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If a week is a long time in politics then it must be an eternity in football.
On 30 December I posted about the likelihood of Joe Taylor (12 goals for the U’s) being recalled by Luton in the light of our poor league position and suitors from the Championship. However, it seems that league one clubs Bolton Wanderers and Lincoln City are keen to take the rooky striker on loan for the rest of the season. Rob Edwards is weighing up the options for JT and it would seem that he could play for the U’s this weekend ahead of this decision.
Colchester United began the New Year with an uninspiring narrow defeat to Kent rivals Gillingham on New Years Day. Within hours ME had been sacked in a terse 43 worded statement. And rightly so, I had written that ME had the Christmas games to start to make a difference and that the Gillingham game would determine his future and so it proved.
Then on Wednesday Conor Wilkinson signed on an 18-month deal from Motherwell. The 28-year-old striker was keen to put pen to paper.
Then on Thursday Danny and Nicky Cowley were appointed by the club as the new Head Coach pairing. DC and NC have long been coveted by the club (and especially by Moor_Pinot) and at last we have the dream team in place.
Listening to their first interview on Col U TV, I and many others are not only excited by the Cowleys desire to play attacking football but also to make Colchester become difficult to beat.
The entire club has been given a huge lift with their appointment and RC should be credited with moving quickly to secure their services.
In other news Salford City have not appointed Ryan Giggs as their new manager instead opting for experienced lower league manager Karl Robinson.
Now Danny Cowley took charge of training on Thursday and will be preparing the team for the County Ground test against Michael Flynn’s Swindon team who have just suffered the double blow of two loanees Dan Kemp and Jake Young returning to their parent clubs. Regardless of their situation they will be keen to secure the points on Saturday.
For the U’s Mauro Bandeira has returned to Arsenal and may be loaned out again. He failed to make the grade at Colchester and we wish him well for the future.
So, who will DC and NC select for the Wiltshire test:
Let’s go for this 4,4,2 formation.
Goodman
Dallison Mitchell Hall Iandolo
Fevrier Read Miranda Edwards
Wilkinson Taylor
Subs: Hornby Jay Hopper Kazeem Cooper Ihionvien Akinde Chilvers (dependent upon Taylor’s availability). McGeehan also not available still suspended.
Obviously if Taylor is unavailable, then I would substitute Ihionvien instead.
That team is good enough to receive the new Manager and new striker bounce and secure a 3-1 victory.
Weather in Swindon will be 5 degrees Celsius and dry, partly sunny, perfect for football.
DC/NC will ensure more of the faithful travelling and it will be one of Wessex’s closest journeys of the season.
Safe journey to the travellers and enjoy the game.
The start of the Cowley era will be an exciting one for the club and just what we need to recharge our batteries after years in the doldrums.
Are the play offs still a possibility, certainly enough points are still available to make that a reality.
The Cowley factor cannot be discounted and if Taylor can be retained for the rest of the season. Dare to dream.
Up the U’s
[Post edited 5 Jan 2024 22:41]
Durham_exile
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Resurgent Super U's to clip Robins' wings at County Ground on 16:58 - Jan 6 with 1145 views
Resurgent Super U's to clip Robins' wings at County Ground on 16:56 - Jan 6 by durham_exile
Wilkinson back heeled equaliser
Get in
Well we had a real go at em Durham! A first step in the right direction perhaps. Just learning how to draw will feel good.
The new management will have gained plenty today and there's been good use of subs. They will also better appreciate the size of the task ahead to keep us in the league. It'll be a real achievement if they can do that.
Moor Pinot
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Resurgent Super U's to clip Robins' wings at County Ground on 17:05 - Jan 6 with 1103 views
The last time I saw a team use a 2 -3 -5 formation was in 1965. This game ended like a cup tie with the U’s throwing the kitchen sink into attack. Utterly deserved result, brave, commitment, endeavour, all the superlatives are relevant, including diabolical as regards referee.
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Resurgent Super U's to clip Robins' wings at County Ground on 17:20 - Jan 6 with 1055 views
Good point today - should have been 3 if not for Swindon's dubious penalty. We need to give the Cowley boys time and the correct backing and we'll be fine
Also ex U's player George Elokobi masterminded a nice cup upset over Stevenage earlier today.
Resurgent Super U's to clip Robins' wings at County Ground on 17:04 - Jan 6 by Moor_Pinot
Well we had a real go at em Durham! A first step in the right direction perhaps. Just learning how to draw will feel good.
The new management will have gained plenty today and there's been good use of subs. They will also better appreciate the size of the task ahead to keep us in the league. It'll be a real achievement if they can do that.
