Mark Bonner braces Cambridge United for tough test against Accrington Stanley in League One
Mark Bonner is hoping that Cambridge United are well braced for a physical challenge at home to Accrington Stanley on Saturday (February 19).
If you look at the League One table as two parts, Stanley are bottom of the top half, while United are towards the top of the bottom half, with three places and five points separating the sides.
Accrington have won their last two matches, but had their game at Sheffield Wednesday postponed on Wednesday night at short notice.
The two teams faced each other in the second game of the season in August, and it was an initial shock to the system for the U’s in their return to life on the road in the higher tier as they eventually lost 2-1.
So they know what to expect at the Abbey.
“Accrington are a really competitive, fierce team,” said United head coach Bonner.
“They’ve got power in the team, strength, good size in their side. We saw all of that earlier on in the season.
“We struggled physically with them on that day. We had to change the team around a little bit for that, and grew into the game and got stronger as it went on.
“We probably deserved something out of it in the end with our second-half performance. In many respects, some of the games we’ve played recently, we’re probably preparing for a similar sort of beast against us this weekend.
“We know the physicality that they bring to the game, they’ve got attacking threats in the team. They are a super team on set plays, they scored all four goals against Crewe last week off set plays.
“There will be some elements of the game that we’re going to have to make sure we’re really up for and fancy that physical challenge.
“There will be scruffy parts of the game that we’ve got to do well, and we’ve got to deal with their real threats in the game.
“They’ve got some good players. We’ve got to make sure we’re productive with the ball that we have because we know we can create chances and we’ve got to be a clinical team that does the best we can with what we get.”
Bonner was full of praise for the work that John Coleman has done in charge of Accrington, and the way they run the club using the funds wisely from the sales of the likes of Dion Charles, to Bolton, and Cameron Burgess, to Ipswich.
“John Coleman has done an unbelievable job there and you can look back on the time where they’ve come from, but they are well established, well deserving of their position in League One, and very often a top half team,” said Bonner.
“They’ve fought for the play-offs in some years. I guess one of the consequences of being a smaller club is it’s hard to keep your best players all the time.
“They have reinvested the money really well. The stadium looks better every time you go there, I think the changing rooms are getting done at the moment.
“They are making really good progress and they’re a great model for smaller clubs with small natural resources to look at and try to emulate because they’re a well-established team that have done well.
“Recruitment-wise, they’ve always used the loan market really well and they’ve always used recruiting from non-League really well as well.”
He added: “We’re full of respect for the job they’ve done there, and continue to do. I think we know how difficult the game will be, but it’s a game we’ve got to try to get the upper hand in.”
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