Altrincham manager Graham Heathcote changed his formation to combat United's 3-5-2 system and his goalkeeper Stuart Coburn kept the U's at bay almost single-handedly for most of the game, making a string of vital saves, and he felt they were unlucky not to get a point from the game.

"I thought the lads had done enough to get something out of this game over the 90 minutes," he said afterwards.

"Our keeper has made some good saves but so has Danny Potter, as well as us hitting the underside of the bar. So although we've lost, we've got to take the positives.

"We came and tried to be positive, to take the game to Cambridge and be organised, and from what I've seen today and recent results we are on the right lines. If we can perform consistently, like we are doing at the moment, against Kidderminster, York and again today we'll give ourselves a chance to get out of the situation we find ourselves in.

"My lads have worked very hard and I find myself sorry for them today. This is a tough place to come and we've done ourselves credit, but it's one of those games where you think you've done well but thanks to a shot that took two deflections we leave with nothing. But that's the way it goes when you are at the bottom and hopefully as we've had nothing like that go for us so far this season it may change in our favour in the remaining games.

"We also lost two centre halves during the game and that hasn't helped people, but at the end of the day Cambridge have won and congratulations on that, but we can take a lot of positives out of our performances and just keep trying to move forward. Our fans will travel home knowing that the players have given their all and that's all I ask. It's possible to be proud in defeat and we are that today.

"The last four or five games we haven't looked like a side in the bottom four but it's the early season form that has put us in the position. It's now about being positive. We find ourselves in a mini-league of about six teams and our task is to finish at the top of it and if we do that we'll be safe."

Heathcote admitted that with his side fifth-from-bottom he isn't paying much attention to the top of the table, but he issued a warning about York City: "I don't look at the top of the table - I've got a lot on my plate in our position. But saying that, York's current run and what I saw from them in our 2-2 draw makes them a very dark horse that will need to be avoided if they slip into the play-offs."

Interview by David Gray

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