PRE-SEASON FIXTURES AGAINST ST NEOTS, LINCOLN CITY AND BRAINTREE ALSO ANNOUNCED
Cambridge United have confirmed a pre-season fixture with Newmarket Town will take place on Tuesday 19th July (K.O. 7:15pm), as the U's mark the grand opening of a brand new state of the art 3G facility.
The clash will signify the beginning of a new partnership between United and the Suffolk club in which the U's will expand its community outreach programme to the £750,000 complex. The facility will include one of the best artificial playing surfaces in the country.
As Cambridge United's Community Sport programme continues to develop the U's footprint across the area, the new facility in Newmarket will provide another regional hub for the club to deliver its open-access programmes, starting with two week-long Soccer Schools this summer. Click here to book a place today.
The U's will also use the facility as a training venue for their Academy teams during the week, in addition to the training venues.
The pre-season tussle will see Shaun Derry's full squad travel to play the first ever game on the new surface against the Eastern Counties League outfit, with ticket details for the opening encounter set to be released in due course.
Discussing the partnership that allows the U's to take advantage of the new facility, Cambridge United Youth Development and Community Manager James Cutting commented: "Having met Kevin Grainger [Newmarket Town, Manager] and Kevin Parsons [Newmarket Town, Coach] at the facility last week it's an incredibly exciting time for their football club.
"As the professional club in the area, to support and work in partnership with them will be fantastic. We hope that our community programmes will help Newmarket Town Football Club develop their future fan base in the same way that it does for ours.
"It really will be an excellent facility and we are delighted to be able to make use of it in what we hope will be a long and fruitful partnership."
Due to a lack of facilities that prevents the club's Academy teams training in the city, Academy Manager Mark Bonner feels the new venue in Newmarket will be a welcome addition, he said: "This superb complex will enable us to continue training in appropriate standard facilities in line with EPPP criteria alongside our current venues at St Neots, Hinchingbrooke School and Witchford Village College.
"This however, further highlights the lack of central training facilities for our Youth Development programme and shines a light on the need for more and greater sporting facilities in Cambridge."
Newmarket Town Manager Kevin Grainger added: "Newmarket Town are currently going through a transitional period with a brand new state of the art artificial pitch being installed along with improvements to the current facilities.
"Forming this partnership with Cambridge United couldn't have come at a better time, linking with our local professional club is huge for us and something we hope can continue for many years to come."
Meanwhile the U's will also travel to the following away pre-season fixtures:
St Neots Town vs Cambridge United – Saturday 9th July
Lincoln City vs Cambridge United – Friday 22nd July
Braintree Town vs Cambridge United – Saturday 30th July
The club will also be announcing two home fixtures very soon, with supporters advised to mark Tuesday 26th July and Friday 29th July in their diaries
The gap in the programme, from Sunday 10th July to Sunday 17th July will see the U's in a training camp near Eindhoven, with details of two fixtures to be released in due course.