Colin Calderwood reacts to Cambridge United's EFL Trophy defeat to Peterborough United
The U's boss believes the game will be a "learning curve" for some of his players
Andrew Georgeson
Cambridge United head coach Colin Calderwood. Picture: Simon Lankester
Colin Calderwood believes Cambridge United's 2-1 defeat to Peterborough United was a "learning curve" for many of the younger members of the squad.
United made 10 changes to the team that played on Saturday, including starts for Ben Worman, Andy Dallas, Harvey Knibbs and debutant Jordan Norville-Williams
They were 2-0 down within 30 minutes after two impressive goals from Joe Ward and Ricky-Jade Jones, and the U's head coach admitted they struggled in the first half.
"What a terrific first goal from Joe Ward for Peterborough," he said.
"The second one is just normal play, but I think they were in the ascendancy and we weren't belt to compete with them in that opening period in any way.
"Obviously we got a little bit better, but they got younger and we got older."
United looked better in the second half, especially after the introduction of Marc Richards and Sam Smith, and pulled a goal back through Knibbs.
And, Calderwood believes that the late flurry of chances were largely down to Richards' reading of the game, rather than any improvement in their play.
"It was a great learning curve for our younger ones," he continued.
"I felt their young ones were better in contacts, really bright and you could see the athleticism in them all. They were very competitive, added to that they had really good technique.
"That's the level if you're comparing [the two teams]. Marc Richards comes on and suddenly he's there when the ball drops.
"That's experience, but it's also a great way for us to educate our boys.
"Those moments weren't any different from the rest of the game, but a yellow shirt was there when he's [Richards] on and probably wasn't there and didn't give us the ball back earlier in the game.
"You've got to influence opposition, or the ball... If people don't add that to the game – being able to influence the ball, they don't necessarily have to win it – it'll be a long night as tonight was, but it might be a short career."
The result means that United finished bottom of Group P, having not won any of their three games.
And Calderwood admitted he was disappointed to no longer be in the competition. He said: "You certainly thought it [the EFL Trophy] was going to be game time for the likes of Ben Worman and Knibbs and Dallas because they weren't actually in the team when we started it.
"The Northampton game should have been a draw, the Arsenal game probably should have been a win.
"We could have played tonight and maybe been able to go through. I'm disappointed we've gone out of it.
"The benefit of tonight's game is playing under floodlights, on a great surface, with a good crowd and I have absolutely nothing wrong to say about this competition. I'm going to miss not getting through as I think there's a benefit in the next round. Whoever we got, it would have been a benefit to the group."
Relive the game here
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