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Railwaymen to hit the buffers against High Speed U's 22:11 - Nov 11 with 1427 views

Well notwithstanding the amount of consternation surrounding the U’s at present I have decided to go to Gresty Road tomorrow. Normally I would spend the weekend in Telford and make the short journey to Crewe but tomorrow a new experience for me.

Drive to Penrith and then AVANTI West Coast to Crewe.

Let the train take the strain and no strikes this weekend!

I have been to Crewe on many occasions, one of my favourite games was on 21 December 1984 and I witnessed a Christmas treat with a 4-1 U’s win in front of 1,529 and Perry Groves scored an absolute cracker.

I suppose reading the comments about the U’s at present only a masochist would truly embark upon such a journey but the U’s have simply got to turn things around soon, haven’t they?

After the initial excitement about Blooms things have taken a turn for the worse. There is an air of despondency on the site at present. Perhaps the saddest post that I have read this week have been from long serving U’s supporters who have decided that enough is enough. Surely not.

I can remember the (really) grim days; we lost seven games on the trot one season and I happened to go to everyone. The one that stands out as particularly awful was a 3-1 defeat at Layer Road and the Guttering on the Barside stand gave way in the incessant rain soaking many of the faithful below.

Having also watched some entertaining games involving National League teams recently the fear is that relegation would see us sink like a stone along the lines of Scunny who are struggling big time.

Whisper it but I watched Scummend v Notts county from Roots Hall during the week (yes things really are that bad) but you know who the best player on the pitch was …..Ollie Kensdale.

For County Richard Brindley had a decent game too. Then I watched Mandron score a superb header for Gillingham in their surprise win the other evening. No, it’s too much I can’t keep doing this.

So, what does MB do about tomorrow. Well, we must find the magic formula to play a settled team changing four players every game is no use whatsoever.

Please Blooms stop the one lone striker, it is not working and leaves the striker totally isolated.

Now its seems that Tommy Smith and Emyr Huws may be close to a return. However, we are missing Appiah and Longstaff and there is no word on either in the so-called match preview on the home site.

Play 4,4,2

O’Hara

Tchamadeu Eastman Dallison Clampin

Marshall-Miranda Ashley Chilvers Newby

Tovide Akinde

Subs
Hornby Huws Smith Chesters Chambers Lubala Judge

When Appiah and Longstaff are finally fit get them in for Newby and Akinde.

The only other option and it is fast becoming reality is to start to introduce the youngsters. After all many of the senior players (mostly ex Farmers) are close to hanging up their boots. Many more loanees are found wanting at present.

When I saw the Youth Team play Newcastle at St James’ Park last season there were four in particular who struck me as First Team starters — Ryan Lowe, Kaan Bennett, Bradley Ihionvien and Samson Tovide. But giving Samson 12 minutes at Newport when the game was lost was simply hopeless.

Crewe like the U’s have a young manager Lee Bell is 39 whilst Blooms is 38. The Railwaymen have had some decent results of late ours have been abysmal. Time to change it.

Weather tomorrow at Crewe is 15 degrees Celsius dry but cloudy and light winds.

Our wretched Away form needs to change, we can derail the Railwaymen and pick up a morale boosting victory.

Safe journey to the faithful, more than ever the support is needed by the club time for the players to stand up and be counted.

At a time when we remember those who paid the ultimate price for serving their country, football pales into insignificance but we can still expect loyalty, commitment, endeavour and effort from our team.

The old maxim is leave nothing on the pitch. Who wants the victory tomorrow, let’s witness the desire and passion for 95 minutes and ensure that no player walks off that pitch tomorrow regretting their performance or whether they could have given more.

Try to enjoy the game.

Up the U’s

Oh, the scoreline, almost forgot I’m going for a 3-2 U’s victory. Come on!

[Post edited 12 Nov 2022 0:57]

Durham_exile

Railwaymen to hit the buffers against High Speed U's on 23:18 - Nov 11 with 1399 views

wessex_exile

Great stuff Durham, good rallying cry. Hopefully, trains permitting, I'll see you there tomorrow!

Up the U's!

