Cambridge United live up to ‘confident underdog’ tag line in shock win against Bolton Wanderers

Before Cambridge United started their League One campaign, Mark Bonner said that he wanted his side to be ‘confident underdogs’.

The U’s head coach was well aware of the challenges that promotion would bring, especially in a star-studded third-tier lineup. Many teams have colossal transfer budgets and can allure players who, for all intents and purposes, should not be playing so low down the football pyramid.

Bolton Wanderers were promoted from League Two alongside Cambridge last season, with the Trotters actually finishing the lower of the two sides. That being said, they were playing Premier League football as recently as nine years ago. Their status as a big club coupled with their impressive finances has allowed Ian Evatt to build an incredibly strong team.

Their unbeaten start to the season was far from perfect, having drawn both of their opening two league games 3-3. However, consecutive wins against two of last season’s play-off sides, Lincoln City and Oxford United, had propelled them towards the top end of the league table.

That was until Cambridge welcomed them to The Abbey. The U’s had already shattered Burton Albion’s 100% record with an emphatic 3-0 win the previous week, and were looking to end another unbeaten streak to give them their second victory of the season.

A razor-sharp start to the game saw Joe Ironside stick the ball in the back of the net within the first 15 minutes, only for the linesman to raise his flag for offside. The hosts didn’t stop there, however, as Shilow Tracey tucked home George Williams’ cross to give them the lead seconds later.

Bolton’s dominance of possession amounted to nothing in the first half, with Oladapo Afolayan’s narrow shot the closest they came to testing Dimitar Mitov. The U’s defence didn’t give them a sniff of goal in the first 45 minutes.

As was seen in the win at Lincoln, Evatt rejuvenated his side for the second half. Bolton hardly let Cambridge touch the ball, with Afolayan once again coming the closest to levelling the scores. They struggled to carve out any clear-cut chances in the end, mustering just one shot on target all game. Their 74% possession ultimately counted for nothing, and they left The Abbey empty handed.

Granted, Bonner won’t have liked to have seen his side dominated as much as they were, but this performance was the perfect embodiment of his ‘confident underdogs’ comment from pre-season. The U’s kept their rigid shape when out of possession, defending resolutely and timing their tackles to perfection.

The visitors made almost three times the amount of passes that Cambridge did and took twice the number of shots, but very rarely looked to be a real threat. That was, in part, due to Bolton’s lack of cutting edge in front of goal, and Evatt was keen to say that the defeat was self-inflicted. However, a huge amount of credit has to be given to the U’s water-tight back four.

Despite losing captain Greg Taylor and new arrival Jubril Okedina to injury, Bonner’s side have kept consecutive clean sheets for the first time this season against two top sides. They have one of the better defensive records in the division, and have only conceded once at home in all competitions so far this season.

Nullifying the immense threat that Bolton possess in wide areas was always going to be a challenge, especially up against in-form Afolayan on the left flank. Williams was tasked with marking the energetic 23-year-old, and limited him to only a couple of chances over the course of the game.

Similarly, Jack Iredale kept both Lloyd Isgrove and Elias Kachunga quiet down the right, attempting more tackles than anyone else on the pitch. His immense challenge on Gethin Jones midway through the second half epitomised a sensational performance from the left-back.

While Cambridge’s full-backs were superb, Bolton’s wingers looked shattered. Afolayan, who has often been the talisman for his side this season, gave the ball away eight times. On the other flank, Isgrove gave the ball away six times. Their relative anonymity in the game starved Eoin Doyle of chances in attack, while the likes of Antoni Sarcevic and Josh Sheehan were unable to contribute going forward.

Bonner only has two fit centre-backs available, Lloyd Jones and Conor Masterson. The pair were, once again, exceptional in the heart of defence. Masterson, on loan from Queens Park Rangers, was dropped in at the deep end last weekend as he started against Burton just three hours after his signing was announced.

The 22-year-old’s defensive qualities are clear, but his distribution stands out as his main attribute. His six clearances was more than any other player, but these are pinpoint passes rather than hopeful punts. He gets the ball out of dangerous areas and manages to pick out his attacking teammates making runs in wide areas.

Much like the win against Burton, you have to ask whether the U’s were really good or whether their opponents were really poor. In both cases, most fans would lean towards the former. The class that both the Brewers and the Trotters possess arguably trumps that of Cambridge, yet they’ve still come away with six points from those two games.

That brings back the ‘confident underdog’ tag that Bonner mentioned before the start of the campaign. Speaking to Prost International, the U’s head coach elaborated on how that tied into their performance against Bolton.

“The underdog thing is probably expectation on us from everybody else, it’s fairly low. We know where we are budget wise, size of the club and things like that, in comparison to some of the giants in the league. So it’s fairly natural for that to be the tag, but I don’t think we’re playing like it.

“I think we’re enjoying the challenge of being here, all the players and staff are. The more results you get, the more confident you become. But at the same time, we should always keep in check the expectations and everything because we know where we are in the food chain.

“We’re a very hardworking club and we’re fairly humble. We know where we are, we know who we are and what we’re about. I think we showed that quite a lot today.”

The task for Cambridge now is to make sure that these performances are sustainable. Their impressive start had guided them into the top half of the table, but they have to keep these results coming if they are to stay away from the relegation zone.

They now face a two-week break from league action following the news that their clash against Doncaster Rovers would be postponed due to international call-ups. While that provides a welcome rest from the hectic start to the new campaign, it may also damage the immense wave of confidence and momentum that the U’s are riding.

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