Neil Harris impressed with Cambridge’s ‘best performance of the season’

Neil Harris felt Cambridge’s win against Crewe was reward for their strongest display of the campaign.

The U’s missed a host of chances and looked set to pay when Emre Tezgel put the visitors ahead, but two substitutes turned the game around in the closing stages.

Mamadou Jobe scrambled in an equaliser before Ben Knight scored his first Cambridge goal from the penalty spot seven minutes into stoppage time.

The result moves Harris’s side into the play-off places, with successive wins lifting them up to sixth.

“First and foremost that’s the best performance of the season over 90 minutes,” Harris said.

“We had hundreds of chances, should have been out of sight before we conceded, and then the bravery to fight back, bravery to be creative, for a lot of the players to be so brave with the football. It shows we’re growing as a group.

“We dealt with adversity, losing probably our most important player in Michael Morrison. To lose him was a big blow for us, and then to lose Louis Appere at half-time as well.

“We didn’t step back, we kept pushing forward, as much as we’re disappointed with their goal, the first goal we’ve conceded in November, but we had the bravery to fight back.

“There were a couple of really big moments for players.

“(For Ben Knight) that’s a really huge step in the right direction – an assist and a goal himself. That should be Ben’s foothold now to say ‘I’m here, I can do the business for you’.”

Crewe boss Lee Bell pulled no punches in assessing his side’s performance, despite them leading going into the final 10 minutes.

“We got what we deserved, but the way in which we got there was awful. The two goals we conceded were absolutely awful,” said Bell.

“It was going to be our Achilles heel if we couldn’t stop crosses coming into the box and if we can’t dominate the box.

“We’ve got three good pros at the back to deal with a chippy ball, we’ve got a goalkeeper who’s stuck on his line when the ball is three yards out. They know it, they know it’s wrong.

“We should be able to win the game from that winnable position after Tez scored. Then you don’t, you concede and you’ve got to come away with a point.

“I’m extremely disappointed with the performance, but also the way in which we conceded those two goals.

“It’s a penalty. We’ve got to have four players that are able to deal with a ball, we’ve got to be dealing with that better.”