	Up the U's
Poll:	How will we do in 2016/17
Blog:	Knees-up Mother Brown #24

Railwaymen to hit the buffers against High Speed U's on 00:35 - Nov 12 with 1389 views

RSCOSWORTH

There's only one side in League Two with less points than us from their last six games...Crewe. Let's hope it's still the case after tomorrow.

Poll:

How many polls will Leadbelly do this season?

Railwaymen to hit the buffers against High Speed U's on 09:33 - Nov 12 with 1324 views

burnsieespana

Given the air of despondancy here another good write up Durham as I write this from Spain,having returned earlier this week I hope the boys can step up to the plate.
MB has made changes every game which I don't think helps either our rythem or defensive understanding for set pieces.
I have never understood why we always get so many young loans when we have our Academy as surely the only way we will find out if they will make it is to play them?
Your mention of the National League send shudders of fear through me as getting out if we drop into it will need a totally different mindset. Look how long it has taken teams such as Notts County to look competitive. Have said several times ,have seen a few games at Woking, who my son follows, as lives close to the ground and the standard is hugely higher and tougher than when we were last at that level and I would fear for a lot of our current squad.
Come on Colchester let's go on a run of wins to lift our mood over the next few months.

Railwaymen to hit the buffers against High Speed U's on 10:59 - Nov 12 with 1308 views

durham_exile

Railwaymen to hit the buffers against High Speed U's on 09:33 - Nov 12 by burnsieespana

Burnsie - great stuff from Sunny Spain.

Mind you standing on Penrith station it is positively subtropical for the frozen North.

I am confident of the right result today.

Up the U's

Durham_exile

Railwaymen to hit the buffers against High Speed U's on 12:24 - Nov 12 with 1290 views

durham_exile

Railwaymen to hit the buffers against High Speed U's on 10:59 - Nov 12 by durham_exile
Burnsie - great stuff from Sunny Spain. Mind you standing on Penrith station it is positively subtropical for the frozen North. I am confident of the right result today. Up the U's

Interesting journey so far.
Train passengers thinned out at Preston and Wigan.

Both teams playing at home.
Some PNE fans bemoaning the fact that they were only top six some observing that their Season Ticket makes no mention of the fact that they should get promotion.

Heaven knows how our ST holders feel and what RC would have inscribed on our tickets.

The very minimum must be that it carries a Government health warning.

Still not far to Warrington and then Crewe.

Anticipation building. Hope the faithful on the supporters coach are having a good journey.

Wessex hope your train is equally on time and allowing you time to relax ahead of the excitement to come.

Up the U's

Durham_exile

Railwaymen to hit the buffers against High Speed U's on 14:05 - Nov 12 with 1274 views

mfb_cufc

U's side to face Crewe: Hornby, Tchamadeu, Chambers, Eastman, Kazeem, Judge, Ashley, Nouble, Hannant, Newby, Tovide

U's subs are Smith, Sears, Chilvers, Lubala, Chesters, Miranda, O’Hara

mfb

Railwaymen to hit the buffers against High Speed U's on 14:19 - Nov 12 with 1267 views

durham_exile

Railwaymen to hit the buffers against High Speed U's on 14:05 - Nov 12 by mfb_cufc
U's side to face Crewe: Hornby, Tchamadeu, Chambers, Eastman, Kazeem, Judge, Ashley, Nouble, Hannant, Newby, Tovide U's subs are Smith, Sears, Chilvers, Lubala, Chesters, Miranda, O’Hara

Five changes

Looks sadly like 4,1,4,1

Pitch immaculate.
Bright and sunny at Gresty Road.

Continuing mild

No programme anymore at Crewe!

Up the U's

[Post edited 12 Nov 2022 14:21]

Durham_exile

Railwaymen to hit the buffers against High Speed U's on 14:55 - Nov 12 with 1245 views

Leadbelly

Railwaymen to hit the buffers against High Speed U's on 14:19 - Nov 12 by durham_exile
Five changes Looks sadly like 4,1,4,1 Pitch immaculate. Bright and sunny at Gresty Road. Continuing mild No programme anymore at Crewe! Up the U's [Post edited 12 Nov 2022 14:21]

5 changes again. Perhaps we should have a prediction league for the starting XI.

Poll:

Safe standing at football; yes, know or don't know?

