Cambridge United head coach Neil Harris well aware of threat posed by Nathan Jones’ Charlton Athletic
Head coach Neil Harris is under no illusions as to the numerous challenges that Charlton Athletic will pose for his Cambridge United side tomorrow afternoon.
Having won nine of their opening 22 fixtures, the Addicks found themselves 11th in the League One standings at the turn of the year.
However, Nathan Jones’ men have since recorded 12 victories from 19 outings to almost guarantee themselves a play-off place ahead of their trip to the Cledara Abbey Stadium.
And Harris, who has a long-standing rivalry with Charlton due to his Millwall connections, is well aware of the size of the task ahead of the U’s.
“I’m a big Nathan Jones fan. I love the way he sets his teams up and the mentality of his teams – I really like it,” said Harris, who saw his side close the gap to safety to seven points after last weekend’s 1-0 win at bottom-of-the-table Shrewsbury Town.
“Yes, I’m not the biggest Charlton Athletic fan and I’m sure if I was near the away end (on Saturday) they’d give me a very nice reception! But that’s just sporting rivalry built up over many seasons.
“Charlton have had a brilliant season. They’re going to be in the play-offs and I really fancy them to do well in that.
“They’ve got an excellent squad that they built really early. I had a lot of dealings with Nathan and Charlton over the summer – they brought Alex Mitchell off us at Millwall. You could see how they were building their group and they’ve done extremely well.
“We know it’s another tough battle but we’ve played Stockport at home, we’ve played Wrexham at home and two tough opponents at home in different ways in Stevenage and Peterborough – and we’ve competed in all four games.
“We have to do exactly the same against Charlton. It’s going to be a physical game. They ask a lot of questions of you and they can get the ball forward quickly. They can also handle the ball and they’ve got a real goal threat, so it’s a really tough game but one we’re excited about.
“We’re on a little run ourselves and we’re in a good place – the training ground is a really good place to be at the moment. We’re not focussed on what is coming in two weeks, three weeks or six weeks – we’re just focusing on a one-game mentality and it’s worked for us in the last four games in particular and in the four games before that we weren’t far away at all.”
Cambridge goalkeeper Nathan Bishop will miss the game with an ankle injury, but Sullay Kaikai could return to the squad.
