Cambridge United head coach Neil Harris looks ahead to League One crunch relegation clash at Crawley Town, praising the 1,200 away fans supporting his side

Cambridge United head coach Neil Harris insists that the club’s fans have a major role to play in their bid for survival.

The U’s visit fellow strugglers Crawley in League One this Saturday, cheered on by 1,200 away supporters.

Harris knows they need all the backing they can get if the great escape is to become a reality with his side eight points adrift of safety.

“I was hugely surprised by the number travelling,” said Harris. “It's lovely and the number of tickets that were sold this week on the back of a really positive result, people are galvanised and excited again.

“All I can promise them is let's be a team that has a right go, although that should never be enough. That should be the standard for a Cambridge United fan to see that.

“But if they feel it's not been the case on the road this year, then we need to change that mindset.

“I'm delighted they're travelling and are coming to support us as a football club and support me and the team. That means so much to us. It does make a difference.

“I've been a player on the pitch. When you walk out of that tunnel, whether it's for the warm-up or it's for the game itself and you see that away end full and the noise, it does make a difference to you.”

Cambridge have won just once on their travels this season – and have collected just two away wins since Harris left the club to join Millwall in February 2024.

The irony wasn’t lost on Harris that his last away match in charge of Cambridge was a 4-0 victory at Carlisle. So how will he turn that dreadful away record around?

“Firstly, there's no magic wand,” stated Harris. “All I can do is set up the players with a game plan that I think best suits us and best suits the opponent to try and get a result. Hopefully, the boys execute that game plan brilliantly.

“That's all we can do. The thought process is how do we get the best out of individual players that gives us the best opportunity to try and have a clean sheet mentality but also hurt the opponent at the top end of the pitch.”

Crawley have won just twice in their last 14 league games although they’ve collected some impressive results at home of late.

Harris watched one of those matches, a 1-1 draw with Wigan earlier this month.

“Every game is huge, isn't it?” reflected the U’s boss. “We can look at the league table and say we're rivals in position in the league but I’ve just walked in the building.

“I don't overly study the league table at the moment, the form guide. I'm looking purely at the opponent and their strengths and weaknesses.

“And more importantly, I'm looking at us. How do we build on last week?

“I'm going into the game with a fresh mind. I see Crawley for what they are. I was at their game last week against Wigan and they got a very good point. I know their strengths and areas where I think we can try and exploit against them as well.

“I'm focusing purely on us. It's a one-off game and we want to win games of football. We want to win games of football because we want to improve our league position.

“The players want to win games of football because they want to improve their individual status as well. But ultimately, the feel-good factor that we've had for the last week now, I want to continue past Saturday at five o'clock.”

Harris has confirmed that goalkeeper Marko Marosi and Glenn McConnell have both been ruled out for the season along with Taylor Richards, who made just five league appearances while on loan from QPR.

Esapa Osong, a forward who joined on loan from Nottingham Forest before the January transfer window closed, has returned to his parent club due to illness.