U's caretaker Bonner expecting to face '˜different' test from Cobblers

Mark Bonner is pictured in the background as Dean Austin and Joe Dunne, both of whom have since been sacked, shake hands ahead of Cambridge's visit to Cobblers back in August.

Northampton and Cambridge, who meet at the Abbey Stadium for a Checkatrade Trophy clash tonight, drew 2-2 back in August when Gary Deegan’s fine strike snatched a late point for the U’s after Kevin van Veen had netted a second-half brace.

Both managers on that day have since been sacked, with Dean Austin replaced by Keith Curle in the Town hotseat while Cambridge are on the hunt for a new head coach following the departure of Joe Dunne last week.

Bonner, who was part of Dunne’s coaching team for August’s game, will take charge of his first match as caretaker against the Cobblers tonight, and he’s anticipating a different type of game to the one earlier in the season.

He said: “Northampton are a different team from the one we faced earlier in the season. Obviously Keith Curle has taken over from Dean Austin but I remember the game against them earlier in the season and we expect a different performance from them.

“But we need to make it about us to turn around our situation. We don’t have a choice, it just needs doing and everyone needs to pull together for the best of the club.

“We’ve got one or two ideas in terms of how to change things to improve results. Our performances haven’t always been rewarded this season but we’ve got an almost fully fit squad to pick from and we have a real focus to get back to work.

“It doesn’t matter what the competition is – we’ve got a job to do and we’ll be fully focused on trying to deliver a result on Tuesday. We want a committed, hard-working performance that shows the values of this club.”