Neil Harris was full of praise for his Cambridge side after they continued their impressive start under him with victory over Exeter but insisted they will not be resting on their laurels.
The U’s have picked up seven points from their three games since Harris took charge, and moved 11 points clear of the relegation zone with a 2-0 win against Exeter on Friday night.
Gassan Ahadme netted his sixth goal in six matches from the penalty spot in the first half, before Elias Kachunga sealed the points in the dying stages.
“The attitude and desire from the players to learn and listen to messages was outstanding, and we got our rewards,” said Harris.
“I thought we controlled the majority of the game. When we pressed high and got after them we were outstanding.
“Two goals, a clean sheet, some really good individual performances. Ultimately if we come off at four or five nil no one thinks twice about it.
“To pick up seven points in three games, to see them play for the shirt like they are, it’s a proud place for us at the moment.”
Cambridge travel to fourth-placed Oxford in their next match before another road trip sees them go to fifth-placed Stevenage.
Harris added: “We’ve got two tough away games now. We can take pats on the back for the first two weeks, for the last two home games, and rightly so, but it’s now making sure we build on this.
“No one will get carried away in that changing room or at that training ground tomorrow morning. We know where we’re at, we know what we’re good at and how we can improve.”
Exeter are now winless in 13 League One matches, and could fall into the bottom four if Carlisle or Fleetwood win on Saturday.
Grecians boss Gary Caldwell rued the slow start his side made at the Abbey Stadium.
“We start the game after we go a goal down, again,” he said.
“It’s not a penalty for me, but every week decisions go against us. We have to deal with that.
“I thought we played well up until the last kind of action and then we didn’t create enough from the build-up play that we had. We got into good areas and didn’t create enough good chances.
“It’s a similar story to what’s been happening in recent weeks.
“We needed a little bit more in the final third. But I think we can compete better as well.
“I thought early in the game we didn’t do enough and it wasn’t until we went a goal down that we started to play, and that’s too late. So there are things we can learn there.
“Up until that final third I think some of our play is good. We create good opportunities, we get final third entries and then we don’t get enough in the box.”
'I will keep fighting' - Ten Hag adamant he is the right manager for Man Utd
Erik ten Hag insists that he is the right man for the job at Manchester United despite their 4-0 thrashing at the hands of Crystal Palace on Monday.
Michael Olise netted twice against a sorry United team at Selhurst Park, with Jean-Philippe Mateta and Tyrick Mitchell also getting on the scoresheet.
It is the first time that Palace have done the double over the Red Devils in the Premier League, as United extended their winless run on the road to five games.
There has been a lot of speculation over Ten Hag’s future following a disappointing second campaign in charge, with just one year left on his contract.
Asked if he was the right manager for United, he told Sky Sports: "Absolutely. If the right players are there and available, we have a good squad, but are missing the whole backline – we had problems.
"I will keep fighting. I prepared the team in the best way I could do. It was not good enough, by far – I have to take responsibility for that. But I will find energy and prepare them for Sunday’s game.
"At the end of the day, I have to do it with the players who are available. All season, we have huge [injury] problems. Many times we have sorted it out. Today we didn’t."
United have struggled with injury problems all season, with Harry Maguire and club captain Bruno Fernandes joining the lengthy list of players missing against Palace.
Ten Hag highlighted the lack of defensive options at his disposal but did not make excuses for the poor performance, adding: "It’s clear and obvious – this is underperforming. It’s not good enough. We are very disappointed in this. Our fans were behind us all the way – we should have kept fighting like the fans did.
"There are always reasons. Everyone sees our backline, we have huge problems, but at the end of the day we have to deal with it – we should have done better than we did.
"We know [how damaging it could be], but we have nine points to play, so we have to fight for the nine points."
Man Utd thrashing a 'big statement' but Palace are not surprised, says Eze
Eberechi Eze says Crystal Palace's 4-0 thrashing of Manchester United is a "big statement" but insists there should be little surprise that it happened.
Micheal Olise scored twice as Palace ran riot against the sorry Red Devils at Selhurst Park on Monday.
Jean-Philippe Mateta and Tyrick Mitchell also got in on the act as Palace sealed their first league double over United.
Palace have now won four of their last five Premier League games, with Oliver Glasner having turned the tide in the past few weeks.
Speaking to Sky Sports, Eze said: "It says a lot, it's a big statement, but we're not surprised.
"We know what we're capable of, we know what we can do. The quality we've got in the dressing room is high – we don't see it as a surprise. We know what we came here to do today, it worked.
"You can see we’re creating chances, we're not worried about what's going on behind us. We're attacking, pressing, we're aggressive – we're going to continue to create chances for sure."
Also speaking to Sky Sports, Glasner said: "Congratulations to the team. I think in the first half, we didn't play as well as we could, but we were very efficient and scored very nice goals.
"At half-time, we made some adaptations, and the second half was much better. We created a lot of chances, scored some nice goals, and it's a great win.
"We know we have quality when we get our players in situations to score a goal.
"Good players, a good team spirit, but we must always stay humble. It's not so long ago we were struggling [in a relegation battle]. We are doing well, but we have a lot to improve."
This was Palace's biggest Premier League win since beating Leeds United 5-1 in April 2023, while it also marked their biggest on home soil in the competition since a 5-0 victory over Leicester City in April 2018.
Udinese 1-1 Napoli: Struggling Bianconeri grab last-gasp home draw
Napoli were held to a 1-1 draw at relegation-battling Udinese in Serie A on Monday after a stoppage-time goal by forward Isaac Success cancelled out a Victor Osimhen header.
Osimhen nodded home to give Napoli the lead in the 51st minute after Matteo Politano sent a lofted cross from the right into the middle of the box, and the Nigerian striker headed the ball in off the left post.
The Nigerian thought he doubled their advantage in the 80th minute, but his effort was ruled out for offside, before Success bundled in the leveller in stoppage time, netting from a Thomas Kristensen header.
Napoli moved up to eighth on 51 points from 35 games and are nine points behind both fifth-placed Atalanta and Roma, in sixth.
Data Debrief:
Osimhen is the third Napoli player to score in six matches in a row against a single team in Serie A in the three-points-for-a-win era, after Gonzalo Higuain against Lazio between 2013 and 2016 and Dries Mertens against Bologna between 2016 and 2019.
Despite fighting back to earn a point, Udinese have now failed to win three games under a new manager for the first time since August-September 2010 under Francesco Guidolin.
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