Robbie Simpson has told Sports Mole that his Cambridge United teammates have drawn inspiration from Southampton's 1-0 victory over Manchester United at the weekend ahead of their FA Cup tie with Louis van Gaal's team later this month.
While hosting United dominated the contest in terms of possession, they failed to record a single shot on target at Old Trafford against the Saints, who won the encounter thanks to a second-half strike from substitute Dusan Tadic.
Southampton captain Jose Fonte was handed the Man of the Match award for his performance at the heart of the defence, while the displays of holding midfielders Morgan Schneiderlin and Victor Wanyama were also lauded.
Looking ahead to his side's meeting with United, Simpson believes that if the League Two outfit are to pull off a shock, replicating the tactics deployed by Southampton is likely to represent their best chance.
"[Southampton] were fantastic. Their intensity was brilliant and they had that one chance and they stuck it away, which sealed the three points. The intensity of their play in terms of the defensive work - the midfield two especially - is something that in training straight after we've tried to replicate," said the 29-year-old.
"It's going to have to be that kind of defensive intensity from us. I know Juan Mata could have had a hat-trick on another day, but it seemed right from the start that Southampton were determined to keep a clean sheet and it was just a case of taking the one chance that they created. Hopefully we can take some inspiration from that and replicate it."
Cambridge last met the Red Devils back in 1991, when Alex Ferguson's men ran out 3-1 winners on aggregate in the League Cup.
Liam Apicella
