Head coach Garry Monk has urged his Cambridge United players to do what they can to ‘normalise’ the situation they find themselves in ahead of Saturday’s season-ending trip to Port Vale.
The U’s travel to Vale Park knowing that either a win or a point will ensure that they playing Sky Bet League One football again next season, but a defeat leaves the relegation trap door open.
It is a scenario where nerves could end up having a major impact, yet Monk is looking for a strong ‘mentality’ from his group.
He said: “Regardless of this game, mentality is a huge part (of football) throughout a whole season.
“If you’ve got a real strong mentality then you can deal with most things that come up through a season,
“And this type of situation at the weekend, it’s about trying to normalise it in your head. Externally it’s not a normal situation and all of the stuff that goes with it, but it’s the ones that can normalise it and focus on what they need to do on the pitch – both individually and collectively – that’s where it needs to be.
“All of these things will be going on and that’s for me and the staff to focus on. The players just need to focus on their game and we’ve seen in the games we’ve played, if they deliver it to a really good level – with all of the effort and endeavour that we’ve got – we need the same on Saturday.”
Hosting Vale go into the encounter already well aware of their fate after relegation was confirmed last weekend.
As such, there is a great deal of uncertainty surrounding the Valiants, not just in terms of morale levels but also how boss Darren Moore will opt to line-up.
But as far as Monk is concerned, he has no intention of becoming too pre-occupied by the unknown.
He added: “It’s not easy to predict what the opposition are going to do anyway, but even more so in this situation.
“We don’t know if they’re going to be experimenting or trying different things out, but my job is to prepare the players the best I can for all eventualities.
“We’ve already been through that before when we’ve faced these types of teams or this type of set-up. It’s about having that plan in our head, but the focus is – as it always has been – on what we do. We have to be aware about facing certain set-ups, but it will be about what we do.”
