Cambridge United surrender lead during Sky Bet League One defeat at Cheltenham Town

Cambridge United head coach Mark Bonner has conceded his side were second best throughout last night's 2-1 defeat at Cheltenham Town.

The U's took a one-goal lead with them into the break courtesy of midfielder Adam May's strike, but the hosts responded after the break via Dan Nlundulu and Alfie May to claim the spoils.

It was a result that ended United's three-match unbeaten run of form in Sky Bet League One – and Bonner had no complaints about the outcome.

“They played well, they deserved the win for sure," he told the club's YouTube channel. “We were poor tonight and we didn’t really get going in the first half. Dimi (Mitov, goalkeeper) has made a good save and Lloyd (Jones, centre-back) has made a couple of good interceptions.

“We scored a brilliant goal, it was probably one of our only moments of good quality tonight.

“Then we go in at half-time and you think ‘come on then, we need to sort this out a little bit’ and try to tighten the lines a little bit because they’ve got too much space and we’re not defending with enough intensity.

“They ran really hard, they played with a real intensity - much better than us tonight and they deserved to win.

“We tried to change it in the second half, tried to change the shape to get a bit of control once the first goal went in for them but we never gave each other the ball enough. We turned the ball over way too easily and played into their press.

“We didn’t ever find anywhere near enough quality moments to create good chances on their goal and they really fought hard for the win, ran hard for it and they did that better than us.”

Bonner's side will aim to bounce back at the first time of asking on Saturday when they welcome Barnsley to the Abbey.