Keith Keane hopeful of a professional performance against Rotherham United
Cambridge United midfielder Keith Keane believes the U’s will approach tomorrow night’s Capital One cup fixture against Rotherham United with a “nothing to lose” attitude.
The U’s will open their 2015/16 League Cup campaign with the journey to South Yorkshire to face Steve Evans’ Millers, and Keane is optimistic that United can do more than just challenge their Championship opponents.
“I think we can approach the game with a little bit of a nothing to lose attitude because there is no expectation on us, but at the same time you don’t want to go there playing completely freely as you could get beaten by a bad score line,” he said.
“They are going to be a good, tough, hard-working team, so we have to go up there and be as professional as we can be. Every game we play in, we want to win.
“As a professional footballer, you want to play as high as you can and against the so-called better players to test yourself. Sometimes it might surprise you, that you’re in fact not as far off as you may think.
“It will be a good test for us and the lads are really looking forward to it.”
Having joined the club back in May from Preston North End, Keane has been reunited with U’s boss Richard Money, whom he spent three years under during his time with hometown club Luton Town.
The 28-year old explains their working relationship has continued exactly where it left off since their time together at Kenilworth Road, commenting: “Nothing has changed between myself and the gaffer [Richard Money] since we last worked together.
“I know exactly how he works and vice versa, so there is a very good understanding there between us.
“I am enjoying it at the minute and hopefully further down the line, we will end up having an even better working relationship.”
Saturday’s opening Football League encounter against Newport County at the Abbey Stadium saw the midfielder play his first 45 minutes in a competitive environment for the U’s and he was pleased to get off the mark with winning ways.
“I am just trying to ease myself in at the moment because I’m still not quite at 100% match fitness.
“The minutes have helped and the more game time I get, the better.
“Winning a game always helps and I’m pleased that the start of my Cambridge United career has begun with getting three points.”
Meanwhile assessing the performance of the team, Keane added: “The final result, the fact we scored three goals and a clean sheet, means that Saturday almost sounds like the perfect start to the season.
“In the first half I think we did okay but Newport gave us a few problems that we have looked at and will now try to ensure that we can stop from happening in the future. It’s good for us though because we came through the test and we’ll learn from it.
“It is a long old season and we won’t get ahead of ourselves after one game, but it is a positive step and the win does breed confidence into the team.”
Tickets for tomorrow’s clash against Rotherham United are available to buy online until 10pm tonight, with prices increasing on match day for U’s supporters that walk up to the game which kicks off at 7.45 pm at the New York Stadium.
Click here to buy now and make a significant discount.