Colin clear on size of task that lies ahead

NEW Cambridge manager Colin Calderwood has a clearer idea of the task facing him as his side suffered a heavy defeat at fellow strugglers Morecambe.

The former Aston Villa assistant, who took over from Joe Dunne in midweek, saw his side concede three second-half goals as they dropped further behind the Shrimps in the table.

After a tight first half, Morecambe scored the all-important first goal through Vadaine Oliver in the 66th minute. Jordan Cranston played a ball into the Cambridge area that was flicked on and Oliver beat David Forde to the loose ball to volley into the empty net.

Forde made three great saves before substitute Andrew Tutte doubled Morecambe’s advantage after 86 minutes with a superb strike as he hammered a rightfoot shot past him from a tight angle.

And the Shrimps added a third in injury time when Cranston worked an opening down the left and crossed low for Kevin Ellison to turn the ball past Forde from 12 yards out.

Calderwood said: “There was a definite nervousness about the group which I think is borne out of being at the bottom end of the table. We had a few chances in the first half and if we had scored one things might have been different but once they got into the ascendancy we didn’t arrest that charge and we will have to find a way to do that, which is easier said than done.

“It was good for me to see the character of the players and it was easy to see how the goal deflated them and we didn’t really do enough.”

Morecambe manager Jim Bentley was delighted with the way his side put their opponents to the sword with two late goals.

He said: “We got what we deserved today with a fantastic performance.

“I have been saying for a long time this season that we haven’t got the points our football deserved but today we did just that with a super second-half performance.

“We changed things around and put two up front to cause them problems and once we got our first goal I thought we were terrific.

“We always looked on top and when Andrew Tutte scored a second we added a third with some great football and I was delighted for the lads and the fans.”