KNOYLE HAS THE KNACK FOR UNITED
COLIN Calderwood described Cambridge’s win against Plymouth as their most satisfying of the campaign.
Right-back Kyle Knoyle’s goal proved decisive as the U’s edged past the Pilgrims to secure their first victory in seven games.
“It was a hard-fought victory,” reflected Calderwood. “We knew we’d have to be good through large parts of the game to really compete against a good side.
“I felt in the first half we did particularly well and were better with the ball than in the second half.
“In the second, the thing that’s really positive for us is the stoutness in defending and limiting them to shots from a distance or crosses that were really dangerous, but never really that clear-cut moment. It’s as satisfying a win as we’ve had this season, for me.”
On Knoyle’s winning goal, he added: “Kyle was in a position he finds himself on a Friday morning knockabout: up front, rattling about pretending to be Ian Wright or somebody like that. A little dribble and finish, but the bit before that was excellent. I’m thoroughly delighted. The lads will be well pleased with themselves and they deserve it. They’ve got their heads down in the last couple of weeks and done some graft and they’ve got their reward.”
The U’s took the lead after 18 minutes, when Knoyle took Reggie Lambe’s pass, ran beyond a defender and buried a fine finish into the far corner.
Five minutes later, Harry Darling strode forward before laying the ball off to Paul Lewis on the edge of the box, but Alex Palmer got down well to save his low effort.
Plymouth’s best effort of the half came when a short corner was returned to Antoni Sarcevic, whose whipped effort was punched away by Dimi Mitov. On the hour, Byron Moore’s deflected effort forced Mitov into a save, while Joel Grant dragged a shot wide 17 minutes from time as the Pilgrims pressed for an equaliser.
Luke Hannant might have sealed the win, but fired wide 10 minutes from time.
Ryan Lowe was frustrated by his side’s inconsistency after Plymouth fell to their first loss in five games.
“The first half was nowhere good enough,” he said. “The second half was a lot better, but you can’t have too many of your big players off [their game]. Fair play to them, they go about their business the right way. They’re aggressive, they move the ball quick and get it up front quick. We couldn’t live with it.
“It’s work in progress. Sometimes we start becoming a good team and then we falter. We need to find that consistent balance. Once you find that you’ll have that smooth ride where you need to get to.”