Martin Ling has challenged his side to score their first goal at home and record the first home win of the season.
Tomorrow's visitors Gateshead are currently 18th in the table with four points from five games, while United are 12th with seven points from five.
Despite two wins on the road, United are looking for a first home win of the season while Gateshead will be looking for a repeat of their 4-1 at Crawley last week. The odds have United as odds-on 8/13 favourites with our online betting partners bet365 to win the match, while Gateshead are 15/4 and the draw is 11/4. Click here for all the match odds.
Team News
Ling was pleased with the way the team defended at Tamworth last weekend and has hinted at keeping faith with the same side for tomorrow's match.
"I wasn't despondent with the performance on Saturday because they worked hard but we've got to be better on the ball. You can encourage people to pass with a purpose but they've got to go out there and do it.
"There won't be mass changes this week; I think they deserve another crack of the whip by the way they battled it out on Saturday but we do need to start putting some points on the board at home.
"Tomorrow will be about how we start the game and how we perform over the 90 minutes, rather than what they're going to do."
One player who definitely will not feature tomorrow is striker Lee Phillips, who was ahead of schedule with his knee injury and hoped to be involved in the squad tomorrow or Monday, but he suffered a slight setback in training this week and will continue his rehabilitation for a few more days.
"He's tweaked a muscle at the base of his thigh where it joins the knee and he won't be considered for either game," confirmed Ling. "He'll be back in training at some stage next week and he'll be considered for Saturday or the week after.
"It's been frustrating for Lee after getting back into training this week but it's not drastic. He came back quicker than we thought he would originally and he could still be in contention for next weekend. As I've said previously, he's a different type of striker to the others; he's a robust type of centre forward and if you asked the other three they would all say they'd like to play off a bigger striker.
"The others can work together in different ways but Lee is something different."
As reported previously, Ling's hands are tied in the transfer market by this season's reduced budget so players will have to leave before he can bring in new faces. Jon Challinor and Ben Farrell are out on loan with Forest Green and Histon respectively and the manager commented, "It will be interesting to see what happens with them.
"It hasn't gone as well as we expected for Farrell because he's only started one game and came off at half-time and he's played a couple of reserve games for them, and we'll see what happens with the Challinor situation in the near future because Forest Green haven't had the best of starts.
"There's nothing else to report in that department. The squad is pretty much set as it is and we'll work with that."
The Opposition
Gateshead won promotion to the Blue Square Premier at the end of last season and have had a mixed start to the season. A 3-0 opening defeat at home to Histon was followed by a 2-1 reverse at Luton, but a 1-1 draw at home to fellow promotees Tamworth ten days ago was followed by that shock 4-1 win at Crawley.
But the Tynesiders, who today signed 32-year-old former Sunderland centre half Darren Williams, found goals hard to come by at home to York City on Tuesday. After leading 1-0 at half-time they conceded twice in the second half, with York's winner coming ten minutes from time by former U Michael Gash.
Ling admits he is still gaining knowledge of clubs in this league after spending six years in Leagues One and Two with Leyton Orient, but he has had Gateshead watched and thinks he knows what to expect.
"They had a decent result last week at Crawley but haven't backed it up at York in the week, but we've got information on them and we know how they play," said Ling. "We know the manager up there (former Newcastle, Preston and Millwall midfielder Ian Bogie) and what type of player he was, and I think they're in that mode.
"I don't know the Conference very well, although I've watched games, but it's not that easy for Paul Carden either because compared to last season there are new teams and new players, but we know enough about them.
"It's a league where everyone can all beat everyone and teams at the bottom can beat teams at the top, certainly at the moment. It's early days and the league hasn't taken shape yet - we're only five games in - although some of the so-called 'money' teams are up at the top pretty quickly."
More information
If you fancy a bet on our match or any other event this weekend follow this link to visit our official betting partners bet365 - the place where your online betting makes money for the U's.
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.
AT090828 web@cambridge-united.co.uk
