CAMBRIDGE United interim boss Joe Dunne admits his team were beaten by the better side as Phil Brown guided Swindon Town to a 3-1 win in his first game in charge.

Luke Norris was back among the scorers for Town, while veteran Marc Richards continued his impressive goal scoring form since arriving at the Energy Check County Ground in December, as he grabbed a brace.

The hosts, who did find the back of the net through Uche Ikpeazu, but Dunne acknowledged Brown’s troops were the better side on the day at the Abbey Stadium.

"It was (disappointing) unfortunately," he said.

"It was a game too many in this incredible run of games against the top sides and Swindon came and did a really good job.

"It was always going to be difficult to keep that momentum going and we didn’t start the game particularly well and we lost our way a little bit and they scored at the right time and then it became a scrappy game which we felt we could manage because we’ve done that in previous games - but the killer was the second goal.

"We spoke about not giving away free kicks with (Matt) Taylor’s quality on the ball, it’s a great ball in – maybe one or two questions about it being offside – but it’s a great free kick and a good goal (from Marc Richards) and that really took the wind out of our sails."

Cambridge boss Dunne admitted his side lacked cutting edge, but praised their level of commitment after a tough run of fixtures.

"We didn’t create too many chances,” he added. "We had a period in the second half when there was one or two more to maybe get back into the game and we had that momentum and then obviously the penalty didn’t help.

"It was that kind of game, it was tough and it was hard but, like I said, it was against a really good team and we’ve played a few tough teams and we just ran out of steam I’m afraid.

"They (Swindon) did a great job, worked on it in the week and that’s why they are where they are and that’s why we tried to keep this momentum going and unfortunately it was a game too far."

He added: "I won’t fault the players, they’ve been magnificent on this run we’ve had and unfortunately today we’ve come out at the wrong side and performance wise we were below par as well but we’ll pick ourselves up and go again."