Cambridge United head coach Mark Bonner eager to use emotion of Peterborough United derby clash in the right way
Mark Bonner has urged his Cambridge United players to not get hijacked by the emotion of today’s derby clash away at Peterborough United.
The Cambridge head coach believes that there is a balance to be had when it comes to encounters like the one at London Road, which gets under way at the earlier kick off time of 12pm.
On the one hand Bonner is keen for his team to ‘tap in’ to the atmosphere that this sort of occasion generates, but he is also wary of it having a negative impact on decision making and discipline.
He said: “If you can get yourself on top of the game then it’s easier of course, and when you play away it’s maybe a bit different to playing these games at home in that sense in terms of the emotion and the atmosphere.
“You accept there’s an added emotion to the game. You want it to bring the best out of you, but you need a clean game in terms of discipline and when you watch teams that do that well they give themselves a really good chance.
“When you watch teams that don’t (do that well), there’s been a few on the TV recently, it can become a really difficult game.
“We’ll have to be good in that sense but we want to tap into the emotion of the game, there’s no question about that.”
While hosting Posh were beaten earlier this week at Wigan Athletic, they have made a good start to the campaign and currently occupy fourth place in the Sky Bet League One table.
One of Darren Ferguson’s side’s major strengths is their ability to alter formations and tactics in-game - something that Bonner is acutely aware of.
He added: “They’ve got quite a few options. They can play differently depending on if (Jonson) Clarke-Harris plays or if they play with a lot of the faster players.
“There’s the ability for players to play in different positions. The one thing that Darren’s teams always do, they have the capability to play different shapes and systems. They’re tactically very astute and they can change during games - and have done.
“They’re playing really well this season and they’ve got some brilliant results, and in terms of just a one-on-one game against each other, we’ll have to be really good. We’re capable of being really good so we need to show up and give the best of ourselves against a strong side.
“But that’s often the way at this level. You look at a lot of teams that are fighting at the top end of it, they’re strong and have got really good depth in their sides. You can’t bemoan that, that’s just the level of the competition that we’re playing and we want to be ready to go and give the best of ourselves and see if we can go and get a result because we’re capable of doing that.”
