Manager Derek Adams has described conceding late as a sucker punch to his Shrimps squad.
Morecambe went ahead on 12 minutes through former Cambridge man Jensen Weir, before the visitors equalised through Jack Lankester 20 minutes later.
Both teams had chances in the second half, but it was Harvey Knibbs for the U’s who stole the points with three minutes to play, and Adams says it was a big blow to deal with.
“They get the goal at the end which is a sucker punch to us,” he said.
“Liam Gibson got into the box, he was unfortunate, he could’ve cut it back, but has a shot at goal and then we misplace a pass in the middle of the pitch, a square pass, and they’re on the end of us.
“They didn’t really look like they were going to get that second goal, it looked like it could’ve been 1-1 at the end of the day, but in the end, they’ve got that victory.
“We got ourselves into good areas at times, but the final ball wasn’t good enough from us, if it had been, it would’ve led to an opportunity.
“Today, we didn’t find that solution, and that’s why we haven’t won the game.”
Whilst the nature of today’s defeat was tough to stomach, the gaffer believes, with ten games played, there’s plenty to look at and refine.
He continued: “There’s a lot for us to improve on.
“We are not near where we should be from a playing point of view, league wise, we are where we are, we understand that.
“Today was one game we feel we should’ve been trying to win, which we were doing, but we just didn’t create enough big opportunities in the game.
“Jensen [Weir] has scored four goals since he came to the football club, and that’s a huge benefit because he’s a midfielder, we need other people now to get goals for us.”