Neil Harris feels Cambridge controlled game after taking lead against Accrington

Neil Harris felt Cambridge controlled the game once they had opened the scoring against Accrington.

The U’s eased to a 2-0 victory which lifted them to fifth in the League Two table.

James Gibbons struck his first goal of the season at the very end of the first half before Sullay Kaikai scored for the second game in a row to seal the win on the hour.

“Until Accrington had a right go at the end, the last 10, 15 minutes, it was relatively comfortable,” Harris said. “We should have been in front before we did (score), and then in the second half the second goal was the killer moment and we looked really comfortable.

“It gave us an opportunity to play some really good football, we were a real threat in build-up play, the counter-attacking threat was there. We got a lot of balls in the box tonight, we worked on that this week. We controlled the game through the middle of the park as well really well. It was a pleasing night.

“The goal changed my team talk, really. I thought we got dictated to, tempo wise. Accrington came and did a good job on us, slowing the game down, we took too long on restarts. It wasn’t as good as we have been recently. I was thinking about what I need to adapt at half-time when Gibbo pops one in from 20 yards on his wrong foot, a great strike.”

Despite seeing his side struggle to threaten the Cambridge goal, Accrington boss John Doolan spoke highly of their application.

“I thought we battled really well,” he said. “There were fine margins in the game. (It was) not clearing your lines, the first contact falling to someone on the edge of the box and he gets a free shot. That was the margin then.

“In the second half we played some really nice football, I thought. Then in the final third you’ve got to slide your pass in, you’ve got to get a shot off.

“But it’s fine margins again. Someone gets down the side, we don’t stop the cross and the lad (Kaikai) gets across the front area and the second goal goes in, so it’s disappointing.

“But in terms of what we had to deal with before the game and what we’ve put out on the field, I couldn’t be prouder of them in terms of how they performed and how they went about it.

“We played some really nice football, we just needed end product, needed some quality in the final third which we’ve had in recent weeks, we just didn’t have it today.”