Neil Harris acknowledged that Cambridge were not at their best in beating Shrewsbury on Tuesday night.
A poor game was settled in the first minute of injury time when Ben Knight converted a penalty to secure a 1-0 League Two win for the U’s.
The three points lift Cambridge into an automatic promotion spot for the first time all season, with Harris guiding them to a 13-match unbeaten league streak.
“We didn’t play at our best but we found a way to win. Good sides, that’s what they do during the season,” Harris said after the game.
“The expectation in the stadium was to play better than that, my expectation was to play better than that and they’re disappointed with themselves for not playing better and we’ve just got three points at home.
“That’s how far we’re moving as a football club. We’ve all got to take a step back and go ‘well done that group in there’.
“We weren’t at our best tonight with the ball. Against the ball we gave very little away, I think they had one shot on target.
“We missed three absolute sitters at different moments of the game. If one goes in it’s a very different game.
“Look at the league results tonight. It’s difficult at this stage to go and win back-to-back games. We’ve done it again: five in a row.”
Shrewsbury boss Michael Appleton felt his side deserved better than to lose, while speaking out against referee Abigail Byrne’s decision to award the Cambridge penalty.
“I’m obviously really frustrated. I feel for the players,” said Appleton. “I feel for the fans who turned up tonight in their numbers.
“I’m disappointed to lose a game of football in any way, but the manner that we lost the game tonight feels a bit unfair.
“I’m going to try and say as little as I possibly can but it’s not a penalty. The reality is, he slid in to make the block.
“The ball has hit his hand, of course it did, but what’s he supposed to do? Slide in and put his hand by his side?
“Performance wise it was very much a battling performance. There was a lot of energy to it, a lot of structure to us. I think we frustrated the hell out of them at times. You could sense it in the crowd as well.
“Not at any point did I think we didn’t deserve at least a point tonight. They’ll probably admit to that as well.
“The referee’s given an absolute howler of a decision. She knows it, they know it, everyone here knows it.
“It was a decision that I felt was made very, very quickly, due to the surroundings and the circumstances.”
