Neil Harris saluted the effort of his Cambridge United players after he celebrated the start of his second spell as manager at the Abbey Stadium with a 2-0 victory over Stockport County.
Harris left Cambridge to rejoin Millwall last February, but was reappointed on Wednesday – alongside fellow former Us boss Mark Bonner, in a new role as director of football – and saw two goals from Josh Stokes ensure a winning return.
Having only had one day to work with his squad, Harris was delighted with the victory, which also saw his bottom-of-the-table side keep a first clean sheet in 17 league games.
“It was an amazing effort by the group,” Harris said. “The attitude and desire from the lads, and the information they’ve taken on board in the last 24 hours, has been immense.
“Today was about the changing room, the board and the fans. We’re a side in a difficult position, and I’ve just got to get the best out of the players that are available to me and give them some belief and confidence. We’ve done that today and we’ve got to carry that forward.”
Stokes gave Harris and the Us the perfect start when he headed home Liam Bennet’s cross after nine minutes.
Kyle Wootton’s lob was blocked by Us keeper Nathan Bishop and Stokes made it 2-0 in the 43rd minute with a shot from outside the box that took a slight deflection on its way past Corey Addai.
Macauley Southam-Hales put a free header from close range over the bar and in the second half Stockport piled on the pressure, with Bishop making a flying save to deny Wootton after the County striker had turned well in the box.
Kell Watts and Elias Kachunga also did well to smuggle the ball off the line after Wootton’s header had caused chaos and in the closing stages, James Gibbons cleared a goalbound shot from substitute Sam Cosgrove.
To compound the visitors’ woes, defender Callum Connolly was sent off in stoppage time for a second bookable offence.
Stockport manager Dave Challinor said: “We created more big chances today than we have in the last three games put together, but you’ve got to take those chances. In the first half we missed two sitters.
“It’s always going to be difficult if you give a team that is scrapping for its life something to hang on to.
“We let them play the game they wanted today, it was scrappy and the pitch is not conducive to a good game of football. But that doesn’t mean we can’t be in a position to adapt and today we’ve made a lot of poor decisions.”
