Boss Ian Evatt admitted Wanderers had the game in their grasp before relaxing their grip and allowing Cambridge to deny his side maximum points.
Evatt’s men led the 10-man U’s 1-0 with just a couple of normal minutes to go at the Abbey Stadium as they closed in on the win that would have taken the Whites back into League One’s top six.
But rather that see the time out to fully capitalise on Aaron Collins’ opening goal, Wanderers gave Cambridge another chance to deliver a ball into the box and Sullay Kaikai’s 89th-minute header gave the home side another point in their survival fight.
“We're frustrated because we expect and want to win games,” said Evatt. “We had this game in the palm of our hands and the last five or minutes we've just allowed them a way back into it. The only way that was going to happen was a set play and we conceded far too many of those.
“We'd done the hard yards. We've done what we needed to do, we've got the goal, they were down to 10 men, we just didn't manage the last 10 minutes at all well enough.
“The only way they were going to score was from a set-play, including long throws, and we gave away far too many of those cheap fouls and far too many throws when we had chance and opportunity to clear our lines and just play for territory and manage the game out.
“Eventually they scored. They’re a big physical team and the one time we switch off in the box by not defending those long balls they score and we've been punished for that.”
Cambridge were reduced to 10 men from the 49th-minute when Jubril Okedina was sent off for lashing out at Wanderers’ defender George Johnston.
The Whites then looked to have gained control of a tight, competitive contest when Collins slotted in his fourth goal in three games after bagging Saturday’s late winner against Blackpool.
The frontman was moments away from securing another three points and an eighth win in 11 league games for Evatt’s side. But Cambridge’s rearguard action paid off as Wanderers let slip two points that would have taken them back into the play-off zone.
“It is a place where you’re going to have to fight and dig and do the basics well and for large parts we did do that,” Evatt told Wanderers TV.
“We had control of the game. We had the game in the palm of our hands and we haven't managed the last 10 minutes well enough. To give it back to them is frustrating.
“It doesn't feel that way (like having another point) because we're five minutes away from winning another game of football and getting ourselves back towards where we want to be.
“That has to be down to us and the way we manage that last 10 minutes and we have to be smarter than that. We had quite an experienced team out there that know what they were trying to do and just played into their hands.”
Watch the full post-match interview with the manager of Wanderers TV HERE