Cambridge United's Mark Bonner on Carlisle United victory

The manager of the Blues’ opponents admitted things got nervy for his side right at the end of their 1-0 win.

But he felt that, overall, his side had control of the game and deserved George Thomas’s winning goal.

“A lot went on in the second half, nine [added] minutes became 11 and then 12, and whenever that sort of added time goes up on the board there’s always time for stuff to happen in the nine minutes,” said Bonner.

“Then we forgot we were playing against nine players, so there was more space than we probably felt.

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“We were hanging on a little bit, and I was glad Tomas Holy didn’t come up for the corner they got…

“So it was quite an edgy finish but certainly, in the second half, a really dominant performance.

“We might have done more to make it a healthier scoreline but it’s a really important result and we needed it.”

Carlisle appeared to make the brighter start against a home side who had not won in their previous eight league games.

Jon Mellish hooks the ball into the Cambridge box (Image: Richard Parkes)

But the hosts gradually grew into things, and Bonner, in a club interview, added: “They [Carlisle] had their best chance in the first minute [through Dan Butterworth] and they executed the move well, and will probably be disappointed with the end part.

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“We had lots of moments where we could bring control but turned the ball over. We put a couple of good low crosses in the box and some good wide attacks but didn’t use them as well as we ought to or can.

“We fixed one or two things at half time and for a large part they couldn’t get out of their half. We looked a real threat.

“We might have done more to get ahead, but after Tuesday with the physical input from the players it was a game where the bench was going to be important and they could win us the game, and it certainly ended up that way.

“I was really pleased with the goal, we deserved it in that period, and despite a nervy last period, with the red cards, we had good control of the game.”