“We lost the game but we didn’t lose it for lack of effort. I thought the crowd were magnificent and they’ve seen an unjust decision go against us.”