Colchester v County: Match Thread, Take 1 (02/03/2024)

Alright, it's time for a look at Cole U, what can we tell about them? Well they sit 21st with a record of W 8 D 8 L 18 F 45 A 62. If not for FGR and Rock Bottom Sutton they'd be fearful of the drop for sure. Their H record is no better, W 4 D 5 L 7 F 25 A 30 which is 22nd in L2. So clearly modest up front and weak at the back. It would be easy to think County just need to turn up roll them over and take 3 points home right? I'm not so sure.

The Ws are Gillingham (a) 0-3, Tranmere (h) 2-0, Notts County (h) 5-4, Grimsby (a) 2-3, Accy Stanley (a) 0-1, Swindon (h) 3-1, Salford (h) 2-1 and Morecambe (a) 0-1. The Ds are Mansfield (h) 1-1, Sutton (h) 1-1, Swindon (a) 2-2, Bratfut (h) 1-1, FGR (h) 3-3, Accy Stanley (h) 1-1, Sutton (a) 1-1 and Salford (a) 1-1. The Ls are Bratfut (a) 2-1, AFC Wombles (h) 0-2, MKD (h) 2-3, Walsall (a) 1-0, Crewe (a) 2-1, Newport (a) 2-1, Morecambe (h) 1-, FGR (a) 5-0, Harrogate (h) 1-2, County (a) 2-0, Barrow (h) 1-4, Donny (a) 3-1, Crawley (h) 1-2, Wrexham (a) 2-1, MKD (a) 1-0, AFC Wombles (a) 5-3, Gillingham (h) 0-1 and Harrogate (a) 1-0.

The obvious points from that are that, Gillingham and Notts County aside, they haven't really beaten any top sides, they had just 4 clean sheets and lost to almost everyone, conceding 3 or more 7 times. The Ls have come in clusters too, although, strange quirk here - so have the Ds: 6 in their last 8 games, with 1 L and 1 W. In fact they've D 6 of their last 17, with 9 Ls and just 2 Ws (v Salford 1-2, on 22nd Dec and 0-1 v Morecambe on 27th Jan).

Those stats reflect a change in the management - Matty Etherington getting the elbow on New Year's Day after losing 8 of 9 games after taking over from Ben Garner on October 21st. The new manager, Danny Cowley, previously managed Lincoln, Huddersfield and Portsmouth, and took over on 4th Jan on a two and a half year deal. So that run of 6 Ds and 2 Ls reflects his philosophy of: "my teams never give up, we fight all the way", not a bad philosophy really.

He's made quite a few changes, starting with a clutch of players from Scottish Clubs: Motherwell's Irish Striker 6ft 3 Conor Wilkinson (much travelled with recent spells at Orient and Walsall) for an undisclosed fee, Aberdeen's Ex County Jayden Richardson on loan and Hibs D Riley Harbottle (previously of Mansfield and Notts F) also on loan. They were followed by further loan signings - Lincoln City's MF Alistair Smith (previously of Sutton and Altrincham) and Stevenage Winger Harry Anderson (he scored 6 times in 72 games for Bristol Rovers and 19 in 142 games for Lincoln City).

Their top scorer, on 11, was Luton Town's on-loan F Joe Taylor. He joined on season long loan last August, got recalled by Luton and then lent out again to Lincoln City for the rest of the season. Next up on 5 Cameron McGeehan (he has bounced around a clutch of clubs including Barnsley and Luton), also on 5 is Arthur Read, he has previously played 61 games for Stevenage scoring 3 times for them. Next on 4 come Bradley Ihionven and Samson Tovide the latter having played over 50 games for Cole U. A further 10 players have scored 15 goals between them.

So they look like a side that, if County were anything like their best, should be beatable. County, of course, are not at their best and football is a funny old game - so a full Banana Skin Alert is in effect.

Meanwhile, elsewhere in L2 on Saturday:
13th placed AFC Wombles v 5th placed MKD
9th placed Crawley v 6th placed (slumping) Barrow
3rd placed Crewe v 11th placed Morecambe
10th placed Newport (4 Ws in 6 games) v Mansfield
19th placed Salford v 8th placed Gillingham
7th placed (out of nowhere) Walsall v 20th placed Donny
4th placed Wrexham v 15th placed Accy Stanley

Fingers crossed, as ever.

The only prediction I'm making here is that I'm not going to make a prediction.

I couldn't possibly comment!

Very frustrating. I'm in Cambridge, and the sun is shining - which, I guess, at least provides me with the opportunity for a nice walkabout in lieu of the game.

Won't relish the rescheduled Tuesday-nighter, mind...

Colchester Chair's Statement, further to today's postponement. Not entirely sure it inspires confidence...

www.cu-fc.com/news/2024/march/club-statement

If they go down, and given the appalling state of their drainage, an artificial pitch might well appear - although, obviously, the drainage would need to be fixed over the summer should they beat the drop. Either way, they are going to need to... erm, fork out.