Neil Harris hails ‘excellent’ first-half performance as Cambridge beat Bromley

Neil Harris felt his Cambridge side were worthy winners following their narrow 2-1 League Two victory at home to Bromley.

The U’s secured success with goals early and late in the first half courtesy of Shayne Lavery and Kylian Kouassi, before they were required to see off Bromley pressure after the break following Michael Cheek’s reply for the visitors.

Harris has overseen seven wins in nine home games in all competitions this season, offsetting disappointing form on the road which has brought only one away victory in the league and one in the cup.

“In the first half we were excellent,” said Harris afterwards. “Against a team that wins the most duels in the league…that are the biggest team in the league – physically, arguably the best team – we dominated that first half.

“Two-nil was probably the least we deserved, if not more.

“The second half, credit to Bromley; that’s what they are, that’s what they’re extremely good at and they’ve built over the last four years and they’re excellent at it.

“We didn’t help ourselves in the second half at times but we found a way of getting over the line. Ultimately over the course of the 105 minutes, Jake Eastwood’s made one save.

“At the other end we’ve scored two goals and I feel we’ve missed three or four sitters and their keeper’s made a couple of really good saves.

“The stats lead to us deservedly winning the game.

“Elias (Kachunga) was brilliant against Luton – scored two goals – and last week our two nines were poor in the game. I made a tight call and both scored and I think both were outstanding today.”

The game was held up for 10 minutes from the 67th minute when referee Declan Bourne sustained an injury and had to be assisted from the field, with a replacement fourth official sourced from the crowd.

Bromley boss Andy Woodman was quick to acknowledge how poorly his side had performed in the early stages.

“In the first half we weren’t at the races. Let’s be honest, they ran all over us,” said Woodman.

“We couldn’t get a grip on anything, couldn’t win a header, didn’t win a second ball. Their tempo was quick all over the pitch. We couldn’t cope, which was disappointing.

“We go 2-0 down and it’s an uphill battle then. We made four changes at half-time, brought men on, physicality, a bit of strength and we looked better. But when you’re chasing two goals it’s tough.

“We had the first one, we had the momentum and then unfortunately the ref got injured again. So that’s the third time this season.

“That kind of lost a bit of momentum for us again. We huffed and puffed but we didn’t have enough quality in the end.

“We can look at the second half and say ‘we had a go’ and that’s the positive but we didn’t really deserve much out of the game in my opinion.”