MarkHeadBonner coach Last weekend at Portsmouth presented us with possibly our biggest challenge so far this season; the players brilliantly responded, arriving with the right mentality, and delivering a top performance. It was an excellent win! We coped with the pressure and atmosphere well and showed a superb temperament to remain focussed. The lads’ performance was strong and confident. We hope that we can not only use this performance as a springboard for us, but also a brilliant moment and reference point we can look back to throughout the season. The travelling support was great and really got behind us. We were surprised and grateful for the reception we received at South Mimms Services on the way home! The EFL Trophy has been a competition we have enjoyed playing in the past two seasons. The game allowed us to make changes and secure our second win. I was pleased to see young Kai Yearn play again, as well as Ben Worman playing well and showing his versatility, Jack Lankeseter and Jubril Okedina played their first 90 minutes of the season among other pleasing moments. The game was, as we expected going into the tie, against a technical and quick opposition - and to win by keeping a clean sheet and in the process putting one foot into the next stages of the Trophy was incredibly satisfying. We now turn our attentions to a busy week of league fixtures, welcoming both Fleetwood and Gillingham to The Abbey before traveling to Crewe next weekend. Three games against teams who have established themselves well at League One level in recent seasons. They have all done it in different ways and varying models – it is certainly something we can learn from as we try to consolidate and grow in League One. Fleetwood have started the season well following good wins against Rotherham and Cheltenham. We know the game today is going to be a tough encounter for us, and we will need to find all the qualities we did last weekend to be competitive again. Our aim is to accumulate points in consecutive games as often as possible, so we now need
to focus on the consistency of our play to deliver performances of which we know we can produce. The support of the team in recent weeks at The Abbey has been incredible and we hope that, whilst we have some box office fixtures in the calendar, the noise, encouragement, positivity, and energy from the stands continues to make a difference throughout every fixture. Our challenge is to give you performances that bring that out of you, but to continue to be confident underdogs, we must work together if we are to achieve what we all want. Let’s focus on delivering that atmosphere consistently for each other. ■ www.cambridge-united.co.uk
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