Cambridge United 1-1 Bolton Wanderers: Garry Monk filled with pride after U’s battle back with 10 men to claim a point thanks to Sullay Kaikai’s late header

Head coach Garry Monk spoke of the pride that he had in his Cambridge United players after they fought back to claim a 1-1 draw from tonight’s home encounter against Bolton Wanderers.

After losing Jubril Okedina to a red card early in the second half, the U’s fell behind on the hour mark to Aaron Collins’ third League One goal of the season.

But rather than lick their wounds and accept their fate, United rallied and they were rewarded late on when Sullay Kaikai rose highest to head home Danny Andrew’s right-wing cross.

Monk, who has now seen his side lose just one of their last nine games in all competitions, said: “The red card changed the game in the sense of what we needed to do, but even then with the 10 men – two things can happen. You either feel sorry for yourself or it galvanises you and it galvanised us.

“It’s just disappointing that their goal actually came from ourselves, our mistake when we could have cleared the ball early and obviously we got punished for it. But again, even in that moment it didn’t deter us. Again, it galvanised us even more and we stuck at it.

“Out of all of the games this season, that’s the most proud I’ve been. They didn’t give up, they just kept going.

“For all of that territory that they had, I never felt too much under threat, even when we had 10 men. We got our deserved rewards today – we deserved that goal, 100 per cent.

“I’ve said it all along that we’ve got a really good bunch of lads here. Because of the start we had (nine league games without a win), the question is you’re wearing that shirt – how much do you care for that? I think tonight typifies it.

“They’ve been showing it all season but in this recent run of games, I think even more so. We can talk about tactics and everything like that, but that innate feeling from a crowd when you see a group of lads giving everything they’ve got, then they’ll (the fans) will go with you.

“That definitely happened tonight and that combination got us across the line and got that goal back. The funny thing is, if anyone was going to score a winner it looked like us.

“I’m proud of them anyway, but I’m really proud tonight. That was an exceptional effort from everyone considering the adversity we had to face.”

Tonight’s draw has left United 22nd in the League One standings, but the gap to safety has been cut by a point to three.