Joel Dixon - 6/10

Made a couple of decent saves and was pretty good at coming out for crosses, corners and his distribution was as solid as ever. He couldn’t do anything about the goal so no blame apportioned there. Didn’t have to do a lot after they went 1-0 as they just sat back. Loses some marks because the defence need someone shouting at them when they’re making silly errors and to help them organise. He should have been apoplectic at the defending that led to the goal and yet I don’t think I heard a peep from him all game.

Gethin Jones - 5.5/10

Both the right and left flanks were subpar during the game and Gethin was no exception. Probably offered more going forward than Isgrove did but his crosses were always wayward and decision making was poor. Lacking his usual dynamism. Our options at right back continues to concern me just a little bit.

Ricardo Santos - 5.5/10

He just isn’t hitting the heights of last year. Ironside looked to have his number early on but this did abate. An optimist would say because he found his feet realist might say because Cambridge stopped attacking after the goal. With very little defending to do he saw a lot of the ball as they were happy for our defence to keep it and limit the space for all our midfielders and attackers. Santos and Johnston were visibly frustrated at the lack of movement in front of them so perhaps they both can be forgiven for not playing it out with their usual efficiency.

George Johnston - 6/10

Didn't really struggle with defending as Santos did but did face the same issues with regards to playing out from the back. With no movement in front of them and 11 Cambridge players shielding their own half it made it difficult to be productive. A bit more supportive of John than Santos was of Jones.

Declan John - 5.5/10

Struggled defensively when Cambridge were attacking and seemed a bit sluggish. His attacking output was very pedestrian and he almost seemed reluctant to attack Cambridge in the manner we know he can. Needed to be in a better position for their goal. His performances need to improve if he wants to keep his place in my opinion (eyes on Gordon on Tuesday).

MJ Williams - 6/10

A familiar tale with MJ. Looked solid, came deep to help the defence play it out, filled in seamlessly when defenders went forward. Despite this he still wasn’t up to his usual standards (like the whole team). Passing could have been crisper and decision making not as good as expected.

Josh Sheehan - 6.5/10

Probably the best attacking threat we had. Went close with a header hitting the post and he took up some good positions a number of times but was let down by either bad crosses or bad decisions on the wingers part.

Lloyd Isgrove - 5.5/10

Didn’t offer enough offensively during the game. Never really forced their defenders in to any difficult situations which is all we really needed. He was switched to RWB in the second half as we chased the game and looked alright. Will need to buck up his game if he’s to get anywhere near the team when Baka and Amaechi are back.

Antoni Sarcevic - 5.5/10

When Sarce is on it he’s great, when he’s not he’s quite invisible. Today was the latter. Plenty of running but didn’t seem targeted enough. Like Sheehan, he can also claim to have fallen foul of bad crosses/decision making from the wide areas which limited his impact. Would have liked to have seen a bit more leadership from him with regards to the referee who was as card happy as I’ve ever seen. He got booked for mouthing off to the ref and he also allowed the likes of Santos to do so when he had issues with the shite ref.

Dapo Afolayan - 6.5/10

Prpbably MOTM for me but was still below his usual standards, like the rest of the wide players. Had the beating of his man a few times and did draw men away to help mark him where he should have been assisted more by John and Sarcevic. Had one great chance where he got in to the box and decided to shoot rather than cutting back but I think he gets a pass on that given his goal scoring prowess this year. Not a 7 because he lost his runner for their goal.

Eoin Doyle - 5.5/10

Hard on him as we rarely had enough quality to get the ball to him. The reality is that this type of game doesn't suit Doyle as you need someone who can offer a physical challenge or drop deeper and carry it forward (effectively) when a team decided to shut up shop in this manner. He works hard and finishes well but we needed someone to push, pull or dominate the backline when they’re sitting back.

Substitutions:

Elias Kachunga - 6/10

Was as effective as he could be but the team seemed to have been rattled by their own poor performance by the time he had come on.

Alex Baptiste - 6/10

Was solid and looked to be positive from the back.

Nathan Delfouneso - 6/10

Didn’t have a massive amount of time to make an impact. Neither positive nor negative.

Ian Evatt - 7/10

Right call to put the same team out that won at Oxford. The bench looked seriously depleted and he did about as much as he could. Depth a bit of a worry given that two injuries have made us look so unable to change things. Changed the formation and tried basically everything he could to shake it up. Could have made the subs earlier. Nailed the issues in his post game.