Cambridge keeper Eastwood 'delighted' with new deal

Cambridge United goalkeeper Jake Eastwood says he is "delighted" the U's have extended his contract after helping the club secure promotion last season. Eastwood, 29, moved to the Abbey Stadium on an initial one-year deal last July and played in every league game except one as the U's were promoted to League One on the final day of the season. Their 0-0 draw at Crewe Alexandra took the U's up with Eastwood claiming his 19th clean sheet in a terrific personal campaign as a one-year extension in his contract was triggered after hitting over 50 appearances for the club in total. "It went a bit under the radar I think with about seven to eight games to go last season," Eastwood told BBC Radio Cambridgeshire. "The manager pulled me aside and told me that they wanted to do that and I was delighted. I enjoy the whole place - not just in the club - but being around Cambridge, [it's] such a lovely place to be, so I wanted to stay. "The season before, when I was out of contract, it's a stressful time as a footballer. You're going away on holiday and you can't really relax as much. It was nice to have that put aside". Cambridge's goals against column of just 33 in 46 league matches was the best in the fourth tier by 11 goals. Eastwood is now backing his team-mates to repeat their excellent defensive efforts once more as they take the step up to League One. "I had some periods in the season where I'd spend two, three games not doing anything," he said. "I'd be going into games thinking I've not made a save for the last three weeks. "It's going to be more difficult [this season]. I don't think we can have the expectation that we are going to outperform last season in terms of the numbers but we want to be the same team, we want to be hard to beat. "If we come close to that, I'm sure it will be a successful season." All the latest Cambridge United news