Mark Bonner: Cambridge United boss hails 'resilience' after eighth clean sheet

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Cambridge United head coach Mark BonnerImage source, Rex Features
Image caption,

Cambridge-born Mark Bonner has been in charge of the team since early 2020

Cambridge boss Mark Bonner hailed his side's defensive resilience after their third successive clean sheet - and eighth of the season so far.

Tuesday's 0-0 draw at Wycombe left the U's 12th in League One, having just avoided relegation in May.

And their eight shutouts is more than any other team in the top four divisions of English football.

"We've kept clean sheets in 50% of our games, no-one else in the country has done it," said Bonner.

"We're sitting in the middle of the table, a decent enough position 16 games into the season, and we have to keep building and developing and keep improving," he told BBC Radio Cambridgeshire.

"The defensive side of our game in the last seven days has been outstanding, defending our box, one, but [also the] pressure and intensity to get after the other team.

"I thought we were super aggressive in our box, our goalkeeper [Jack Stevens] had an outstanding night, came and took crosses amongst bodies, so I was really pleased with how we defended."

Wycombe finished sixth and ninth in the past two seasons and Bonner expects them to be challenging for a play-off place again this term.

But Cambridge went close to winning the game, with Ryan Bennett's header hitting the bar - and then the foot of a post - and Jack Lankester forcing a fine save from Max Stryjek.

"The one at the end for Jack is a really good chance we should take and we can't do any better than the delivery from Danny [Andrew] and the header from Ryan in the first half - it's ridiculous that it's not gone in, I was wheeling away," said Bonner.

"To create two or three very good chances away from home against a really stubborn, strong team is good and we've got to take those.

"That's the next bit of our game that we've got to add but, whilst we aren't at our fluid best or our most creative, to be a pragmatic team that gets points out of games and has the defensive resilience we have is a brilliant starting point."

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