Colin Calderwood worried for Cambridge after another heavy loss

Posted Wednesday, January 29, 2020 by PA

Colin Calderwood criticised his Cambridge side after their 4-0 home defeat against Salford.

The U’s have now lost seven of their last nine matches, and the result was their second by that scoreline in as many home games.

Adam Rooney opened the scoring before half-time and converted a penalty soon after to put the Ammies in control before Ashley Hunter and Ibou Touray confirmed a resounding away win.

Asked if he had big concerns about his side, Calderwood said: “Definitely. It’s crept into the group and we look shallow in our performance. There’s no hiding place from that, you’ve got to stand up and accept it.

“We were lacking confidence, lacking the ability to go and compete for 90 minutes and we don’t recover from a setback, especially when it came at the start of the second half. We didn’t show fight.

“Some of it has to come from myself and the coaching staff but we’ve given them the platform time and time again.

“What we’ve seen today and against Stevenage is quite alarming, if I’m honest. I don’t like the smell of the group at the minute and their appetite for the fight.”

Asked if he expected to still be in charge of United at the weekend, Calderwood said “I would love to be.

“I like the job and I’d like to get a better group and a better performance out of this group. Without a doubt I can get a better performance out of the team and the club going forward.”

Graham Alexander reflected on “an excellent night all round” after Salford recorded their biggest victory of the season and secured their first double of the campaign, having beaten the U’s in October.

“We should have had the double on Saturday against Oldham, but fair play to the players they’ve come here tonight and put that behind them and had an excellent win,” he said.

“I’m delighted for those guys because they work exceptionally hard.

“People will look at it from afar and say it was an easy game, and it wasn’t. Us going in at 1-0 was a good lead for us but we had to improve in the second half to make sure we capitalised on being in the lead.

“There were some really good performances tonight I felt from certain individuals but the most important thing is the team performance. We’ve got to be delighted with what we showed tonight.

“Every game’s tough and you have to earn the right to win, and I think we’ve done that in good spells in the last two games. We’ve got to learn from those good periods and try to extend them for longer.”