Despite suffering a fifth consecutive league defeat manager Ernie Howe was pleased with several aspects of the performance at Bishop’s Stortford, and felt that referee Adrian Sannerude’s decision not to send off home defender Rob Gillman for bringing down Liam Wright just before half time was significant. ‘’To be honest I wasn’t too disappointed with the way we played in the first half even though we were two goals down - we showed a lot of life, and the referee didn’t really help us today when I thought he should have made a big decision but didn’t. I’m not saying it would have made a difference, but such decisions do affect the game and we’ve had them given against us this season. I thought the foul on Liam was more cynical than the one on Craig in the second half, but I don’t think either got the punishment that was deserved.’’ Ernie agreed that the goals that U’s conceded were disappointing, but was pleased with the players’ response. ‘’From a goalkeeping point of view I think you’ve got to be critical about two of their goals, but the lads kept going until the end and might have done a bit better in terms of the result.’’ He was particularly pleased given the recent run of form that U’s had finished the game so strongly. ‘’Heads had gone down against Eastbourne and Lewes, and with the run we’ve had it’s difficult to keep the lads going, but they’re playing for pride, both their own and that of the club, as well as their self-respect and some are even probably playing for their futures at the club, and I thought there were good things from the players that were out there today.’’  One problem on Monday was the lack of a striker to play alongside Craig Dundas. ‘’We’ve got young Billy Dunn, who did well on Saturday but it’s a big ask of him as he’s only 16. Harry was another option but he hadn’t been well over the weekend and had a knock on his ankle, and Steffan’s out at the moment as well so it hasn’t helped with the system we’re trying to play. To be fair to Craig, though, I thought he was magnificent today and you can’t ask for more from players than that.’’ Ernie also singled goalscorer Jason Goodchild out for praise. ‘’He covered just about every blade of grass and it was nice to see him get the goal, and to see some quality from Harry with the pass that put him through. The youngsters did well again today and didn’t let themselves down, and you just hope they’re learning all the time and things are going to go for them. That’s the one big plus to come out of the season, that there are some young players here who, if they can keep working hard, could be something for the club in the future.’’ After Jason’s goal U’s almost scored another when Craig couldn’t quite reach the ball before a home defender. ‘’With another couple of minutes to go you never know what might have happened,’ said Ernie, ‘’but how many times have we seen that this season, that we just need to be a bit more clinical when possibly we haven’t at times. I honestly believe if we’d been able to get a goalscorer, a natural finisher, in then we’d have been out of trouble.’’  Injury wise Bashiru Alimi missed Monday’s game, and there is an ongoing worry about Steffan Ball. ‘’ Bash is a fit lad but he just felt a deep seated hamstring right at the top after Saturday’s game, and the higher it is the more difficult. Steffan’s got a back problem at the moment which doesn’t allow him to move much, so he might have to see a doctor and have an x-ray this week. We had all the injured players in on Sunday and obviously we had a couple of them back today, but we’ll have to wait and see nearer the weekend.’’