Cambridge United head coach Mark Bonner planning to make ‘changes’ to starting line-up for trip to Wycombe Wanderers

Head coach Mark Bonner is plotting some alterations to his Cambridge United starting line-up for tomorrow evening’s Sky Bet League One trip to Wycombe Wanderers.

Having gone nine games in all competitions without a victory, the U’s have lifted spirits with recent results after a goal-less draw at home against league-leading Portsmouth was followed up by a 1-0 victory at the expense of Carlisle United on Saturday.

Bonner named the same side for those two fixtures but with the clash at Adams Park leaving little time for recovery, it is likely to be a different group that takes to the pitch against their 10th-placed hosts.

He said: “It’s been huge physical work for the team in the recent couple of games.

“We’ve seen from the weekend how good the competition is for players to come into the team. I really want it to be competitive (and) I want players to understand that they’ve got a part to play.

“One of our mantras is that it’s ‘all in’ and we’ve got to all contribute towards winning performances – whether that’s from the start or from within the game.

“We’ve got to get the balance right tomorrow of continuity from what’s gone well, but freshness and players that can reinvigorate us and give us a bit of life.

“We’ll make changes tomorrow in order to give us that, but I’m looking forward to seeing those that get their opportunity to really step up and look to claim their position as a real starter in the team. And to give us the same energy and quality without the ball that we’ve had and to see if they can make a difference with the ball.”

While the hosting Chairboys have had few issues scoring goals this term – only five teams can boast a higher return than their 22 – keeping the ball out of their own net has also proven to be problematic.

Matt Bloomfield’s charges have shipped a total of 23 goals – a tally that is only better than the bottom two clubs, Cheltenham Town and Reading.

And Bonner is hoping that his players will able to expose that apparent vulnerability.

He added: “A number of the players are still in situ and Matt obviously played under Gareth (Ainsworth, former boss who departed in February) in the long period that he was there.

“You wouldn’t want to say that they’re identical because he’s got his own way of doing things, but when a coach who is fairly ingrained in a club – and it’s a strength of theirs and it works – you don’t want to go too far away from it.

“They’ve got the basics of what they have been – very, very hard to beat. They’re a really aggressive team that you’ve got to be physical against and you have to come out on top in physical battles. You have to defend your box well – all of those things are very true.

“But sometimes that can be a perception that they’re a certain type (or) play a certain way. They’ve got really good footballers in their team as well and they’re athletic. They’ve got some good footballers throughout (the squad) that they signed in the summer.

“They’ve got a little bit of everything about them and they’re a high-scoring team on set plays – that’s something we’ll need to be good at as well. But also, we know there are some vulnerabilities and frailties to them.

“Defensively they’ve given chances up this year and we’ve got to go there and make sure we’re a creative team that threatens them and makes them defend their box as much as they’ll want to make us defend ours.”

Back-up goalkeeper Will Mannion has returned to training after missing the win against Carlisle because of illness and he could make the trip to Buckinghamshire. Elias Kachunga (hamstring) remains sidelined.