Cambridge United will aim to build on the last two home games, with ten goals scored and none conceded, against Altrincham this evening. But the visitors are sure to try to repeat their performance here in April when they ground out a goalless draw and denied United the sniff of even one goal, let alone the four that were needed to win the title.

Altrincham started this season strongly but have stuttered recently and are currently 11th in the table with eleven points from their eight games, while United are currently fifth with fourteen points from eight outings.

Our online betting partners bet365 make the U's odds-on favourites at 1/2, with Alty 6/1 and the draw at 3/1. Click here for all the match odds.

Team News

Martin Ling will miss his second match due to a virus that has laid him low for the last few days, but with a full squad to chose from and the team in good form Director of Football Jez George believes he and player-assistant manager Paul Carden's task is to keep things 'ticking over':

"If it was physically possible for him to get here wild horses wouldn't keep him away," Jez told the club website earlier this morning, "but Martin is in daily contact with myself and Paul. The team are on a decent run and with a clean bill of health regarding injuries Paul and I can keep things ticking over until he is fit to return."

Paul Carden indicated that the team may be unchanged for a fifth successive match, saying, "As long as we all get there this evening and no one is feeling ill there's a pretty good chance of it being the same."

Strikers Danny Crow and Mark Beesley both got off the mark for the season in Saturday's 7-0 win against Forest Green and Carden was delighted that they both got their reward after several hard-working but fruitless appearances.

"Chrissy Holroyd has been scoring goals and getting plaudits, and rightly so because he's scored nine goals in eight games and that's fantastic and we're all delighted for him, but the whole team was delighted for Crowy scoring a couple of goals on Saturday.

"They all ran over to congratulate him because they realise what a part he's played in the team and this little run that we've started, and also Mark Beesley got off the mark as well after coming off the bench. Before Danny came into the team Mark was Chrissy's strike partner and set him up a couple of times so it was nice to see the forwards all getting among the goals."

Midfielder Sam Ives also scored his first two goals for the club and Carden was unsurprised to see the 18-year-old open his tally: "Sam has an eye for goal and he likes to get in the box and make forward runs, and he's a clever lad - he times his runs well and goes forward when it's right to, as he showed on Saturday with his two goals.

"He's come off the bench in a few games and shown his worth in a number of midfield positions and we've got other young players who are able to come off the bench, so it's good that we've got everybody fit and chomping at the bit and making sure that the lads in the team are working 100% to keep hold of the shirt."

The Other Side

Carden warned on Saturday evening that no one should get carried away with the 7-0 win, and he underlined that message today.

"We had Altrincham watched in their game against Kettering and they played very similar to the way they played here at the end of last season. They're a very resilient side; they don't have the biggest of budgets but Graham Heathcote and Kenny McKenna have a side with a lot of spirit and they're very well-organised.

"Staying in this division is a must for a club like Altrincham and it's an achievement every season that they do that because their budget is one of the lowest in the league, but just because they're not paying as much as other teams doesn't mean they have less quality," he warned.

"They keep finding players in the lower leagues around Manchester and producing a competitive side so this will be a tough game and no one should think otherwise."

Keen that the players and supporters don't go into this evening's fixture expecting a repeat of Saturday's 7-0 drubbing of Forest Green, Paul added, "Some people might get carried away after seeing seven goals in one game and might want another seven in the next game, but anyone with a level head knows that football isn't like that.

"We've got to ensure that complacency doesn't settle in and that we go about it the same way as we did with Forest Green. It might take us 90 minutes to get a goal but whatever it takes we're prepared for that.

"Forest Green didn't roll over and we had to work hard for that result; even when they were down to ten men we worked hard to keep the ball and to stop them having any sort of chances whatsoever, and we've got to make sure we do that again tonight. Altrincham won't be coming here to roll over."

More information

You can read more about Altrincham in Doug Shulman's 'The Other Side' preview, and if you fancy a bet on our match or any other event this week follow this link to visit our official betting partners bet365 - the place where your online betting makes money for the U's.

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