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Cambridge United head coach Mark Bonner calls on players to take responsibility in fight to regain form




Head coach Mark Bonner has encouraged his Cambridge United players to not feel sorry for themselves as they battle to overturn a negative run of Sky Bet League One form.

Yesterday’s 2-0 home defeat at the hands of Sheffield Wednesday means it is now six losses from the last seven outings for the U’s, who have dropped down to 18th in the process.

It is a run of results that is bound to have knocked confidence within the dressing room, yet Bonner is confident there is enough mental resolve within the group to come out of the other side.

Cambridge United head coach Mark Bonner. Picture: Simon Lankester
Cambridge United head coach Mark Bonner. Picture: Simon Lankester

“I’m pretty sure they can (respond mentally) and I’m pretty sure they will but you’d have to ask them how they do it,” he said.

“It’s not easy of course because you want that love and affinity all of the time, but I’ve told them ‘don’t look for any love online because you won’t find it there and don’t look for any love outside this dressing room because you probably won’t find it there either’.

“But inside the dressing room, amongst each other you’ve got to have a belief you’re a good player and that things turn, but they only turn if you make them turn so in the end all of this comes down to one of our three really important values and that one is responsibility.

“It’s on us to turn it around, we can’t rely on anybody else. We will and results will go our way, but the one way it won’t is if we feel sorry for ourselves.

“It’s roll your sleeves up and crack on. I’m sure they will, we’ll support them through that. A lot of them are young lads that haven’t had huge careers at this level and appearances so it’s a new experience for all of us in that sense and we’ve got to get through that together.

“And the second thing with lots of them is – and I’ve said this before – a number of them haven’t been ever-presents in teams and that’s a new experience.

“But if they harbour ambitions to make us better, which we have to do while we’re all here, and secondly go and play higher for bigger clubs then you have to deal with these situations time and time again.”

Bonner is also of the belief that remaining confident will play a key role in United rediscovering their touch in front of goal.

They have scored in none of their last three home matches, while their last seven league outings have yielded a return of just four goals.

He added: “The attacking threat is the bit I want more of because if we get that it will turn the other thing (results) around any way.

“I’m not overly concerned by the results. Of course we are tearing our hair out because no-one wants to lose games, absolutely not. And we’ve built a team over the last two and a half years that has won a lot of games and hasn’t gone on runs like this.

“It’s a good test for everybody, realise who we are and where we are and that it’s really difficult. We should never forget who we are and where we’ve come from.

“If the players hold their nerve and stay confident in themselves as players, I know we can create chances (and) I know we can score goals. We’ve seen that plenty of times over a period of time.”

READ MORE: Five talking points – Cambridge United 0-2 Sheffield Wednesday



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