Cambridge United tried to shrug off the loss of two managers and a chairman during the most eventful of pre-seasons, but a well-organised Barrow side left with the three points.

"We footballed them to death at times but a couple of mistakes led to two goals," said Carden. "Their first one just after an hour was their first shot of the half and I think they only had one in the first half, so their keeper had a lot more to do than ours but he kept a clean sheet and we've conceded two.

"All of our good play was undone with a couple of mistakes at the back and teams will punish you," he added. "They see you're down on the floor and they keep their foot on your throat and they don't let you back up, and that's exactly what happened here.

"The first goal went in and we carried on trying and probing and trying to do the right things, but on the day it wasn't to be."

United created a number of chances with neat approach play, forcing Barrow goalkeeper Stuart Tomlinson to make several good saves throughout the game and Carden felt the former Crewe man had a big say in the outcome of today's match: "He probably got their 'man of the match' and it was the same old story really; their keeper has a 'man of the match' performance, they go down to ten men and we lose.

"That seemed to be a common occurrence last season - we couldn't break down a ten men team - but there are plenty of positives to take from the game and we've got to pick ourselves up and go to Ebbsfleet on Tuesday and turn this result around."

There was a lot of crowd reaction during the game at refereeing decisions as United appeared to be denied more than one clear penalty while Barrow were awarded a soft one right at the death to kill the game off.

"We didn't get a lot of decisions today," Carden admitted. "There was a definite shout for a penalty on Parky in the first half and if we'd gone in 1-0 at half-time it would be a completely different game. At half-time the referee told me he'd seen his shirt being pulled but not with enough force for him to go over.

"As far as I'm aware the rules state that if you get your shirt pulled it's a foul, but obviously not in his book; he's reading a different book."

Barrow were reduced to ten men early in the second half when left-back Sean Newton was received his second yellow card, and Carden added, "I think their lad Newton was unfortunate to be sent off for that tackle but I thought their right-back (Simon Spender) could definitely have gone, so these things even themselves up.

"The referee left himself wide open by letting a couple of decisions go and obviously they didn't go in our favour so I'm going to be disappointed with him."

With Ebbsfleet manager Liam Daish rumoured to have been offered the manager's post at Cambridge United, only to lose out to Martin Ling, the media spotlight will be on Tuesday's game for those reasons, which is something Carden is weary of.

"We've all read the 'papers and read about things that have gone on, and to be honest I'm sick of reading about things that aren't anything to do with what's happening on the football pitch. That's probably why I haven't bought a 'paper for the last two or three weeks.

"But we've got to dust ourselves down and get on with it, we've got to lift ourselves, and every player to a man has got to be behind one another and stand up to be counted because you can't get away with feeling sorry for yourselves. You can't get away with showing any opposition any sign of being down because they take advantage and they'll punish you."

He concluded, "No matter who you're playing, anything that gives the opposition a lift will taken taken with both hands and we have to make sure it's us who are taking advantage and not the other way around."

United are in action at Ebbsfleet United on Tuesday at 7.45pm.

[Match report] [Fixture list]

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