Time To Learn

The R Costings Abbey Stadium was packed to the rafters – thanks to strong support for both the home side and from the travelling Green Army – to watch the first meeting between the two sides in more than 15 years.

Luke McCormick was the hero of the hour in the first half saving Adam Cunnington’s penalty after Carl McHugh handled the ball inside the area.

Plenty of chances fell the way of both sides throughout, but Josh Coulson was the man to turn home the game’s only goal following a dangerous corner kick, securing the U’s a winning return to the Football League.

Following the game, John revealed he felt his side deserved to take something from the fixture, and was disappointed to see a good display unravel during the second half.

He said: “I was not too disappointed with the performance – I am just disappointed about the result. We have got to learn, so hopefully we will learn quickly.

“I thought we started the game really well, to be fair,” he said. “I was pleased with the way we were playing, and then the penalty went our way, with Luke making a great save.

“I thought we looked quite comfortable, and I could not see us losing the game, then we do little naïve things that end up costing you and putting you under pressure. It just gives your opponent a bit of belief and lets them get their tempo.

“It is a bad start. I would have liked to have got something out of the game – even a 0-0. We were saying, at half-time, to take just take something out of the game if we need to: ‘If it is 0-0, so be it.’; but it wasn’t.”

The gaffer’s immediate task will be to get the defeat out of the minds of his players and have them fully focused for two huge home fixtures over the next week: against Leyton Orient in Tuesday’s Capital One Cup tie, and Exeter City in the league on Saturday.

John said: “We have just got to take it on the chin, and we have got to try and get back on Tuesday, and then win the big game on Saturday. We have got to try and win as many games as quickly as possible.

“We have got a tough game against Leyton Orient, and we have to try and get the result we want.”