Cambridge United face tough League One opener against promotion hopefuls Oxford United

While many Cambridge United fans are still basking in the glory of the club’s promotion to League One, a daunting opening day fixture against Oxford United is right around the corner.

The U’s provided one of the biggest shocks in English football last season by sealing a second place finish in League Two, despite being tipped for mid-table at best. They now find themselves in one of the toughest League One lineups in recent history, with almost every pundit and expert tipping them for relegation.

That’s exactly how Mark Bonner likes it. After all, very few people thought that he would be a success when he was appointed head coach in March 2020 with next to no managerial experience. His CV now boasts an unexpected promotion, having guided his club to the third tier for the first time since 2002.

Of course, the job of keeping Cambridge in League One is a much tougher prospect, and they’ll be dropped right into the deep end on the opening day of the campaign. Karl Robinson’s Oxford will be the visitors on Saturday afternoon, fresh off the back of an impressive campaign that saw them claim a playoff spot on the final day of the season.

While the Yellows were subsequently eliminated by eventual winners Blackpool, they will once again boast one of the better squads in the division. Despite losing the likes of Josh Ruffels, Rob Atkinson and Sean Clare over the summer, Oxford’s recruitment has been incredibly promising so far.

Gavin Whyte and Nathan Holland have both returned to the club on loan from Cardiff City and West Ham United respectively, as has Jason Thorniley, who joins from now Championship side Blackpool. Billy Bodin and Ryan Williams have both been brought in to bolster the Yellows’ wide options, while Marcus McGuane and Steve Seddon were signed on undisclosed fees.

Perhaps more importantly, Oxford have kept the core of their squad together. The likes of Cameron Brannagan, Elliott Moore and Mark Sykes have all stuck with the club despite their failure to win promotion. Matty Taylor, who finished as tied fifth top scorer in League One last season, will also be leading the line once again in the upcoming campaign.

Robinson’s notorious possession-based approach can be incredibly difficult to play against, especially given the attacking strength he has at his disposal. The Yellows finished as third top scorers in the division last season, and that trend will likely continue over the course of the next nine months.

One trend that Oxford might not want to continue is their run of starting seasons incredibly poorly. In 2020/21, they lost eight of their opening 12 league fixtures, and previous campaigns have followed the same pattern. This might give Cambridge fans some comfort, as might the fact that their opponent’s manager will be in the stands rather than the dugout. Robinson is still serving a four-match ban for violent conduct given last season.

That being said, there are reasons for U’s fans to be optimistic for the upcoming season. Much like Oxford, they’ve kept the core of their promotion-winning squad together. While the departure of Paul Mullin is a colossal blow, there’s no guarantee that he would be able to replicate his incredible goalscoring form in the division above.

Tying down 39-year-old Wes Hoolahan for another season is arguably a more important move, given that he has proven himself in the Premier League and at international level, as well as in League Two last season. There were question marks as to whether he could handle playing lower-league football, but he has answered those in emphatic fashion.

Cambridge’s recruitment has been impressive as well, albeit not quite in the same stratosphere as some of their League One rivals. The club have re-signed Sam Smith, Shilow Tracey and Jubril Okedina on permanent deals, while the likes of James Brophy, Lloyd Jones and George Williams are also expected to play a crucial part in the their survival hopes.

While pre-season never provides an accurate representation of a team’s strength, the U’s will need to improve on their lacklustre 0-0 draw against Northampton Town last weekend. Their newly adopted 4-2-3-1 formation left lone striker Joe Ironside looking isolated from the rest of the team, while Harvey Knibbs clearly felt uncomfortable playing on the right wing.

There was a real lack of intensity in their friendly clash against the Cobblers, one that was present in their narrow 2-1 defeat against Championship side QPR earlier in the week. Of course, a packed-out Abbey Stadium coupled with a difficult opening game should be enough to get Cambridge out of first gear.

Bonner understands that his side won’t be amongst the favourites in League One, but believes that they can thrive in being the underdogs like they were last season.

“We want to go into the season as confident underdogs, not just underdogs. We want to be confident that we can take everybody on, compete with everyone and beat anyone. That’ll be a starting point this weekend, to just try and lay down a bit of a marker of ‘what does good look like for us’, and let’s see where we end up.

“If you start talking about survival on day one, there’s a real lack of ambition there. You try and win as many game as you can. When we get to the end of the season, we’ll decide whether we’re happy with the outcome or not.”

Of course, Saturday’s opener will be the real test of how prepared Cambridge are for the step up in division. Oxford will be backed by more than 1,400 travelling fans, with many players playing in front of a capacity crowd for the first time in well over a year.

Normality has returned to football, but the U’s will be hoping that they can keep providing shocks for a little while longer.

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