David Hodgson will be scratching his head this morning wondering where all his hard work has gone in the last five weeks.

It was at the start of November that chairman George Reynolds sent shock waves around the Reynolds Arena with the return of Darlington's saviour.

The aim simple: To avoid relegation. And what better person to be handed that task than Hodgson. The man who brought the club out of a similar situation to the one it found itself in seven years ago. Back then Hodgson went one better and, over the next three years, would build a team which would not only hold its own in Division Three but challenge for honours too.

How Quakers fans would welcome back the good old days of Gabbiadini and co. And how Hodgson must crave them too.

But for the time being the Quakers boss will have to settle for a scrap at the bottom. Hodgson knows that this season is all about survival before anything else. Success will have to wait for now.

To be fair, Hodgson had barely got to know his players when they succumbed to an embarrassing FA Cup exit at Hornchurch in his first game back in charge.

But for the new Quakers boss this was a game which would allow him to get a grasp of the situation he'd inherited.

After two draws and a defeat at Swansea, last week's 3-0 win over York City would perhaps be the turning point of Quakers' season. Think again.

Even with the luxury of an £800 stopover in a Cambridge hotel, Hodgson was left wishing they'd travelled down on the day, bearing in mind the club's current financial situation.

Hodgson admitted he fancied his chances against a Cambridge side which had won just once at home all season. But Quakers, who have yet to pick up a win on their travels in the League this season, were left chasing shadows for the first 45 minutes. And they may well have been going in at the break with a heavier deficit than the one goal they trailed by a Luke Guttride penalty on the stroke of half-time.

"I expected to come to Cambridge and go away with at least a point," fumed Hodgson.

"Everybody got a little bit carried away after the York game but for the first 45 minutes today we were dominated by Cambridge. I want to know why.

"They dictated the game, out-fought us and they were the better football team. I will ask the players why, when they were just three points ahead of us before the game, were first to everything.

"It was only in the second half that we started to get a hold of the ball and started doing things right around their area.

"That first 45 minutes was not what I want." Despite a bombardment of pressure from the home side in blustery conditions, Quakers were proving hard to break down at the back and appeared to be going in at half-time with a clean sheet intact.

That was until player-boss John Taylor and on-loan wing-back Craig James collided in the box as they both had eyes on the ball. With Clarke in close proximity too, Quakers didn't appear in any grave danger from Fred Murray's deep cross.

But as soon as Taylor went down with James, referee Lee Probert had no hesitation in pointing to the spot.

Guttridge's spot-kick was text book with virtually the last kick of the half.

Whatever Hodgson said to his players at half-time seemed to have a positive effect as Us keeper Shaun Marshall tipped away superbly to deny Craig Liddle, before debutant Lee Matthews had an effort cleared off the line.

Middlesbrough-born striker Matthews, who joined the club on a month loan from Bristol City last week, was handed a start alongside Neil Wainwright in the absence of the suspended Barry Conlon. Hodgson sees Matthews as a straight replacement for the big Irishman and on Saturday the similarities were in evidence.

Like Conlon, the 24-year-old has a presence about him as well as an eye for goal. He used his strength on a couple of occasions to create a openings only to find Marshall equal.

At the other end Michael Price showed just why Andy Collett - named in the squad for the first time since suffering a punctured lung in September - will find it so difficult to force his way back into Hodgson's plans with a superb save to deny Franco Nacca.

And young striker John Turner should have done better when he sliced wide under pressure from Matt Clarke.

But it was a chance at the other end which summed up a frustrating afternoon for Quakers when, with just the keeper to beat and full-time looming, Wainwright hesitated before shooting, allowing time for a cluster of Us defenders to get back and hack clear.