Cambridge United boss Mark Bonner reflects on disappointing Sky Bet League One defeat to Port Vale
Head coach Mark Bonner felt the goal that earned visiting Port Vale all three points at the Abbey Stadium this afternoon perfectly summed up the slump his Cambridge United side find themselves in at the moment.
In what was a fairly drab afternoon of Sky Bet League One football, with Vale’s 1-0 victory being secured in the 79th minute by an own goal from Paul Digby.
The United midfielder was trying to intercept a low cross from Will Forrester but he only succeeded in beating his own goalkeeper Will Mannion, who had made a string of impressive saves during the first half after coming into the team in place of the injured Dimi Mitov.
It stretched United’s losing league run to five matches, while it is now more than seven hours since they last scored a goal in front of the home faithful.
Bonner said: “I thought it was a poor game. The goal does completely sum up where we are at the moment.
“We started the game and looked a little bit anxious, a little bit flat in certain situations which is tough – you’ve got to grab the game by the scruff of the neck.
“(It was a) match-winning performance from Will Mannion because he kept us in it in the first half but we need more people grabbing games and creating match-winning moments themselves.
“We changed things at half-time, got a bit more control of the game, but there wasn’t much creativity about us.
“To be honest it was a dead game (in the) second half, nothing happened. (It was) a goal that sums it up for us at the moment.
“(It’s) a tough run of games for us (and) tough results at the moment. We’ve lost way too many games. That should be just a rubbish 0-0 in the end after the first half but we haven’t found a way of taking points from games at the moment when they’re running away from us.
“We’re losing too many games, the level hasn’t been good enough in too many of them and we need to sharpen up and do better because it isn’t good enough.”