Dire. We used to have a player with a name that sounded like this. Paul Dyer. Always entertaining. We could do with someone of his stature now. Is he still chief scout? I think he’s got a big job on his hands. We need a lot more players. Players who want to wear the Colchester shirt. Players who want to play FOR Colchester and the people of Colchester. I think that’s what’s missing from the game at large. Too many transfers and you have players who don’t really identify with the town or city they now represent. How many of our regulars were born in Colchester, or Essex even? I’ll stretch to London if that makes it any easier. It’s especially true in the higher divisions and it’s starting to creep down into our level. Yes, I have to admit we are currently playing at the correct level for our overall performances. We may fancy ourselves as a Championship outfit with our new stadium but we need to string a few more wins together and put in performances that will bring the fans back.
Desperate. There was only one team desperate enough to make a game of it this afternoon. It doesn’t really say much for Brighton that they managed to walk away with a 1-0 win since we weren’t competing with them. What a load of tripe we were dished up today. It’s difficult to stomach rubbish like this. No tackles, no sensible passing, no effort, no teamwork. Just a load of long balls to no-one and nowhere in particular. Oh the joys of League One football. Brighton were clearly intent on time wasting from the outset. Their keeper was lucky not to be booked for spending so long over every goal kick. He even dropped to the ground on one occasion after he clearly caught a ball with his eyes shut.
Dreary. The announcement of the day came with about 15 minutes to go. “The Ticket Office is open after the game.” This made the home fans smile for the first time this afternoon. What for they asked – ‘Refunds?’. The worst announcement was accompanied by the realisation that we had 4 minutes of added time. Not another four minutes of this? I was going to describe the fact that we were getting that Layer Road feeling back again – two balls out of the ground today, South and East. At least at Layer Road we had some fans singing, even when weren’t winning. Today the stewards were doing their best to upset the E8 crowd. It was obvious from all round the ground that the home and away fans were being treated differently. This is OUR HOME GROUND for crying out loud!
Doom and gloom. Inevitably the fans were starting to blame Lambert and he received a few choice comments with the obligatory boos at the end. Listening to the post match interview it seems he accepts this. Let’s hope he sticks to his word and gets rid of the worst of the squad this summer. Sadly I wonder if management and fans have the same idea over what makes a good squad. The fans want players they can relate to. Someone who will show loyalty to the club and become part of the community. I don’t see a lot of it here at the moment.
Disaster. The season is officially a disaster as the other team in Essex will now finish above us. It’s getting tight on whether Geraint Williams’ Orient may join them in leapfrogging us. That would be a result for George, but a hard pill to swallow for those at Cuckoo Farm. There’s only one word for this afternoon’s experiences – Difficult.
At last we move up a place this Boxing Day, but still not enough to overtake Southend who are sinking slowly and must surely pass us on their way down very soon. Brighton aren’t having the best of times at the moment and it must have seemed like rubbing their noses in the ground with their former captain skippering us now. Hammond has been something of a stalwart in recent games but we had two other heroes today. The first is keeper Jimmy Walker whose experience is clearly showing and we can only hope the younger glovemen can learn something from him. From the commentary I was listening to he kept us in the game more than once when scores were level. We have to hope we can arrange something more permanent for him in the January transfer window.
The other hero is Scott Vernon who snatched the winner in the last few minutes to give us yet another away win. He deserves a longer run up front and I know I keep on saying this but he must be a better bet than the tall streaky fella in the long run. He can control the ball and run with it at his feet – basic skills of course, but necessary for a professional footballer. The other forward can’t – so I can only guess he is either playing for pennies or he’s paying back some of his wages to the manager. Anyway a win is win is a win and that’s three more point sint he bag. Oh how I wish this was last season and we were getting these results!
First Cuckoo 