The U’s were coming into the midweek match on the back of two victories, including one against top of the pile Wigan Athletic, but lost against a Charlton Athletic team that have had a disappointing season.
Head coach Mark Bonner made seven changes to the starting line-up for the match against the Addicks as compared to the win over the Latics, changing almost the entirety of his attack.
Neil thinks that the fact that the U’s made such wholesale changes for the midweek game shows that they are coming with an attitude to win at the Stadium of Light.
The Black Cats boss stressed that the pace possessed by Bonner’s side can make the home team worry and the visitors will look upon the game as a chance to show off their abilities.
“I think the fact they rested players for the last game leading into this one shows you the significance of this one”, Neil said in a press conference ahead of the Cambridge game.
“I know they will say they are rotating their squad but it will be interesting to see if they did that at any other time.
“It is going to be a difficult game, they have a good target for us and pace on the break so it will be a difficult match for us.
“They will want to come here and want to try and win the game.
“I think they will look at it as a good opportunity to show what they can do, they have beaten some good teams along the way.”
It remains to be seen if Bonner brings in the players into the starting line-up who got the U’s the victory over Wigan against Sunderland, especially goalkeeper Dimitar Mitov, as Will Mannion was only making his debut for Cambridge against Charlton.
