We caught up with defender Tom Parkes ahead of training on Thursday morning to get his thoughts on the Fleetwood and Cambridge games.
“Tuesday was massively important,” he said. “It was important to get the win after losing on Saturday and to go to a tough place like Fleetwood and play like we did was a massive plus for the team.
“Everyone knows how we want to play and I think we all know we didn’t start the game well on Saturday. We worked our way into the game and I don’t think we deserved to come away with nothing to show for it.
“To lose the first game is disappointing but you want to win every game. Sometimes a little setback like that can mean you then go on a little run. It makes you realise that you can play good football, but you’ve got to make sure you take the chances when you get them. On Tuesday night we got the chances and we took them, so it was a good win."
Speaking about the ankle scare which had Cumbria holding its breath, he said: “I was disappointed to come off on Saturday because I’m the type of player who doesn’t like to have to do that.
"My ankle was quite sore after I jarred it and it felt like I couldn’t carry on. I saw the physio and he told me to make sure I iced it all day on Sunday to make sure I came in ready for Monday.
"I sat down with Dolly on Monday morning and we had a little chat about what was best for me. I justtold him that I wanted to give it a go in training. Thankfully it felt alright with the strapping on and I was able to play on Tuesday night. It was a weird one because it was quite sore, but I just carried on through it and enjoyed the game.
“As the game went on I just tried not to think about it because the more you do that the more it hurts. I just got on with it and concentrated on the game. I had a tight strapping on so I knew I'd be fine."
On the morale-boosting victory on Tuesday night, he said: “The boys were buzzing after the game, especially after the result on Saturday. To bounce back and beat a good League One team on their own pitch was a great boost for the boys and hopefully we can take the positives out of it into Saturday.
“It would be great to get the first league win under our belts at Cambridge. We’ve just got to look to build on what we did on Tuesday. If we can do that I can’t see any reason why we can’t go to Cambridge and get those three points.
"They’ll be a big, strong team, as a lot of teams are in this league. We won’t look into that too much because we’ve got our way we want to play and the manager will work on that with us. We'll work hard in the next couple of training sessions and we’ll build on it from there.
"Cambridge are a decent team if you allow them to get going so it'll be up to us to deal with it. We know we're a match for anyone if we do things right so that has to be our aim."
Having played in both of United's games so far this season, and with a tough pre-season under his belt, he confirmed that the settling-in process is all but complete now that the new campaign is in full flow.
All of the lads have been brilliant with me, they’ve welcomed me and I feel happy here ...
“I think the fans know what I'm about and I've said from day one that I just want to defend," he told us. "I know I’ve got the side to me where I like to play at times, but when I’ve got to defend I’ll defend.
"I feel like I’m at home here with the boys. They’ve welcomed me in and they’re a great bunch of lads. I knew Nicky [Adams] when I first came but sometimes it can be difficult when you just know one person because you tend to try and be with them.
"All of the lads have been brilliant with me, they’ve welcomed me and I feel happy here.”
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