Cambridge United face resiliency test against in-form Rotherham United after their 4-1 defeat at the hands of MK Dons

Cambridge United’s trip to Milton Keynes did not exactly go to plan.

An away game against high-flying MK Dons was never going to be easy, but it felt like the most winnable fixture in the U’s torrid November schedule. After all, League Two side Stevenage managed to put the Dons to the sword over two legs in the FA Cup, so why couldn’t Cambridge?

The answer was clear from the offset. Mark Bonner’s side sat back and put the hosts under no pressure when on the ball. This allowed their three ball-playing centre-backs, including U’s academy graduate Harry Darling, a seemingly endless amount of time on the ball to make a pass.

After just 13 minutes, this route gave Liam Manning’s men the lead. Warren O’Hara was allowed time and space to launch the ball forward to Max Watters, who was given acres of space to run into due to Jack Iredale and Conor Masterson being caught too high up the pitch. All he had to do was break into the box and square it to an unmarked Scott Twine who calmly tapped it into an open net to make it 1-0.

At this point, Cambridge’s game plan had already gone out of the window, and the game slowly began to unravel. It took less than 15 minutes for MK Dons to double their lead. Once again, the U’s were caught napping, allowing Josh McEachran to play the ball straight through their entire midfield with one simple pass.

Neither Jensen Weir nor Paul Digby were able to close down Twine, leaving the defenders behind them totally exposed. They were caught in two minds about their positioning with Jubril Okedina moving forward to play the offside trap while Masterson had already started making the run to close down Watters. Ultimately, he wasn’t quick enough and this indecision allowed the Cardiff City loanee to race through on goal and make it 2-0.

With the game practically out of Cambridge’s reach, Twine added insult to injury by curling an inch-perfect free-kick past Dimitar Mitov who had helpfully offered the Dons’ top scorer almost two-thirds of his goal to aim at.

?#EFL | @MKDonsFC pic.twitter.com/DBaTVrW8gO

— Sky Bet League One (@SkyBetLeagueOne) November 14, 2021

This soon became a trademark U’s performance. Having been totally outplayed and dominated in the first half, Bonner hooked off Masterson for the experienced Harrison Dunk with Iredale moving from left-back to centre-back as a result. This helped the visitors look much calmer out of possession while also allowing them to progress into the final third more often.

Where had this sudden improvement come from? Why wasn’t it there in the first half?

Of course, at this point, the Dons had already taken their foot off the gas and gifted Cambridge more time on the ball as a result. This didn’t stop them from adding a fourth, however, as Twine and Watters capitalised on a horrendous pass from Iredale to make it 4-0.

Sam Smith’s late goal was nothing but a consolation that maintained the U’s record of having scored in every away league game this season. However, it didn’t hide from the fact that they were tactically outclassed from start to finish.

Of course, you can make excuses as to why Cambridge lost this game. It was clear that they weren’t comfortable playing on a pitch as big as the one at Stadium MK with the players’ positioning all over the place as a result. The Dons took advantage of this by exploiting the acres of space in between the defenders, something that wouldn’t have happened on the narrow surface at The Abbey.

The absences of Lloyd Jones and Shilow Tracey also played a part. The former would’ve offered an experienced and calming presence in the U’s backline while the latter could’ve used his searing pace to exploit the gaps left by the hosts’ wing-backs.

MK Dons played like a League One equivalent of Manchester City, but the reality is that Cambridge allowed them to play like that.

The blame for the poor result lands firmly at the feet of Bonner. As a young and inexperienced head coach, you can allow for occasional tactical slip ups like this. Often, it can push his side to improve, much like it did after the 5-1 thrashing they received in their own back yard against Lincoln City back in September.

Perhaps this is what we saw in Tuesday night’s FA Cup replay against Northampton Town.

An unconvincing 2-2 draw at Sixfields saw the Cobblers head to The Abbey with high hopes, especially having witnessed their opponents’ capitulation just three days earlier. Bonner named the same backline that played the second half against MK Dons while naming three strikers in attack as Smith, Harvey Knibbs and Joe Ironside all lead the line against Jon Brady’s side.

A nervous start was followed by three quick goals from the U’s who effectively sealed their progression to the Second Round with Ben Worman’s strike just after half-time. Danny Rose’s looping header wasn’t enough to spark a comeback for the Cobblers and Cambridge followed up their humbling in Buckinghamshire with a convincing win in front of their own fans.

Northampton are a good League Two side as they are flying in the league and played brilliantly in the first game against the U’s, however, that doesn’t change the fact that they’re still a division below Bonner’s men.

This weekend, Cambridge will travel to South Yorkshire to face a Rotherham United side that haven’t lost a game since September 11th. Their unbeaten run has lasted 13 games in all competitions and they’ve conceded the fewest goals in League One so far this season.

They’ve dispatched some of the top sides in the division with relative ease beating Sunderland 5-1, Portsmouth 4-1 and running out 3-0 winners away at MK Dons.

It may not come as a surprise that the U’s are firm underdogs for this game.

One positive is that Michael Smith, the league’s top scorer, picked up his fifth yellow card of the season in the Millers’ 1-1 draw away at Charlton Athletic. While he’ll miss the game against Cambridge, Paul Warne will still be able to select top League One strikers such as Freddie Ladapo and Will Grigg in his absence.

It also means that for the second game running, the U’s will be facing a side that play five at the back. MK Dons’ wing-backs caused all sorts of problems in wide areas last weekend so Bonner will need to make sure that Chiedozie Ogbene isn’t given the space to progress into the final third and deliver crosses into the box.

Jones and Tracey look set to remain on the sidelines for this game which is a huge blow for a Cambridge side that so desperately needed them at Stadium MK last weekend. Tuesday’s FA Cup win has shown that they can function without them, however, the gap in quality between Northampton and Rotherham doesn’t need emphasising.

With the U’s right in the middle of their toughest run of the season, fans can be excused for seeing these games as a free hit. As Bonner regularly explains, “their battles will be different to our battles this season”, and while that may be true, it’s also the reality of playing League One football.

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