View from the Press Box Doug Shulman It was encouraging to see a good number of U’s fans – 2,025 to be exact - attending the EFL Trophy win against Tottenham last Tuesday evening. The competition has certainly divided opinion since its inception in 2016 following a restructure of what was known as the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy or Football League Trophy or, going back further still to 1983 and it’s launch, the Associate Members Cup. The introduction of Premier League B or Under-21 sides for some, is an unwelcome change, but as a standalone match, the win for Mark Bonner’s men over a young Spurs side was a more than decent spectacle, with some high-tempo football played throughout. It also allowed Ben Worman another opportunity to further his development, 16-year old Kai Yearn to show us again what an exciting prospect he is and, importantly, Leon Davies and Jubril Okedina could to re-introduce themselves to competition football after injury lay-offs. Leon in particular, had been on the sidelines for some time following a hip issue, which surfaced at a moment in his career when undoubted talent had seen him established as a first-team regular, predominantly since Mark Bonner took charge. A big part of United’s resurgence at the back end of the 2019/20 campaign, then 19 games during the first half of last season, had seen him surpass 60 appearances in black and amber. Let’s hope we now see for more of Leon galloping down the right-hand side of the U’s midfield. Last Saturday saw another highly entertaining game played out at the Abbey and, despite the U’s being pegged back by Fleetwood with 14 minutes left, a 2-2 draw was perhaps a fair reflection of the match. The quality of the two goals scored by Mark Bonner’s side were – as the saying goes worth the entrance fee alone. The power
behind Adam May’s long-range equaliser – his first at League One level - brought the roof off the Abbey. The atmosphere was then cranked up by a 4,429 crowd who at times made themselves sound like double that number, following Shilow Tracey’s second half strike. The goal, brilliantly engineered by the impressive Jack Iredale, who has adapted seamlessly to a higher level of football, neatly summarised the determination that underpins this U’s side. It is no surprise for me, that given a run of just 1 loss in 6 league games, the side are now comfortably inside the top half of the table, with the luxury of a game in hand on sides above them. A win this evening may make that fledgling League One placing look even better. ■ www.cambridge-united.co.uk
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