Cambridge United boss Garry Monk praises second-half performance in EFL Trophy group stage win over Chelsea Under-21s

Head coach Garry Monk was pleased with the second-half performance that his Cambridge United players produced during last night’s 1-0 win over Chelsea Under-21s in the EFL Trophy.

A 74th-minute goal from youngster Amaru Kaunda on his full debut sealed the three points that have kept United’s hopes of reaching the knockout stage of the competition alive. They will now progress if Charlton Athletic avoid defeat against Bromley when the two sides meet next Tuesday (12 November).

But more importantly the result continued Cambridge’s recent upturn in form heading into Saturday’s Cambridgeshire derby at Peterborough United.

The U’s have won five matches in a row for the first time since December 2016 and have kept five clean sheets on the spin – a feat that they have not achieved since September 2013.

And it was the response to the messages relayed at half-time that gave Sky Bet League One Manager of the Month for October nominee Monk the most satisfaction.

“I thought we started the game well enough but obviously they’re a good team. Regardless of them being under-21s, Chelsea always recruit talented young players,” he said.

“You could see that talent but I felt that we were giving them a little bit too much respect during that first half – albeit that it was probably an even first half.

“We needed to impose ourselves more on the game and do what we’ve been doing really well over this run of games we’ve had and I think we did that in the second half.

“From the get-go we were much more physical, had a much more higher tempo, we were more aggressive against the ball and it provided us with quite a lot of opportunities.

“We know we should have scored more goals but we managed to get the all important goal and it’s another clean sheet. The most important thing was to win this game because we still have an outside chance of going through to the next stage. We’ve done our job and also keeping that run going is a big thing for us.”

Midfielder Paul Digby will be assessed ahead of the Peterborough clash after limping off last night with a calf injury.