Mark Bonner aims to see Cambridge United hone their craft in League One

Mark Bonner hopes to see Cambridge United hone the art of reaping rewards from spells of dominance as the Sky Bet League One season develops.

The U's suffered a 2-0 defeat to Gillingham on Tuesday night, with Vadaine Oliver and Danny Lloyd getting a goal in each half at the Abbey.

It was not a case that United were ever out of the match, it was just that they had little to show from the periods when they were on top.

“We've got no divine right to beat anybody,” said United head coach Bonner. “We're playing against teams that are well established at this level.

“What I learned is the same things that are pretty obvious in all football matches, if you don’t take moments when you are on top of the game or you have your chances in the game, and you concede goals in periods of play or off moments that you think you can do better from, then you’re going to get punished for that.

“We got over 30 crosses in the box, 17 attempts at goal, more final third entries than a lot of games this season.

“We played with an intent to attack, we just didn’t find the quality needed at times in those moments, and a team that were really aggressive and defended those moments brilliantly, stopped us from taking those moments.

“There was plenty in that performance that when you watch it back and take away the emotion of the game, we were well in that game throughout.

“We had some good spells and of course we want to be better in certain moments to make sure that they don’t get ahead of us.

“The overall level of the game was a bit lower than some of the ones we’ve played against, I think. The games this year have been at a really high level, that probably wasn’t at the same kind of level and intensity in terms of quality of the game.

“That I think will happen. It’s frustrating that we didn’t come out of the game with something because we were more than a match in the game really, and the key moments didn’t go our way.”

With regards to the question surrounding intensity, it was not so much about the performance though, as Bonner explained.

“I think there were moments of intensity in the game, but we played against one of the most aggressive and intense teams in the league, who run hard and really commit to their pressing game,” he said.

“And, probably, had their best defensive game of the season - the best out of possession game that I’ve seen in all of the build-up.

“I think it’s just through the course of the season, you have games where you are at the top of your game, days where you’re not quite there, days where you’re not quite there but can still slip a result out, and other days where it doesn’t quite go where you are.

“We’re well in that game, there are plenty of moments for us to turn the game in our favour. The problem is if you don’t sustain the attacks or control the game or take the moments when they’re yours, then Gillingham will make you defend and make you defend for longer periods because of the nature of their game.

“The momentum is hard to get hold of, and the games become a little bit more stop-start. The ball in play time is the lowest of the season, there were more restarts in that game than any other game this season so the whole structure of the game is different.

“Therefore, it is the most unique game probably we’ve played of the nine so far, it’s the most different to any of the other games we’ve played in.”

It begs the question on how a team can force the intensity, or whether the way that the opposition plays dictates how the game will eventually pan out?
But either way, Bonner is expecting a completely different type of game at Crewe on Saturday (October 2) to the one they faced against Gillingham.

“I haven’t said the intensity wasn’t there, I was saying they were a very intense team,” said Bonner.

“I think we were intense in periods and they got the better of us in certain moments.

“We will just try to play as we play, and this game [against Crewe] will be completely different to that one so there is no real comparison.

“We’re not asking our team to do anything different, we’re just asking them to do what we do and hope that we can turn that in our favour this weekend.

“I think we’re capable of doing that.”

He added: “It will be a really interesting game against a good side that shouldn’t be underestimated because of results this season.

“They’ve got good players and a good style. They had an excellent season last year, and their squad has changed quite a bit but we need to make sure we find a really good level in everything - in and out of possession - to make sure we come away with something.”