Garry Monk hailed a perfect week for his Cambridge side after they beat fellow Sky Bet League One strugglers Burton 1-0 to register their third victory in seven days.
The U’s picked up just one point from their first nine matches of the season, but are now just a single point from safety after Jordan Cousins’ 84th-minute strike saw them defeat the winless and mangerless Brewers.
Monk said: “This week couldn’t have gone much better for us. We knew we’d have a little bit less intensity today, and the expectation from the outside was that this would be the easiest of the three games we had in the last seven days.
“But we knew it would be really tough, especially with them changing their manager and changing their way of playing. We dealt with them well defensively, stuck at it and got our rewards.”
Monk added that the main difference between the teams was the U’s substitutes, saying: “They all contributed really well and helped get us over the line.”
One of those replacements, Cousins, had only been on the pitch for four minutes when he smashed the ball home from close range for the only goal of the match, following up after Burton keeper Max Crocombe had spilled a Danny Andrew free-kick.
Cambridge made most of the running in the first half, without regularly testing Crocombe.
Their best effort came from Liam Bennett, who latched onto a pass from Korey Smith but saw his shot across the goal parried away by Crocombe.
Burton, who parted company with head coach Mark Robinson on Wednesday, registered a single shot on target through Alex Bannon, with a low effort that Vincente Reyes turned around a post.
The second half was low on quality and chances, but Cousins’ late strike sent the home fans away happy.
Burton’s interim head coach Tom Hounsell was coy on whether he would be leading the team into next Saturday’s FA Cup tie against non-league Scarborough.
“My objective is to help the team, and I’m just taking it game by game,” said Hounsell. “Right now we’re just focused on getting positive results for this football club.”
On the match itself, Hounsell felt his players’ endeavours deserved greater reward.
“I’m really proud of the effort they’ve put in today,” he said. “The disappointing thing is when we got control of the match late on we weren’t able to turn that possession into good quality chances.
“We wanted to get the ball forward more quickly today and sustain pressure in their half, and I think that helped us stay in the game and begin to impose our style. But we’re frustrated to have conceded from a set-piece.”
Interim boss Stephen Frail expects Motherwell to appoint a new manager next week and admits their first job will be to lift the players’ confidence after a 3-0 mauling at home to Ross County.A double from Ronan Hale and Connor Randall’s last-minute strike secured an impressive victory for the Staggies at Fir Park.Defeat sees the Steelmen drop into the bottom half of the Premiership tab...
Mark Hughes heaped praise on goalkeeper Gabe Breeze after Carlisle picked up a vital point in the League Two relegation battle with a goalless draw against in-form Colchester at Brunton Park.Breeze made two excellent saves from Lyle Taylor as the Cumbrians ended a four-game losing run and the former Man City boss was astounded by the 21-year-old’s performance.He said: “The game had som...
Chesterfield boss Paul Cook launched a scathing attack on his play-off hopefuls after they surrendered an early lead to lose 3-1 at Sky Bet League Two table-toppers Walsall.The Spireites enjoyed a rapid start when Jamie Grimes’ eighth-minute header put them ahead against a wobbling Walsall side, who were winless in five matches with the chasing pack closing in.However, Bim Pepple and Dylan D...
Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has allayed fears of an injury scare to top scorer Erling Haaland ahead of next week’s Champions League trip to Real Madrid.Haaland went down clutching his leg in the latter stages of the champions’ 4-0 Premier League thrashing of Newcastle at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday and was immediately substituted.Losing the Norwegian would be a major blow to ...
Rotherham manager Steve Evans described Thomas Parsons’ performance as “atrocious” after the referee awarded a stoppage-time penalty from which Reading snatched a 2-1 victory in League One.Reading had led 1-0 at half-time through top scorer Harvey Knibbs but Sam Nombe levelled for Rotherham from a spot-kick in the 57th minute.With the game heading for a draw, Parsons adjudged Mil...
Michael Flynn believes his team can make a charge towards the League Two play-offs places after watching them come from 2-0 down to beat Barrow 3-2 at home.Matty Taylor scored twice before fellow substitute Ashley Hay hit the winner as the Robins continued their perfect home record in 2025.Cheltenham climbed to 13th in the table and sit eight points off seventh-placed Crewe with two games in hand....
Birmingham manager Chris Davies praised Jay Stansfield’s work ethic after he lit up St Andrew’s with the only goal of a 1-0 win to sink play-off chasing Charlton.Stansfield’s 23rd-minute strike stretched City’s lead to nine points ahead of second-placed Wycombe, with Blues boasting a game in hand.Victory was City’s 30th in all competitions as they extended their unbea...
Andoni Iraola refused to get carried away after Bournemouth fans were left dreaming of a potential Champions League adventure following a first league double over south-coast rivals Southampton.Travelling Cherries fans chanted of playing in European football’s premier competition next season after their side soared to fifth spot in the Premier League table thanks to a deserved 3-1 success at...
Norwich head coach Johannes Hoff Thorup praised his side for fighting back to draw 1-1 at Hull after he demanded “I want to see my football team back”.The Norwich boss had some tough words for his team as they trailed 1-0 at half-time to the relegation-threatened side, including for Kellen Fisher – but the player then delivered the assist for Josh Sargent’s equaliser.The Un...
Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers says Jota has a chance of starting against Bayern Munich after scoring and impressing in a 3-0 victory over Dundee United.Jota earned the club’s man-of-the-match award after cutting in from the left and curling home from 18 yards to double the lead given to the hosts by another impressive finish from Callum McGregor.The Portuguese winger has now started two gam...
