For this evening's match at home to Crawley Town, Martin Ling names the same 18-man squad that travelled to Chester City, and defender Anthony Tonkin could take a place on the bench for the first time this season after recovering from his pre-season groin injury.
Team News
There are no new injury problems following Saturday's match so the 18-man squad for tonight's match is the sixteen who were on duty at Chester plus Tonkin and winger Jordan Patrick.
Lee Phillips (knee) will definitely miss the game and teenage forward Adam Marriott is likely to be sidelined for the next 2-3 weeks with a leg injury, while Ben Farrell has joined Histon on loan after missing the start of the season with an ankle injury.
However Tonkin and striker Danny Crow returned to training last week and Crow came off the bench at Chester to play a major part in the last two goals. Tonkin has missed all but the first 20 minutes of pre-season action so he is short of match practice, but he is likely to be on the bench this evening while 18-year-old Darryl Coakley continues at left-back.
"With the team winning the last two games they probably deserve to carry on tonight, but I have got some good options and Danny Crow has a big part to play this season," Martin Ling told cambridgeunited.com
"He missed the first two games through injury but it was a big boost to have him back on Saturday. He went on the pitch at 2-2 and had an influence on us winning the game, so with Lee Phillips coming back next month if we can keep all four senior strikers fit and when Adam Marriott is available too I think we've got some good attacking options."
With Jon Challinor and Ben Farrell out on loan, Ling has reduced the number of midfielders in the squad and hopes now to be able to bring in another central defender and correct the 'imbalance' in the squad that concerns him.
"We had to get people out on loan from the midfield area to make the money available to bring someone in, because we can't go through the season with just Wayne Hatswell and Josh Coulson as our central defenders," he said.
"We have got some young lads who can go in there but I'm working with the budget to try to bring us another more experienced option in there."
The Opposition
Ling has already stated that although his knowledge of Crawley Town is limited at present, he knows what to expect from a Steve Evans side, having previously managed Leyton Orient against Evans' Boston United.
"They'll be up and at you, working hard, and we'll have to match that and put our best foot forward," he said on Saturday.
Today he added, "Cardy told me about the 5-0 defeat here in the FA Trophy last season and what a bad night it was for everyone involved with Cambridge United so we owe them one. We know we'll be in for a tough encounter and I expect them to be one of the clubs pushing for a play-off place so it will be a good, competitive match."
Ling admitted that background boardroom troubles overshadowed his first game in charge at the Abbey, the Cambs Professional Cup at home to Histon 15 days ago, and he is looking forward to a better night tonight.
"I'll be honest and say the last time I was here in charge for a game I wasn't fully focussed because I knew things were wrong and had been since I came to the club, so it will be nice to go into the game tonight knowing I'm here for the long term.
"I'm hoping there will be a great atmosphere tonight, too, he added. "The fans who travelled to Chester were outstanding and they gave me and the players superb support.
"We're going to need that support all season, at home as well as away, because there will be some rocky times and there will be times when there are younger players playing because of the budget we're working with, so we need everyone to stick together."
Tonight's match kicks off at 7.45pm.
You are respectfully reminded that any article, as with all content on this website, unless otherwise stated, is subject to copyright © and the Official Cambridge United Website must be acknowledged as the original source including all quotes.
AT090818 web@cambridge-united.co.uk
