Mark Bonner applauds Cambridge run after narrow League One victory over Crewe

Posted Sunday, January 23, 2022 by PA

Cambridge manager Mark Bonner applauded his side’s achievement of recording five successive wins in all competitions after they edged a 1-0 League One victory over Crewe.

Adam May’s strike from outside the box three minutes before half-time earned the U’s a success that lifts Bonner’s side into the top half of the table.

In the last fortnight, Cambridge have stunned Premier League Newcastle in the FA Cup, progressed to the EFL Trophy quarter-finals and claimed nine points from league clashes against Lincoln, Doncaster and now Crewe.

“This is a tough league and wins are really hard to come by. The fact that we’ve got five on the bounce in all competitions is unbelievable, outstanding really,” Bonner said.

“When you get through these winter months you’ve got to have a few warriors in your team that can grind out results.

“It was the recipe for us last year and it’s the same again this year.”

“That was a really tough game. The pitch has had a lot of games on it this week and it was very, very bobbly and made it difficult for a dribble or a pass. We really wanted to win the toss so we didn’t have that sun in our eyes first half.

“Until the 40th minute when it was out, it was almost impossible to see each other or space or runs, so to get in at 1-0 was incredible.

“Then we should have put the game to bed in the early part of the second half but we didn’t, so then it becomes a tough finish but we defended our box like we do and ended up getting another brilliant result.”

David Artell did not hide his disappointment about how his Crewe side had performed.

“I thought we were awful,” he said. “There was one bit of quality in the game that’s won it for Cambridge.

“It doesn’t have to be pretty if you’re winning so I’m not talking about Cambridge, I’m talking about us.

“We can only effect what we can effect and we didn’t try and pass the ball to each other. We just whacked it. If you whack the ball, don’t expect to win games of football.

“It’s not our game, it’s not our way. It was an extremely frustrating afternoon.

“It’s a great strike from their lad, but I’m sure you wouldn’t believe me, we’d worked on their transitions, their counter-attacks. We still managed to concede a goal from one. It’s just adding to the frustration.

“If you don’t want to try and play football our way then you leave yourself wide open to a poor result and a poor performance.

“If we’d have scored (with the) last kick, that wouldn’t have masked a really low-quality performance from us.”