Cambridge United boss Neil Harris praises goalkeeper Jack Stevens after clean sheet at Shrewsbury Town

Cambridge United head coach Neil Harris has heaped praise on Jack Stevens after he kept a clean sheet during Saturday’s 1-0 victory at Shrewsbury Town.

It has been a difficult campaign for the goalkeeper, who has often had to watch on as Vicente Reyes, Marko Marosi and Nathan Bishop were given the nod between the posts.

The weekend’s win was just the seventh start that the 27-year-old has made in League One this term, and his first since February 2.

However, with Bishop sidelined through injury, he made a rare appearance as the U’s cut the gap to safety to seven points with five fixtures remaining.

Harris said: “I’m really pleased for the defensive unit (to get a clean sheet) and certainly pleased for Jack Stevens. It’s been a tough for season for him.

“He’s had to be patient, even under me. He knows I really respect him and I like him as a goalkeeper. He was outstanding for me in my 14-game spell last time here.

“He’s been excellent every day in training. He’s been mega, a good leader, a good character and a good goalkeeper.

“Bish was a real 50/50 call, a real tight call. It just wasn’t right to play Bish and it wouldn’t be fair on Sunderland (his parent club).

“And when you’ve got such an experienced goalkeeper that’s chomping to get in, it was a real sensible call to go with Jack.”

The injury suffered by Bishop is not believed to be too serious, but given that he is only on loan at the Cledara Abbey Stadium, Harris has no intention of rushing the former Manchester United youngster back.

“We’re hoping he might be back for next weekend – that’s a possibility,” he added.

“He presented at the training ground today slightly better than the last 48 hours, but again we’ve got to be mindful that while we want to win games, he’s not our player.

“I’m always mindful of that because you want to build relationships with clubs. You take their players and you want to be held in high regard as a football club that looks after players when they’re on loan.

“We’ll see how Bish presents day after day.”