Robbie Cundy in contention for Cambridge United debut in Carabao Cup clash with Birmingham City
Robbie Cundy could be set for his first appearance in a Cambridge United shirt when they travel to Birmingham City in the Carabao Cup tomorrow (Saturday, September 5).
The 23-year-old centre-back has joined on loan from Bristol City, but has not featured during pre-season because of a slight groin strain.
But he has been back in training, and looks set to feature in the first-round clash at St Andrew’s.
“It will be a tough first game for him, but we look forward to seeing him play for us for the first time in what will be a really challenging game for him and us,” said U’s head coach Mark Bonner.
Leon Davies has also trained this week after missing the friendly win over Ipswich Town last Saturday, and they are keeping an eye on the fitness of two unnamed players.
“We’ve had a handful of boys that have missed the odd game here and there through tiredness or a quick contact injury,” said Bonner, “but in the main, nearly every player has trained every day which is one great sign of how you can get fit - if you’re missing lots of days in pre-season it’s tough to do.”
The U’s are only four-and-a-half weeks into their pre-season schedule, and it is why the fixture gives Bonner a bit of a conundrum.
They would love to progress in the Carabao Cup, and also win their EFL Trophy match against Fulham under-21 on Tuesday night, but start of the Sky Bet League Two season against Carlisle United on September 12 has to be the priority.
“I think that few of our boys have played 90 minutes - some have put a couple together - so we’re really building that at the moment,” said Bonner.
“The latter stages of the game I expect to be tough, and we’re going to have to really dig in in those parts. It will be an intense game, probably played at a higher tempo than the last couple.
“So that will challenge us massively from a physical point of view.
“We need to make sure we get through the next two games hopefully with really good performances and hopefully with the results, but ultimately intact and as strong as possible going into Carlisle next Saturday.”
United’s last competitive game was on March 7, while the Championship resumed in June, which meant Birmingham had an additional nine games during the summer, a period that concluded with Aitor Karanka replacing Pep Klotet as manager.
“They are going to be further ahead, that’s just a fact,” said Bonner. “We don’t know what that will end up looking like in the game, and how that will play out but we’re going to have to be mindful of that.
“They will certainly be ahead of us physically in that sense, but we’ve got to show that we’ve got resilience and fight about us that when it gets tough we can hang in.
“There is just no way in five weeks after four months off that you can get to the level you need in that space of time.
“You are either going to burn players getting there or break them, and we didn’t want to do either.
“We see this as a really good next stepping stone for us, a big challenge, and it’s quite an inspiring game for players just to see how you compete and how you level up against a player at that level.
“We’ve got some ambitious boys here that want to play at higher levels and I think they’ve got the potential to do it, this will be a nice blinker to see where they stand at the moment.”
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