Colchester are the indentikit
third division promotion side - tall, strong, well organised and even more
direct. They are a replica of Chesterfield, Northampton and Bury, all of who
have gained promotion and settled into second division life comfortably.
It was
probably ignorance that let me assume we would sweep them aside tonight because
I should have known better. This was probably the first game all season that I
expected us to win and we failed. To be fair we made sure we didn’t lose and
that in itself is a reflection on the good work of Uncle Ray. If we can’t get all
three than make sure we get one seems the right attitude to me.
A lot of the
fans got impatient as the expected win never materialised but most accepted
that tonight was not to be. Perhaps the fact that we took the lead and tried to
hold on got to people but they need to be patient. Platt opened his account for
the season with a crisp half volley following good work by Wrack and a cross
from Marsh. The anticipated Alamo never came and Colchester equalised nine
minutes from time following a break down our left, a slip from Richard Green and a
rebound off the woodwork.
The players
simply couldn’t overcome a robust Colchester system that strangled midfield and
this was in many ways similar to both the Northampton and Reading games. Porter
was about as ineffective as I have ever seen him and that, given his previous form, is truly saying something. We also missed Rammell like hell.
A special
note for the referee. Not only did he manage to make a bad game worse with his
inconsistency but he also managed to take more bookings in ninety minutes that
The Bonser Suite has taken since Christmas. A rank poor performance from a rank
poor referee.