Railwaymen to hit the buffers against High Speed U's on 15:58 - Nov 12 with 1209 views

durham_exile

Railwaymen to hit the buffers against High Speed U's on 14:55 - Nov 12 by Leadbelly
5 changes again. Perhaps we should have a prediction league for the starting XI.

Best half of football I have seen from the U's.

Tchamadeu and Tovide and Ashley outstanding

Ref total shite failed to give four free kicks for constant fouling by number 6 and 22 from Crewe on Tovide.

Wessex is here and in good form.

Big second half needed to press home our advantage.

Faithful in good voice.

Keep believing we can win this.

Up the U's

Durham_exile

Railwaymen to hit the buffers against High Speed U's on 16:03 - Nov 12 with 1207 views

noah4x4

Been in pub since noon, strangely stress free, astonished to read three shots on target.

How long before a miss kick by Chambers gifts them a goal?

How is Tovide going? More passion/ effort than Sears?

Railwaymen to hit the buffers against High Speed U's on 16:46 - Nov 12 with 1183 views

noah4x4

1-0

……. And there is the justification for not going to Crewe.

We couldn’t score in a brothel.

Railwaymen to hit the buffers against High Speed U's on 16:57 - Nov 12 with 1160 views

burnsieespana

Bloomfield, Ball and Humes out.

Railwaymen to hit the buffers against High Speed U's on 18:23 - Nov 12 with 1100 views

durham_exile

Railwaymen to hit the buffers against High Speed U's on 16:03 - Nov 12 by noah4x4
Been in pub since noon, strangely stress free, astonished to read three shots on target. How long before a miss kick by Chambers gifts them a goal? How is Tovide going? More passion/ effort than Sears?

Noah
Tchamadeu Ashley and Tovide absolutely outstanding.

Newby missed a very presentable chance and in fairness should have scored.

Crewe scored on 80 mins and then MB made four changes.

The side was disjointed for some minutes after that.
7 additional minutes from the shite ref.

Seriously a game we should have won.

Sitting on Crewe station reflecting on what might have been.

Teams around also lost but we really must start to win football matches.

Doncaster Rovers is very much a must win.

Crewe celebrated after the goal and at the end of the game as if they had won the World Cup.

I really am sick and tired of losing games more so to a solitary goal.

Anyway plenty to reflect on over the weekend.

Up the U's

179 of the faithful which was a very good showing.

Durham_exile

Railwaymen to hit the buffers against High Speed U's on 18:57 - Nov 12 with 1087 views

Witham

Hi Durham
It sounded a cracker on the radio. Two questions- would you have shut up shop at (say) 75 minutes, and should we have made earlier substitutions ?

To video seemed to earn a start next week.

Safe journey

Railwaymen to hit the buffers against High Speed U's on 19:26 - Nov 12 with 1075 views

durham_exile

Railwaymen to hit the buffers against High Speed U's on 18:57 - Nov 12 by Witham
Hi Durham It sounded a cracker on the radio. Two questions- would you have shut up shop at (say) 75 minutes, and should we have made earlier substitutions ? To video seemed to earn a start next week. Safe journey

Witham. Definitely would not have shut up shop on 75 mins.

It was a game where the only changes I would have made would have been a straight swap in midfield and to give Tovide a breather because he was played as the lone striker and covered every blade of grass.

If the highlights show Newbys chance you will see he would have scored.

We deserved to win the game and losing was a real kick in the teeth.

Pressure is on now for three points against Donny Rovers.

We are missing Appiah.

I think MB made a mistake in making 4 changes on 83 minutes but we were obviously chasing the game at that point.

Tovide, Ashley, Tchamadeu and Eastman were great today. Big Frank had a good game too.

Train is at Wigan and ontime.

Up the U's
I should be home by 2115hrs.

Durham_exile

Railwaymen to hit the buffers against High Speed U's on 09:24 - Nov 13 with 925 views

wessex_exile

Railwaymen to hit the buffers against High Speed U's on 19:26 - Nov 12 by durham_exile

Morning Durham, and first and foremost thanks for the pleasure of your company yesterday, it was good to catch up.

However, this morning I’m mostly cross!

