Calderwood pays price after U’s cup misery
COLIN Calderwood conceded his Cambridge side’s goalless draw at Carlisle was far from being a classic.
“It was probably an apology for a game, a real grind,” he admitted.
However the U’s boss added: “I’m delighted with a clean sheet. The game stagnated with a lot of refereeing decisions and the inability of both teams was exaggerated by the number of fouls.
“Both teams stuttered and it wasn’t fluent, although Carlisle developed some passages of play better than us in the first half.”
Calderwood admitted a midweek cup defeat at Exeter may have taken something out of his team.
“If we’d been fresher we may have been able to make a better impression on the game,” he said. “It looked hard work to create any fluency.”
The fact that neither goalkeeper had a direct shot to save told the story of the first 45 minutes.
Carlisle saw plenty of the ball in that area, but the build-up was too deliberate to trouble a solid Cambridge rearguard.
George Maris provided one early threat for the visitors with a shot from the edge of the penalty area that drifted a yard wide and, nearer to half-time, leading scorer Sam Smith blasted a half chance over the bar.
But the best scoring opportunity fell to Carlisle’s Olufela Olomola in the
40th minute when a Nathan Thomas free-kick picked him out unmarked at the far post. However, the striker could only bury his header into the side netting.
When U’s goalkeeper Dimitar Mitov was finally called into action in the 51st minute it was to produce a fine save from Olomola’s closerange header after Harry McKirdy had crossed from the left.
With a stalemate beckoning, Maris saw an effort deflected off target and a header across the face of goal by Carlisle’s Ryan Loft gave the home side momentary hope.
Carlisle caretaker boss Gavin Skelton admitted his disappointment at failing to snatch what would have been a vital three points.
Skelton was taking charge of his second game since the sacking of Steven Pressley. “It was not a free-flowing game, but we had three or four chances to win it,” he said.
“We lacked the quality to finish them and it was a frustrating afternoon.”