Cambridge United manager Darren Marjoram calls for improvement in both boxes after 4-2 defeat to AFC Sudbury

Darren Marjoram admitted that his Cambridge United ‘were not good enough at either end of the pitch’ during Sunday’s 4-2 home defeat at the hands of AFC Sudbury.

The U’s were already two goals down when Becca Stephenson fired in at the back post with just more than an hour played to restore some hope.

However, visiting Sudbury scored twice more to end any doubt regarding the outcome, which in turn rendered Alysha Stojko-Down’s stoppage-time goal as nothing more than a consolation effort.

“It was a really tough day. Credit to Sudbury, I thought that they did what they had to do,” manager Marjoram told the club’s social media channels.

“We lacked quality, lacked the ability to be good in both boxes, which we’ve said before.

“That’s something we need some answers for because the stats were that they had four entries into the box and a shot they’ve scored from wide, so those five have resulted in four goals – it’s just not good enough.

“We came out for the second half and conceded within a matter of minutes. We got from 1-0 to 2-0 in a moment.

“But credit (to the players), we got back to 2-1 and you think that we’ll keep it tight, make no mistakes and find those moments of quality.

“But as I said, you’ve got to be good in both boxes – we wasn’t good enough at either end of the pitch.”

On more of a positive note, the FA Women's National League Division One South East encounter was watched by a crowd of more than 400 people at the Premier Plus Stadium.

And despite the result, Marjoram is hopeful that some of those will become regular attendees.

He added: “It’s fantastic and it’s come from a huge amount of effort from people at the club.

“We’re really grateful to the people that have put in a lot of effort over weeks and months to make it happen.

“I know there’s a real commitment to make that look like a match day going forward.

“There’s a lot of things that the club have been trying that look like they’ve been successful.

“It’s really good and when we scored that second goal right at the end, it’s great to see the crowd getting engaged and involved.

“Hearing little girls singing for the U’s and singing for players, that’s what we want. We want the next generation to keep coming back.”

Ninth-placed United are without a fixture until 13 April when they will travel to west London to face Queens Park Rangers at Loftus Road.