Jimmy Quinn has warned that struggling Altrincham should not be underestimated tonight.

United came from behind again to win at home to Crawley on Saturday but the U's boss cautioned, "It's a magnificent start to the season and it's all credit to the players, but there are a lot of difficult games and we have a very difficult one tonight at Altrincham."

Team News

There is no change to the squad of available players, with captain Danny Brown (foot), strikers Lee Boylan and Dan Chillingworth (ankle), and defender Gavin Hoyte (hamstring) still ruled out [Physio update].

"It's good to know we have players of their calibre to come back," Quinn commented. "Some of the young lads have come in and done a great job and I've been able to rest one or two players along the way as well, so it's all working very well.

"We have an abundance of midfield players and I really do want to keep them all fresh, so it's nice to be able to rest them from time to time. I rested Courtney on Saturday and Mark Convery started for the first time since he was injured, but we've got a lot of games coming up in the next few weeks so we're going to need everybody.

"I think when you take a step back from it and have a rest it keeps you fresh, so I'll continue to do that when I can. I was able to rest Michael Morrison a couple of games ago and he came back better for it, and when you look back at last season I was playing people most of the time, even when they were suffering a bit with form, because we didn't have anybody else.

"It's good to have competition for places and with our team spirit it doesn't matter who's left out of the team - they all stick together. When I was leaving people out of the team last year, even when they weren't playing well, they got the hump, but there's none of that this year because there's a great spirit."

Quinn is struggling in his search to bring in a striker on loan to complement Leo Fortune-West and Scott Rendell: "The lads I've enquired about are injured or not yet match fit. There's one at Norwich and a couple of lads of different clubs but it's not been fruitful because teams are reluctant to let people go this early in the season."

However second year scholar Robbie Willmott came off the bench for his debut ten minutes from time on Saturday and made an impression with his pace and lack of nerves, and Quinn added, "He did really well and we're looking OK at the moment."

The Opposition

United travel to Altrincham looking to extend the current unbeaten run to ten games. The Cheshire side are currently 21st in the table and still seeking their first win of the season, but Quinn knows they cannot be underestimated.

"It's an awkward place to go. In their last home game against Oxford they didn't deserve to lose and they're coming off the back of another defeat on Saturday against Woking so their confidence won't be too high, but when you're at home you always like to start the game at a high tempo so I think if we match them in the 'dirty' side of the game, like making sure we do the man-to-man stuff, then hopefully we can grind out a result.

"Even a point away from home isn't a bad result these days but we should be going there with confidence after Saturday."

Quinn added, "I spoke to (Oxford manager) Jim Smith the other day and he said Oxford didn't deserve to beat Altrincham. He said Altrincham had a lot of chances but they just couldn't score on the day but they were actually the better footballing side and he was disappointed with Oxford, so if Oxford - one of the sides that will be up there or thereabouts - found it difficult going there then a lot of teams will.

"I think Altrincham are one of those teams that once they're off and running they will cause anybody a problem. They've got some decent players but we've got to be professional; we've done it many times and we have to go there with the mentality we've had all along that we're not going to get beat."

Tonight's is the first of two away games before United return to the Abbey next Tuesday against Aldershot, and the manager concluded, "These next three games are a big test for us - Altrincham tonight, then Stevenage and Aldershot, who are doing really well and have really good away form.

"The Stevenage one will be the benchmark for me - if we go there and be resilient and get a result that will tell me and everybody in the league that we're to be reckoned with. So that will be a big one but we need to make sure we do a job and get a result against Altrincham tonight."

More Information

Read the news from the Robins camp and details about their squad and season to date in Chris Vessey's "The Other Side" preview, you can find directions and other details here, and if you fancy a bet on our match or any other event this week we have all the odds at AbbeyBet, where your betting makes money for the U's.

If you can't be at the match, listen to every kick of the game courtesy of Radio Cambridgeshire and see the live stats from our game and goal flashes from around the country via the our fantastic MatchLive Console on U's World

Make Your Click Count For The U's - talk about it on the Message Board!

You are respectfully reminded that any article, as with all content on this website, unless otherwise stated, is subject to copyright © and the Official Cambridge United Website must be acknowledged as the original source including all quotes.

AT070918