Any point against Dons is a good one, Cambridge boss admits after win

Cambridge boss Mark Bonner said any win against MK Dons is a valuable one after his side claimed their first points against Liam Manning’s side on Saturday.

Harvey Knibbs’ 17th minute goal saw the U’s capitalise on a poor opening half from the visitors to the Abbey Stadium, and allowed them to sit deeper and smother Dons out in the second half when they looked to get level.

In four previous meetings, Cambridge had not picked up a single point against Dons, and Bonner said earning the win is a great way to get the League One season started.

“I think any win you can get on day one is obviously important, and any win against MK, because they’re such a good side, is a good one,” Bonner said afterwards.

“It was far from perfect, performance wise we’ll get better obviously, but we’ll take the result all day long.

“It’s an important three points, and we can get some confidence from it, which is good. We’re off the mark, which is important for everybody.

“I thought we were good first half actually, certainly until the last ten minutes or so, when we got a little bit deeper just protecting the lead until half-time, which can happen,” the head coach added.

“They didn’t create huge amounts in that, and we were architects of our own downfall, turning the ball over a bit too easy and surrendering counter attacks or set plays because of it.

“I thought we played good football (in the first half). After the first 30 seconds when they hit the crossbar, we were really nervy at the start, but once we got going, I thought we did alright, and we brought some nice control to the game, and had a good threat.”