Cambridge United warned to expect a siege mentality from Morecambe

Shrimps' troubles have galvanised squad

Shaun Derry has warned his Cambridge United players to escape a siege mentality approach at Morecambe tomorrow (February 11).

The Shrimps are 17th in the table but have been disrupted by off-the-field problems that has led to the players and some staff being paid late twice this season.

However, that has not had too much of an impact on the pitch as they are unbeaten in Sky Bet League Two since the turn of the year, with their latest result being a 1-0 win at Leyton Orient.

“I watched them on Tuesday night against Leyton Orient and I thought they deserved the win,” said U’s boss Derry.

“They slightly changed the shape after 25 minutes and it paid dividends for them.

“I think the siege mentality is an important thing to mention because I have been there as a player (at Crystal Palace and Leeds) when you’ve been in administration and you’ve not been paid on time and it’s either sink or swim.

“At the minute, a lot of their players are getting their armbands on and they are swimming pretty well and they played particularly well in the second half on Tuesday night.

“But with the greatest respect to Morecambe, and I will always say it how it is, they haven’t got aspirations to get in the top seven, their aspirations are to compete as a League Two club and they’re sure doing that at this moment in time.”

But Derry is focused on what the U’s can do, especially after two frustrating results that have not matched their performances.

“Whenever we have managed to play to our full potential, we have managed to get maximum points,” he said.

“And it was fine lines us not getting a certain amount of points against Luton (a 2-0 defeat) and Plymouth (a 1-0 loss).

“I take us not getting maximum points against Mansfield (they lost 3-1) because we didn’t deserve to do that on the day, but I felt we should have got some reward for our performances against Luton and Plymouth.”