Ian Holloway read the riot act to his Swindon players after watching the Robins cling on for a 3-2 win after gifting an early goal to Cambridge.
Goalkeeper Connor Ripley failed to claim two easy crosses and a feeble clearance header went straight to Town old-boy James Brophy to hammer into the roof of the net after just four minutes.
Aaron Drinan, Harry Smith and Darren Oldaker scored for the home side before Sully Kaikai’s rocket after 64 minutes made things uncomfortable for the home side.
Holloway blamed a lack of defensive organisation in the lead up to the first goal.
He said: “I’ve just gone absolutely ballistic at them, but you can do that once you get what you want.
“We managed to get what we wanted in the end. But did I like it? No.
“We managed to withstand a great lot of pressure from a manager who’s very good at knowing, like I do, what to do when you’re behind, and how to go for it.
“So he threw the kitchen sink on. We managed to just just about shut the doors.”
But Holloway said the late pressure “made me feel like the bad days we had last year and everybody’s panicking”.
After Brophy’s opener Drinan got a superb leveller after 32 minutes when he snaffled the ball and sped towards goal holding off challengers before calmly tucking it over the keeper.
Two minutes later Harry Smith had the easiest of far-post headers from Joe Snowdon’s cross.
After the restart Drinan rattled the bar after latching onto a loose ball.
Oldaker got the Robins’ third when he nodded in from a bizarre miscued effort thundered into the turf by Finley Munroe.
The U’s pulled one back in the 64th minute with a sweet first-time strike from Kaikai from outside the box but they could not find a leveller.
U’s manager Neil Harris said: “Yeah, it is really disappointing, that one really hurt me, because there were lots of opportunities with the ball in the box.
“But to concede three goals like that is really poor, we shot ourselves in the foot against a really good attacking side.
“We gave them a leg up, and that’s disappointing. To concede two goals in a minute – I just said to the group, that’s unforgivable.
“And that’s not a trait I can allow to happen in my group. So if that happens again, heads will roll for it, because that’s a mentality thing.”
And Harris is desperate for more firepower up front.
He said: “Look, we need a centre forward, we are desperate for one.
“You know, we can see that even more today. We’re still looking and the guys are working like 24/7 to do it, and conversations are taking place.”
