Jabo Ibehre says the U’s must consistently display the levels of spirit and fight from Saturday’s encounter with Bury, if they are to take advantage of the ability within the first team group.
The experienced forward was thrilled with the hunger to comeback and draw with Bury at the Abbey, but feels the U’s must play to their strengths with more regularity moving forward.
He said: “We showed so much determination. Sometimes in this League it really is all about that level of character. When the winter months come, the pitches turn, the weather is not as nice and the gloves are on, it can often come down to the spirit.
“That’s what we are about and very much what Joe (Dunne, Head Coach) is all about as well.
“We need the consistency of showing that level of spirit now, and I’m sure Joe must stress that all the time.
“We see it in training every day. The younger players have such fantastic ability and it’s all about us as a team finding that more and more to get into that groove which will change things on the table for sure.”
Assessing the manner of performance against Bury, Jabo was delighted with the stubborn character United showed to ensure they didn’t let the drawbacks of recent weeks hold them back. The striker feels it’s important the U’s now back that up on Tuesday to allow them to take the next step and kick on.
He said: “It was absolutely fantastic character shown on Saturday. A great way to get a result especially with the way the odds were against us and let’s be fair they couldn’t have got any worse.
“But with ten men we dug deep, worked extremely hard and it was a nice way to get a good result against a really strong side in Bury. To stop the blip of the last two or three games, and come off the pitch with a result like that we were very happy with. We can take so much credit as a team and it was needed.”
He continued: “We were on a little bit of a run before the FA Cup and after losing in the League as well, but we have bounced back. We’ve worked hard not to let it fester, so that we didn’t go back-to-back defeats. We now need to follow up that performance again on Tuesday.
““We just need to keep that going, and we have some really interesting games coming into December which can turn our season around.
“The likes of Exeter City have done it before from this stage and even ended up in the play-offs. It’s in this League in which that sort of stuff can happen. But first we need to find our consistency and then who knows from there.”
Tickets for tonight’s trip to Crewe Alexandra are still available for travelling United supporters from the Alexandra Stadium. Kick off is 7:45pm.