Martin Ling has called for his players to stick together ahead of tonight's FA Trophy replay at Salisbury.

The sides drew 0-0 at the Abbey last Tuesday, necessitating tonight's replay. Fellow Blue Square Premier side Tamworth await the winners in the fourth round. If the scores are level after 90 minutes the match will go to extra time and, if necessary, penalties.

Team News

Ling will again be without injured trio Danny Potter (shoulder), Brian Saah (groin), and Paul Carden (back), while Aiden Palmer and Antonio Murray are cup tied.

Daryl Coakley will deputise for Palmer at left back, while Laurie Walker will continue in goal after making his debut in Saturday's 1-0 defeat at Crawley.

With Potter sidelined for up to eight weeks Ling is working hard to get an experienced stopper in ahead of Saturday's home game with AFC Wimbledon.

He said: "I'm on the case, but he wouldn't be available tonight anyway because he wasn't registered in time for the first tie. I'm looking towards the weekend so it's a situation which will be ongoing. I'm moving forward with it slowly."

Stressing the need for experience in his young squad, Ling added: "I think Laurie Walker (pictured above) did well on Saturday on his league debut, but I'm trying to get a senior player in the building. That's no disrespect to Laurie, but we need an older keeper.

"Greg [Reid] thinks Danny will be out for 6-8 weeks at the moment, he's hurt his shoulder and being a goalkeeper it takes a bit longer to heal than if he was an outfield player.

"It's obviously not good news. He did it on Friday in the last bit of training when we were practicing shots. He landed awkwardly and yelped straight away because he knew he'd done some damage, so that's disappointing," he said

Ling also played down criticism of Lee Phillips (pictured below). The burly forward has yet to find the net in an injury hit season, and the manager said: "You speak after the game and talk about the scenario of us not scoring enough goals. I used Lee Phillips as example and it's been blown out of proportion.

"The facts are that going into February Lee hasn't played much but hasn't scored yet this season. We succeed as a team and fail as a team so it's not all down to Lee Phillips. He might have taken the brunt, but it was a general comment that we need to score more goals."

Adding that he "wouldn't be adverse" to bringing in another striker after losing Chris Holroyd in the January transfer window, Ling said: "Scoring goals is about strike partnerships and team play as much as anything else.

"When you're not finding the net there are always a number of factors, like whether your midfielders are getting into the box or if you're getting enough crosses in. But you're going to also look at the strikers too and say can we improve the squad there."

Tonight's match

Ling was pleased with some aspects of his teams play in the first tie against Salisbury, and urged them to take their form from the second half of that game into tonight's face off with Tommy Widdrington's men.

"We need to play with same tempo and purpose, but also put the ball in the net," he said. "We were poor in the first half against them last time, but the second half was a lot better and we had the main chances. We need to continue that second half form and take our chances - there's an old adage that football is won and lost in both boxes and we need to be better at both ends.

"I want to win trophy and it's a nice change from the league, but there's no doubt our biggest concern is picking up a few league points to get us up the table so we're comfortable and can start looking to next season," he said.

Looking ahead

The Crawley defeat was United's sixth successive league loss, and Ling said his side are missing that elusive lucky break at the moment.

"I've been there many times teams both as a player and a manager where you don't play well but come away with something, and sometimes you do ok but it doesn't happen for you, and that's how we are at the moment," he said.

"I'm not a manager who looks through rose-tinted glasses, I speak honestly and I can safely say we haven't been getting our just desserts recently. But there's only one set of people who can change that and that's the coaching staff and players at Cambridge United."

Reflecting on the run of six defeats, the manager said: "The four matches over Christmas were difficult, but the two since appeared to be a bit easier and we've lost both of them too.

"On current form we're the second worst team in the league and we can't hide from that. We have to deal with the facts, keep putting our best foot forward, and stick together as a unit."

He added: "If I thought I'd lost the dressing room and it was split down the middle I'd stand up and be counted, but isn't the case. We're all pulling in the right direction which is important but it's just not happening for us at the moment."

Matthew Gooding

Cambridge United: YOUR CITY - YOUR CLUB

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