Cambridge United's unbeaten record in the Blue Square Premier ended in the 13th game of the season with a 3-1 defeat at Forest Green Rovers.

Stuart Fleetwood scored a hat-trick to put the result beyond United on a day when they were second best for much of the game, especially in the first half.

"We got beaten today by the better side," acknowledged Quinn. "That's the best movement I've seen by a striker (Fleetwood) at this level for a long time and we just couldn't cope with him.

"We didn't really start the game well but I think we've got to give them credit. They're a decent team and they beat Stevenage here on Tuesday and played very well. We didn't get to grips with it until late.

"I've been in to see the referee because he gave five bookings to us against none for them. I've counted ten times that he gave free kicks against their centre-halves and I thought we might have had a penalty, but I'm a bit disappointed because you just can't talk to them (referees).

"Mark Convery was trying to avoid the guy's leg and the referee said he dived - that wasn't a dive. I've been in the game a long time but you're talking to young lads who are refereeing games. Maybe I'm saying the wrong thing but I thought it was way too much on the one side.

"Apart from that we didn't deserve to win the game because as an attacking force we didn't really threaten their goal too much. But there's a long way to go and we have to put this result behind us and focus on Halifax next week.

"I don't want to dwell on it too much; we got beat today and you are going to lose games. I thought there were one or two good performances but not enough in the team to get a result. Rob Wolleaston and Dan Gleeson did very well, I thought we were a little bit exposed at the back at times but we'll get the lads up again for next week.

"We've got a couple of home games coming up and we need to go out there and compete like we have been doing. We just got caught cold today and Jim Harvey is obviously very pleased with them, and their two lads up front caused us all sorts of problems. Beesley dropped into the hole, as we knew he would, but we just never got to grips with that at all and we deserved to get beaten. We'll learn from that and move on."

It was United's first defeat since 14th April and Quinn is determined that it won't put his players off their stride.

"I've told the lads that we've suffered a defeat, which was going to come at some stage, and we need to show people next week how good we are as a team by bouncing back. We just didn't have enough players on song today to pull off a result but they know that. And don't forget we're away from home, we've had some terrific results away from home, our home form is good, and we've now got two homes to focus on."

Two positives from the game were comeback appearances for two players who have been sidelined for the last month. Defender Gavin Hoyte started the game and striker Lee Boylan came off the bench in the second half to score United's 95th minute consolation goal.

"Gavin came in for his first game in a long while and he looked a little bit rusty, which is why I took him off with half an hour to go," explained the manager, "and then we changed the system and we were chasing the game a bit and that's when they broke on us and scored again, but those are the decisions you make.

"Lee looked sharp and he gave us something when he came on. We needed a goal at the right time today and there were a couple of efforts and a couple of times when we might have had free kicks around the box that we didn't get today, but if we'd got one back at 2-1 we would have caused them a few problems, but we didn't get that breakthrough.

"But it was a great run and the lads have done very, very well, so let's get a bit of rest this week and see how much character we have next week to bounce back. We're at home and we've to make sure that we show a lot more energy than we did today and give the fans something to shout about."

United are next in action at home to Halifax next Saturday at 3pm.

[Match report] [Fixture list] [League table]

Make Your Click Count For The U's - talk about it on the Message Board!

You are respectfully reminded that any article, as with all content on this website, unless otherwise stated, is subject to copyright © and the Official Cambridge United Website must be acknowledged as the original source including all quotes.

AT070929