Neil Harris frustrated again as Cambridge draw at Cheltenham

Neil Harris admitted it was deja vu for his Cambridge side on the road as they let a lead slip late on in the 1-1 draw at Cheltenham.

Sullay Kaikai’s first-half strike looked to have been enough to secure maximum points, four days after a draw at Swindon when they felt they deserved the win.

But Cheltenham levelled in added time after Luke Young’s cross was fumbled into his own net by Jake Eastwood under pressure from George Miller, allowing Notts County to leapfrog the U’s into third place.

“Twice in five days is tough,” Harris said. “I wouldn’t say we were robbed like we were the other night, but again clearly the team with the better chances.

“Cheltenham didn’t have a shot on goal second half and hardly got into our box, while we had good chances to extend the lead.

“We should have been out of sight and we’re not, so we left ourselves open.

“Cheltenham made it difficult for us and the pitch was in superb condition, but a little bit dry, which didn’t help us. The frustration is that we didn’t get that second goal.

“Was it a refereeing mistake or a mistake from the goalkeeper for their goal? Maybe a bit of both, we are not really sure.

“We are disappointed with the result, but we have to accept a point on the road against a team still scrapping for survival, but it’s obviously painful at the moment.”

Kaikai’s well-taken finish after Mamadou Jobe’s nod down at the far post in the 34th minute was the highlight of an uninspiring first period.

Joe Day flew to turn over Kelland Watts’ header from Kaikai’s free-kick delivery just before the goal.

Cheltenham rarely threatened, with Josh Davison firing high over the bar at the end of a neat move involving Jake Bickerstaff and Isaac Hutchinson in the 27th minute.

Louis Appere headed over James Gibbons’ cross for Cambridge in the 65th minute and Day denied Ben Knight with an outstretched leg seven minutes later.

But Young’s ball into the box ended up in the Cambridge net in the first of five added minutes at the end of the 90 to ensure honours finished even.

Cheltenham boss Steve Cotterill felt his side deserved something for their efforts as they edged another point closer to safety.

“We didn’t deserve to lose the game,” he said. “They are a good team and we saw that on Thursday because they could have won their last game by four or five.

“It didn’t look like that today, for us. We had a lot of travelling on Monday, then trying to prepare for this game. We’ve had a really horrible run of games. A lot of them away from home.

“It’s been a tough old slog for the lads and I think they’ve done exceptionally well to get the club now where it is.

“Results like today are hard to get against a team I think will be promoted automatically this season.

“There needed to be a bit more belief in us, after the first-half performance, which wasn’t bad at all.

“We had one sloppy moment, which is when they scored. Other than that, we’ve definitely deserved our point.”