Mark Bonner hails Cambridge’s defensive commitment in MK Dons win

Posted Sunday, July 31, 2022 by PA

Mark Bonner was delighted with Cambridge’s commitment to keeping MK Dons quiet in their 1-0 League One win at the Abbey Stadium.

The U’s sealed victory thanks to an excellent Harvey Knibbs goal in the early stages and then did well to prevent Liam Manning’s side from managing a shot on target.

Matt Smith hit the bar in the opening minutes, but it was as close as the visitors would come.

“The lads give everything, they’re unbelievable,” said Bonner. “You see about eight of them trying to head a ball at the end and throw their body in the way. That is us. We’ll never go away, we’ll fight to hold on to a win.

“I love that about us, it’s a brilliant trait that we’ve got. It means we can suffer in games but still be in them and it’s a brilliant underlying characteristic of our team that’s there, constantly.

“Harvey is good. We know he’s got it so we want to see more of it, simple as that. He’s had a brilliant pre-season, he’s done really well today. We’ve got high hopes for him. He certainly won’t be happy if he finishes the season with one goal. It’s a big season for him.

“We’ve got lots to do, lots to improve, but at the early time of year if you can get some wins and points on the board it’s good for everybody, so we’ll certainly take the result.

“A win, a clean sheet, all those things, it ticks every box really. We are delighted with the outcome for sure, and the players will be thrilled with that.”

Manning felt MK Dons would have to learn fast after handing debuts to a number of new signings.

“In the first five minutes I thought we started the game really well with good intensity, intent to play forward and run forward,” he said. “After that it was slightly disappointing for the rest of the first half in terms of discipline and quality and doing what we know we’re capable of.

“In the second half we had complete control without having a real threat. The control was better, the quality was better. There were still little bits of sloppiness. We just spoke about it, we have to learn quick if we want to pick up results in a relentless and tough league.

“It was a disappointing goal. It was off a long ball, second ball and then straight through the middle of us. We’ve done a lot of work pre-season on being hard to beat and owning the middle of the pitch. To concede a goal like is obviously disappointing.

“We have to take our learning from it and move on and try and put it right next week.”