Newmarket Town manager Michael Shinn delighted with ‘togetherness’ his side is showing going into FA Cup clash against Cambridge City

Manager Michael Shinn has credited a strong ‘togetherness’ as the leading factor in his Newmarket Town side’s winning start to the new season.

After seeing off Hadleigh in their first Thurlow Nunn League Premier Division fixture and then beating last term’s runners-up Thetford Town in the Emirates FA Cup, the Jockeys ran out 6-1 winners over Mulbarton Wanderers at the weekend.

Reflecting on those three victories, Shinn said: “It’s down to togetherness, it’s as simple as that really.

“I said a couple of seasons ago when we lost to Ely City in a cup game that we needed to take a leaf out of their book. They were dogged that night, they fought hard and deserved to beat us. We’ve added Tom Williams and Ash Walter from that Ely squad into our group.

“They were two massive leaders for Ely and they’re doing exactly the same in our dressing room.

“You can add (summer signing) Jake Eady to that as well. He’s a natural leader and he has added a lot to the group as well.

“I saw it in our final friendly against Witham. It was a proper crash, bang, wallop sort of game and their bench and players were up in arms about a couple of things, but we showed a real togetherness as a group.

“When you looked at the cup draw, at the time you’re thinking it can’t be much tougher than Thetford away but we’ve gone there and won.

“Hadleigh is never an easy game and although Mulbarton had a player sent off, we still managed to stick six past them.

“It’s been a really impressive start and a lot of that is down to how committed the players are.”

And Newmarket will almost certainly need to show their new-found unity in spades on Saturday when they host higher-league Cambridge City in the preliminary round of the FA Cup (3pm).

Step 4 outfit City started their season with a victory over Hadleigh in the same competition before winning 3-2 in their first league game of 2023/24 at the weekend.

Shinn added: “It’s another really tough draw. To be honest I don’t know too much about them, despite them being quite local.

“We know a little bit but it’s like a lot of managers always say, we have to worry about ourselves and how we approach the game.

“We’ll concentrate on ourselves and if we can produce the type of performance that we’ve already done this season then we should give them a good game.”

Former City midfielder Ally Conway will return to the Newmarket squad for the tie after serving a suspension while young goalkeeper Harry Sutton is set to feature between the posts in the absence of Alex Archer.

And Newmarket will be looking to take some inspiration from the club’s under-18s after they ran out 6-1 winners over Woodbridge Town in the FA Youth Cup on Tuesday night.

Jacob Mingay and Ryan Cole, both of whom have featured for the senior side this term, were among the goalscorers for the young Jockeys.

After facing the Lilywhites at the weekend, Newmarket will return to league action on Tuesday at Hadleigh (7.45pm).

Newmarket will head into both games without striker Matt Hayden after his departure from the club was confirmed earlier this week.