Cambridge United head coach Garry Monk heaps praise on players after third League One win in a row over Burton Albion

Head coach Garry Monk was full of praise for his Cambridge United players after they dug out a 1-0 victory over Burton Albion this afternoon.

Following back-to-back wins over Wigan Athletic and Stevenage within the space of 72 hours, today’s visit of bottom-of-the-table Burton proved to be a scrappy affair with United notably lacking energy – particularly during the second half.

Nevertheless, they remained resolute defensively and that doggedness was rewarded six minutes from time when substitute Jordan Cousins hammered the ball in from close range after visiting goalkeeper Max Crocombe had spilled Danny Andrew’s free-kick.

And having moved off the bottom of the table and up to 21st place with just a one-point gap to safety, Monk could not have asked for any more from his players over the last eight days.

He said: “I knew we’d be a little bit lower in terms of the intensity we’d play with, but with the week we’ve had and what we wanted to achieve from it, we couldn’t have asked for more.

“We spoke a lot since Stevenage about this game. I said to the players that this would be the hardest game and the biggest challenge.

“I knew outside the expectation was probably that this would be the easiest one on paper, and this is the first one where expectations are were that we will just rock up and win this one at home after the week we’ve been having.

“But I knew this wasn’t going to be easy, especially when you throw in the fact they’ve just lost their manager and it could have been anything they’ve turned up with.

“They did change what they’ve been doing. They changed the way they played and while we kind of prepared for it, you never really know until you’re doing it.

“Overall we dealt with it well enough and defensively we’ve been excellent this week – even today when we weren’t quite at full throttle, defensively we looked sound enough.

“And in the second half our moment came and that’s the fine margins. We spoke about those when we weren’t winning, but they went for us in this one.”

United switch their focus to the FA Cup next weekend when they head to non-league Woking.