Cambridge United youngsters could get chance to impress during next month
Cambridge United's youngsters could be given the opportunity to impress in the next month.
The U's have a particularly busy period ahead, with the two Sky Bet League One matches postponed because of international call-ups - away to Doncaster Rovers and Morecambe - being rescheduled for Tuesday night games.
They also have visits to Northampton Town in the FA Cup and Stevenage in the Papa John's Trophy to factor in.
It means that seven of their next eight games are on the road.
Despite injuries to Greg Taylor and Liam O'Neil, head coach Mark Bonner is content with the current squad depth, but there are quick recall options in the loan deals of Mamadou Jobe and Liam Bennett, who are out at St Neots Town and Hemel Hempstead respectively.
“The one who is closest to us is Mamadou,” said Bonner. “There has been a change of manager over at Hemel so Liam is adjusting to a new manager, and they didn’t have a game last weekend, so hopefully that goes on for him.
“Mamadou obviously we’ve got a close eye on at St Neots.
“With both of those, we’ve got the ability to call them back at 24 hours notice if we need them or want them, but it’s important now that they’re playing those regular games of football and really challenging.
“We’ve got that flexibility if we need it, but we’re quite content with the squad as it is and hopefully a few of those younger boys will get some opportunities in the first team in the coming weeks.”
Lewis Simper is out on loan for the season at Yeovil Town in the National League.
He has had a disrupted campaign so far, having first got Covid and then suffering an injury so returned to the U's for a spell but has been back with the Glovers for the past 10 days.
“He came on in the FA Cup on Tuesday night late on in extra time, but his task is to force his way into their team which is a good challenge for him,” said Bonner.
“You’ve got to get the balance right with young players.
“Firstly, yes they need to be playing to develop but they also need to earn the right to play to develop and not be given things too easily. I think that’s sometimes something that we can be guilty of, giving them everything and them not having that resilience to stick at it.
“That’s his challenge, I think, to force his way into that team. Obviously, if he doesn’t force his way into the team we will have to revisit it to try to make sure he is playing.
“But this little spell of trying to force his way into someone’s team, it’s good for him.”
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