Garry Monk lauds ‘huge effort’ as Cambridge respond to derby drubbing with draw

Cambridge boss Garry Monk hailed his side’s “huge effort and motivation” after responding to last week’s derby mauling with a battling 1-1 draw against high-flying Barnsley.

Monk’s men were thrashed 6-1 by rivals Peterborough in their previous outing but showed an immediate desire to make amends against the Tykes as they took the lead after just four minutes through Dan Nlundulu.

Barnsley levelled through Stephen Humphrys in the 17th minute and were well on top in the closing stages, but Cambridge dug deep as the visitors were kept at bay by home goalkeeper Jack Stevens and resolute defending.

Monk said: “Overall it’s a good point for us, a good response. We spoke about the defeat last week, made sure we stopped that straight away.

“We’ve achieved a lot of the things we set out to do, obviously three points would have been nicer than one but I can’t really complain in terms of the effort that the players gave today.

“It wasn’t just about last week. Of course that was a big part of the motivation but for a number of reasons, needing results, needing points, a lot of self-motivation in there and of course including last week’s result.

“We wanted to try and put in a performance full of effort and endeavour, physicality and everything that was needed. I think we got that.

“You could see by the way the players were at the end. I always say you should come crawling off the pitch having given everything you’ve got, and I think we gave everything we’ve got today.

“Credit to the lads, it was huge effort and motivation. Of course we want the three but one point against a very good side is a good point in the end.”

Darrell Clarke felt his Barnsley side should have left the Abbey Stadium with the three points, but spoke highly of his team’s reaction to going behind early on.

“It’s a frustrated changing room, which is a good sign,” Clarke said. “The performance was worthy of a win but you’ve got to finish your chances.

“We’ve got to work on that and improve areas of the game at putting the ball in the back of the net when we get those opportunities, get the final ball right, get the final cross right. Today wasn’t our day.

“The performance was good, just missing a goal or two. They scored a deflection, we responded well with a great goal and then the second half I thought we were pretty dominant and just couldn’t put the ball in the net.

“It was a great drive and run (by Humphrys) to hit the ball with that much power after running about 50 or 60 yards was a great finish.

“I’ve been pleased with a lot about the performance today, but obviously frustrated and disappointed we didn’t take the three points.”