“I was working at a golf course, serving behind the bar and raking bunkers,” he recalls. “It was almost a gap year while I waited to see if football was a viable option or whether I’d need to go to university. Thankfully I got picked up by Cambridge and, well, here I am.”
Or, more accurately, there he was. After 13 years, 464 appearances and two promotions, the 33-year-old has finally called time on his love affair with the U’s.
“It hasn’t sunk in yet,” admits Dunk, who is the club’s fifth alltime appearance maker behind Steve Fallon, Harvey Cornwell, Steve Spriggs and Russell Crane.
“And I’m sure that there’ll be sadness when it does. But I knew it was coming. The last few years, I’ve been struggling with my knees. This season, I’ve had two operations. I never got going and I came to a decision with the club that it was probably time to see what the next step is.
“I’m not officially retiring. I’ll have a bit of time out, see how the body recovers. But whatever happens, I’ve lived the dream at this club and I’ve got memories that will last forever.”
Chief amongst those is the victory over Gateshead at Wembley in 2014 that ended the U’s decade-long exile from the Football League.
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