Mark Bonner has stressed the importance of United keeping their foot to floor and maintaining their improved standards ahead of tonight’s Sky Bet League Two trip to Scunthorpe United.
The U’s interim Head Coach reflects with positivity on the improvements made in areas during the previous two games against Colchester and Newport, however he’s not considering for a second allowing the U’s to step off the gas as they look to make it three consecutive wins at Glanford Park tonight.
He said: “It was not surprising to us that it took a different way of winning the game at Newport, but ultimately both of the previous two performances have had a real robustness and a strong work ethic within them.
“There was certainly more football played in the Colchester game, but we have had to defend equally well in both fixtures. We were forced to defend our box 76 times on Saturday, and we restricted them to two shots on target at a ground where not many teams keep clean sheets. So for us that was a real step forward, and a result that we are really pleased with.
“However, the two performances have only set a bar and a standard that we need to be about moving ahead. You have to earn the right to win any game and just because we’ve had a couple of results, the mindset shouldn’t shift to the level where we expect to go and win.
“Winning can’t make you soft! Let’s not pat ourselves on the back, we need to keep going. Don’t take your foot off the gas. We’re on a good run of form because of how hard we have worked and that won’t change over the next few games. We want to challenge for points.”
Bonner expects another contrasting style of game in Lincolnshire this evening but is confident United will be well-prepared to adapt in the moment, as well as being able to build on the foundations put in place over the past two weeks.
“Scunthorpe had an excellent win at the weekend and will be in a similar situation to us, with their caretaker manager setting up in a similar manner to what we did at Newport.
“It will be a better playing surface than we had on Saturday, so we’ll expect the game to look a little bit different. It will probably take another way of winning.
"What we have to have is the flexibility in the way that we play, with the players showing they are able to adapt to whatever the situation is in order to do their job.
“The start point of any successful team is one that looks hard to beat firstly, and then carries a threat. That’s the area we must look to build on over the next few weeks; how much more of a threat can we carry? What more can we do to cause the other team problems? And can we tick the box when we’re an attacking threat, that we’re still able to shut the other team out?
“That is a tough balance to get, but it’s what we must work towards.”
Tickets for Cambridge United supporters will be available to purchase at Glanford Park ahead of kick off at 7:45pm.