Following Cambridge United's loss at Crawley on Saturday, Martin Ling was pleased with the performance but remains desperate to turn the side's current poor form around.

"If you look at the chances created and who was the better team, then you'd say it was ourselves" commented the manager after the game. "One slack piece of defending from Aiden Palmer allows them the goal and then we couldn't get back into it with the chances we created. Winning becomes a habit but so does losing. We've got to break it and we've got to break it quickly."

Ling was without a number of key players, including goalkeeper Danny Potter. The U's boss commented on the status of his injury. "Danny's done his shoulder, he's going to be out for 6-8 weeks. It happened yesterday in training which is disappointing and Danny's a big miss to us. Young Laurie (Walker) came in today and I think he did a fine job to be fair to him, I can't put anything out there down to him."

With the loan window opening on Monday, Ling admitted that he may delve into the market to find a replacement for the injured U's number one.

"I've got to find another keeper to come in because you certainly can't go with one for the rest of the season. We won't be getting anyone in for Tuesday (away to Salisbury in the FA Trophy) because he has to have been signed by the original tie, so it will be Laurie Walker on Tuesday and we'll take it from there."

Referring to other injuries in the squad, Paul Carden (back) and Brian Saah (groin) are both unclear about how long they will be out for. Ling noted that Tuesday's game could come too soon for both of them, but Darryl Coakley will be fit to play with Aiden Palmer Cup-tied.

Focussing back on the game, Ling admitted that conceding so early didn't help his plans. "You think to yourself that it could be a long day at the office but it didn't prove to be like that. We created come good chances but at this moment in time we don't seem to be clinical enough to put them away. The way things are falling, at both ends at the moment it's hurting us."

"We're getting dragged in. The word relegation shouldn't be mentioned but if we don't start pulling our finger out and getting it out quickly then we're going to get dragged in there before we know it."

Despite the result, there were positive factor's from the afternoon's performance. "I thought Jai Reason and Sam (Ives) in there against some big brute-full people did a good job. Crawley play the way they play and they do it well, they're a tough side with high energy. We said we were going to have to match that energy and come and pass the ball, which we did in periods.

"I think Simon Russell had a good game: he looks like a good acquisition. It would be nice to be talking about that after a victory rather than after another defeat.

Jai Reason went down in the opposing box in the first half claiming a penalty, and Ling spoke of how his players had felt hard done by with the decision. "I couldn't really tell from where I was but they're talking about it in the dressing room saying that it was a penalty, but the decisions at the moment aren't going for us."

Speaking of how the current league form was affecting his players, Ling didn't rule out making a future signing to add to the strike force. "When you're not scoring goals, that's the area you're always going to look at. No disrespect to Lee (Phillips) but he hasn't got a goal for us this season. Confidence in that area isn't high because we're not banging the goals in."

Concluding by reflecting on the performance in general, Ling admitted that he was uncritical of his side's display. "There are certain times when you go in and lay into your players, like Stevenage away, but today wasn't one of those occasions. They're fed up of hearing it and I'm fed up of saying it but it's about winning games of football, at the moment we're not doing that."

Matt Ramsay