Cross that despite one of our better (best?) performances we come home again with nothing;
Cross with the deplorable standard of officials in the lower leagues, and yesterdays were some of the worst;
Cross with the behaviour of some of our fans yesterday - having a go at Junior, probably our best player on the pitch, was utterly disgraceful. Even Chambers had a decent game, and still one of our supporters was ‘offering him out’ at the end of the match;
Cross because Crewe were there for the taking, and they knew it - if Newby had buried his chance, we’d have gone on to score more, certain of it; and
Cross because I’m utterly fed up with watching the U’s lose.

[Post edited 13 Nov 2022 9:25]

	Up the U's
Poll:	How will we do in 2016/17
Blog:	Knees-up Mother Brown #24

Railwaymen to hit the buffers against High Speed U's on 11:57 - Nov 13 with 873 views

burnsieespana

Sorry Durham but how can we deserve to win when we miss a couple of good chances and then a defensive error allows a poor team (but not as poor as us) to win?

Railwaymen to hit the buffers against High Speed U's on 19:18 - Nov 13 with 806 views

noah4x4

Most of the optimism on this Forum comes from those exiles that inevitably don’t see the U’s play quite as often as those Colchester based. Respect to Wessex for travelling to Crewe after the double debacle of Newport that we shared as companions, but when he says that he is sick of watching us lose, imagine how those that get to see more matches feel?

Yesterday, I spent the most relaxed Saturday afternoon in months at a pal’s birthday pub crawl and meal. Naturally, I followed the U’s progress on BBC Sport, looking at my phone (only) after each pint. I even got excited about having more than one shot on target. But compared to other Saturdays, I was strangely emotionally detached. No disappointment, no anger, no wanting to kick something.

I now better understand others like Leadbelly who was once as passionate as me. Cowling and his henchmen have drained me of the last drop of enthusiasm. I have a ST, so will see out the season at home. But I don’t think I will travel to many away games.

Cowling has six months to win us back, starting with sacking Humes and Ball. Then we can see if Bloomfield can cut the mustard. I fear he cannot, but am prepared to give his his chance. However, he plays the same tactics and formations as Humes, even mirrors the same sound bites. So who is writing the script?

[Post edited 13 Nov 2022 19:21]

Railwaymen to hit the buffers against High Speed U's on 20:29 - Nov 13 with 778 views

bwildered

Jos Buttler said in interview after lifting the T20 World Cup, good sides learn from their previous mistakes, sums up our clubs position perfectly one thought .

Poll:

No half measure either 1 or 2 ?

Railwaymen to hit the buffers against High Speed U's on 22:29 - Nov 13 with 756 views

wessex_exile

Railwaymen to hit the buffers against High Speed U's on 19:18 - Nov 13 by noah4x4

[Post edited 13 Nov 2022 19:21]

Thanks Noah, but the respect is all yours tbh. I'll get to maybe a dozen games per season when and where I can, you guys go week in week out, and it's been for pretty poor fair for the last few seasons. It was good to catch up with some of your crew during yesterday, and I'm genuinely glad you at least had a better than usual weekend for once.

Another thing that made me cross yesterday, as the final whistle blew there were many who wanted to applaud the efforts of the team, and receive their thanks for our support in return. But, with the lads and their "Cowling Out" flag right at the front, the team were understandably reluctant to come forward and applaud us back - an unscrupulous journo would have had a field day catching a snap of the team seemingly applauding the flag.

As I discussed with Durham post-match at the train station cafe, I don't believe Humes, Ball or whoever have any direct influence on Matt Bloomfield. But, if Tony Humes, as Director of Performance, is paid to take responsibility for performance, then yes his role does have to come into question right now. That is, however, a two-way street.

Matt has a tendency to make his first changes on the hour mark, and usually by then we're already behind. Not today, I couldn't see any reason to make a change, we were in control and looked odds-on to win the game. When the undeserved Crewe goal went in, it was too late, and I agree with Durham, the four late subs smacked of desperation. If it had worked, we'd be calling him a genius, but it was very unlikely too to be honest.

Durham and I compared diaries and the fixture list post-match - it'll probably be a while before our paths cross again, but we'll both be there when we next can. Win or lose, follow the U's.

	Up the U's
Poll:	How will we do in 2016/17
Blog:	Knees-up Mother Brown #24

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