Cambridge United to make alterations for Sky Bet League One clash at Ipswich Town

Head coach Mark Bonner will make a handful of changes to his Cambridge United side for tomorrow night’s Sky Bet League One at Ipswich Town.

Having played Derby County on Saturday and with a trip to Bristol Rovers to come at the weekend, Bonner was always plotting some alterations for the journey down the A14.

However, after a couple of knocks were picked up during the 2-0 defeat to Derby, ‘four or five’ players could potentially now come into the starting line-up at Portman Road for a fixture that was originally scheduled on the weekend all football was postponed following the death of the Queen.

“There’s a couple definitely out and there’s a little bit of illness as well – definitely two or three missing and we’ll probably make four or five changes tomorrow because we’ll have to. And also we tend to anyway when we play a three-game week,” he said.

“Hopefully that gives us an element of freshness without making us look too abnormal. We’ll see where everyone is at this morning and do the best we can when we go there.

“For us we just want to keep getting competitive performances out against the best teams because that is the foundation to getting any points.”

Hosting Ipswich have made a flying start to the new campaign, winning seven of their 11 fixtures and losing just once to sit second, a point adrift of table-topping Plymouth Argyle.

The Tractor Boys have also received plenty of plaudits for the performances they have delivered under the guidance of boss Kieran McKenna, who came in last December to replace Paul Cook.

Bonner is well aware of the task that is ahead of his men, but he is hoping they can embrace the occasion, just as they did during last term’s 1-0 win in Suffolk.

“They’re a possession dominant team, they dominate the game often with seven players in their attacks,” he added. “They try to build from the goalkeeper and try to disconnect you as a team.

“They love attacking in wide areas, particularly against back fours, but have lots of bodies centrally and two number 10s who want to play through you.

“They’re very fluid. Nobody knows if they play 4-2-3-1, 4-3-3, 3-4-3, 3-4-2-1 – they’ve got huge variety in how they play, it’s more about spaces and principals rather than systems.

“They’re very well coached, they’ve got a good understanding in that sense and they’ve got excellent individuals.

“In all those areas they’ll be very good and we’ll have to try and find some weaknesses that we can exploit and do them really well, but we’ll have to be incredibly well organised in order to handle what they’ve got.

“It will be a tough night if they play at their very best and find their top tempo, but our game is try to disrupt that as much as we can and try and carry our own threat and get some control of it.

“You know you’re in for a tough night but it’s really hard to not be excited about it because what a game to go and play in.

“The players loved it last year when they went there. We’ll have 2,000 away fans, it will be a brilliant atmosphere, so bring it on and let’s see what we can do.”