Get Your Stats Right: March 2026
As the run in approaches, how sustainable are our season-long underlying numbers?
It’s the next instalment of our resident statman Ben’s monthly overview of what’s going on with the numbers at Cambridge United. This month it’s a bit of a retrospective, seeing if the season data matches up to the team’s league position…
Sign up to get the full article straight in your inbox once a month, along with all the other great Coconut Tier content!
With 7 games left, Cambridge United are just 1 point off 3rd but with a game in hand. It’s obviously been a good season results-wise, but it’s also been solid performance-wise. Every expected points model I’ve checked has the club performing about as expected, which tells us these results aren’t “surprises” and that they are sustainable. Bromley, on the other hand, seem to heavily exceed their expected points in most models, which means the results might be more surprising or that the performances aren’t always matching the great results.
So, for this issue of Get Your Stats Right, I wanted to check in with where the team’s performance in different aspects of the game ranks compared to other teams, and dive a little deeper on the key attributes of what makes Cambridge United, well, Cambridge United this season.
Harking back to this season’s first Get Your Stats Right article, way back in August, the team was struggling and were mid-table for a while. I wrote that I was confident Harris had the quality as a coach to find the kinks and work them out on the training ground.
I’m happy to write that today, on the final day of March, I’ve been pleasantly surprised at how good of a job the coaching staff and players have done. The biggest issue was conceding more goals than expected, and the team’s defensive ability (as a unit, not just the back line) coupled with Eastwood’s shot-stopping have turned the U’s into one of the best teams at limiting opponents’ chances.
