Money pleased with promising signs
Manager Richard Money believes his side showed exciting glimpses of what they may be capable of this season, in last night’s narrow 1-0 defeat to Rotherham United in the Capital One Cup.
Despite large periods of dominant play in the clash with the Millers at the New York Stadium, the U’s were undone by a late first half header from Jordan Bowery that they were unable to reply to, which saw them bow out of the 2015/16 League Cup in Round One.
Speaking to Cambridge-United.co.uk post-match, Money commented: “There were some signs of promise and real potential in the group.
“If we can deliver that more consistently with a little more belief and trust then I think there are the makings of a good team.
“We have got a lot more to come and if the game was a month further into the season, we could have really given them a game.”
He added: “We gave as good as we got against a Championship side and only lost 1-0, so from that perspective we played alright.
“I’m not quite sure the fitness levels are quite there which then means that the decision making is not quite there, because it’s the brain that goes first. I guess it is difficult to evaluate how much some players missing pre-season matches is hurting us at the minute.
“Nevertheless we got some key minutes into some people tonight, which will hopefully push them further forwards for the following games.”
Money admits the timing of Rotherham’s goal moments before half-time was a blow for the U’s and proved to be a pivotal point, but he was pleased to have seen his players dig in and wrestle back momentum in the game.
“The goal came at a real bad time for us, the half time talks are probably different for both sides if it is nil-nil. It certainly gave them a lift for 20 minutes and they stretched us in the way that they can stretch us with the system we played.
“The second half took a certain amount of character building for the players.
“We were able to go to 4-4-2 and I’m not going to say that we took over the game in the final 20 minutes, but we managed to get ourselves back into the game and might have even had an equaliser.”
With away trips to Carlisle United and AFC Wimbledon lined up for the U’s in Sky Bet League Two over the next week, Money says the process of managing the workload of his squad in order to keep them as fresh as possible has been tricky scenario.
“Firstly I don’t want anyone to think we have disrespected the competition or our opponents because we certainly haven’t.
“The three leagues games coming up and the fact that we have had to travel up here late on Tuesday night and then Carlisle on Friday, which is almost the longest trip of the season did affect our thinking.
“Even then we have to travel to Wimbledon on the following Tuesday, which isn’t far but it is still travelling, so we have had to really think how we would utilise the group over this five game period.”
Tickets for the U’s visits to Carlisle United and AFC Wimbledon are available to purchase online by clicking here, whilst away travel is also on sale to the Amber Army at the following link.
Meanwhile, tickets are also available online, in-store or by calling 01223 566 500 for United’s return to the Abbey Stadium on Saturday 22nd August against Crawley Town (kick off 3pm).