Roy McFarland praised his side for breaking down a determined Wigan defence on Saturday, as the visitors sat back to defend their half-time lead. Latics skipper Carl Bradshaw was sent off just before half-time for scything down Steve Guinan and their solid defending and the heroics of goalkeeper Roy Carroll showed why they have the only unbeaten away record in the country.

"I thought we showed a lot of character in the face of a lot of very bad tackling," he told the Cambridge Evening News. "Some of it was disgraceful, and Wigan could have had a man sent off before Bradshaw. If we had shot more often when getting into some good positions we could have won the match, and would have deserved to.

"Ian Ashbee didn't have the best of games at right-back, and that was where Wigan's fluke of a goal came from, but we've pushed Ash from position to position because of injuries.

"We were a match for Wigan before they were down to 10 though, and that's three League games undefeated, which will be good for confidence."

Wigan boss John Benson, who switched to 4-3-3 formation for Saturday's match, commented, "That performance showed everything about the team spirit in the camp. They were magnificent. I did not think Cambridge created that many chances considering they enjoyed a one man advantage. We created far better chances, I think Simon (Haworth) should have scored with a header in the second half and of course he hit the post in the first period.

"It was a scrappy game, the pitch did not help. I'm glad for Stuart (Barlow) to be on the goal sheet, it is just what he needed. All right it was a fluke but it will not do him any harm. The sending off was the turning point as we are always going to be on the back foot after that. Carl was silly and I will not defend him for what he did."

McFarland's big worry this week will be the way Alex Russell had to come off during the first half with a possible recurrence of the thigh injury that has already seen him miss half of the season.

"It'll be a massive blow for us, and especially for Alex, if it is the same injury again, although we won't know that until after he sees the specialist. He has worked hard over a long period to get back to fitness, and we were just beginning to see the old Alex again. The lad was gutted when he came off."

Physio Ken Steggles told the CEN: "It could be something different, but obviously the fear is a recurrence of the thigh muscle problem. Alex went down when he was running in a straight line, which is a cause for concern."