From the TV you could see what it meant to the players particularly Ihionvien when the equaliser went in Pinot.
We finished the game with two genuine wingers in Fevrier and Edwards and with Ihionvien Wilkinson and Akinde in attack.
Fantastic stuff.
Next up a wounded Bradford after they conceded late on to Crawley.
We owe them too after losing 2-1 at Valley Parade when a draw would have been a fair result.
Once DC has a proper look at the team this week he will select a team that is too strong for the Bantams.
Up the U's
Durham_exile
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Resurgent Super U's to clip Robins' wings at County Ground on 18:08 - Jan 6 with 987 views
Resurgent Super U's to clip Robins' wings at County Ground on 18:08 - Jan 6 by SparkfilmsTV
The Cowley's have the vibe and energy to lift the club.
Lovely to listen to Matt Jay's interview. So pleased for him!
Matt Jay ran his socks off, and thoroughly deserved his goal. In fact they all did, couldn't fault the effort from anyone. Great to see Nicky out there geeing up the support, which was pretty awesome throughout, but what a second half, totally dominant. I'll be honest though, I'd almost reconciled myself to accepting it was going to be one of those days where we batter opponents but don't get the breaks, and up pops Brad in the 94th minute with the equaliser. Epic celebrations in the stand, and on pitch, thoroughly deserved! As always, great to see you Noah, particularly for the pub quiz challenge in the Merlin beforehand. But what a diabolically poor referee. Second game in charge and the EFL should make sure its his last.
But lets finish on a positive, far too often we're the victims of late goals, how good is it to see the U's fighting to the bitter end and ultimately inflicting that on our opponents.
Sutton United have appointed Steve Morison as their new manager. A good choice in my opinion. Fortunately the Cowleys are even better but it's going to be some basement battle in League Two for the rest of this season.
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Resurgent Super U's to clip Robins' wings at County Ground on 20:33 - Jan 6 with 865 views
Resurgent Super U's to clip Robins' wings at County Ground on 18:32 - Jan 6 by wessex_exile
Matt Jay ran his socks off, and thoroughly deserved his goal. In fact they all did, couldn't fault the effort from anyone. Great to see Nicky out there geeing up the support, which was pretty awesome throughout, but what a second half, totally dominant. I'll be honest though, I'd almost reconciled myself to accepting it was going to be one of those days where we batter opponents but don't get the breaks, and up pops Brad in the 94th minute with the equaliser. Epic celebrations in the stand, and on pitch, thoroughly deserved! As always, great to see you Noah, particularly for the pub quiz challenge in the Merlin beforehand. But what a diabolically poor referee. Second game in charge and the EFL should make sure its his last.
But lets finish on a positive, far too often we're the victims of late goals, how good is it to see the U's fighting to the bitter end and ultimately inflicting that on our opponents.
Up the Danny and Nicky U's!
Btw - one final thing to add - how much more passion and commitment do you want than your manager and assistant manager both getting yellow cards celebrating our equaliser!
Resurgent Super U's to clip Robins' wings at County Ground on 20:33 - Jan 6 by wessex_exile
Btw - one final thing to add - how much more passion and commitment do you want than your manager and assistant manager both getting yellow cards celebrating our equaliser!
That is the passion we require.
329 of the faithful present today.
Could be 5,000 at home next week for the Bantams.
Up the U's
Durham_exile
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Resurgent Super U's to clip Robins' wings at County Ground on 21:03 - Jan 6 with 844 views
Resurgent Super U's to clip Robins' wings at County Ground on 20:52 - Jan 6 by durham_exile
That is the passion we require.
329 of the faithful present today.
Could be 5,000 at home next week for the Bantams.
Up the U's
There's passion and then there's "passion' I would suggest. Not a good example when manager and assistant get booked together. We've lost enough player playing time from bookings this season. As a performance by the players...brilliant; by management..not so good. There's passion and there's passion! Get it right Cowley's.
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Resurgent Super U's to clip Robins' wings at County Ground on 21:30 - Jan 6 with 821 views
Resurgent Super U's to clip Robins' wings at County Ground on 21:03 - Jan 6 by gerry_us
There's passion and then there's "passion' I would suggest. Not a good example when manager and assistant get booked together. We've lost enough player playing time from bookings this season. As a performance by the players...brilliant; by management..not so good. There's passion and there's passion! Get it right Cowley's.
You needed to be there Gerry to understand the context. I have never seen so much passion from a U’s manager, his assistant, team and fans. It was buzzing!
The referee was awful, obviously inexperienced (this was merely his second EFL game). His decision making was bizarre at times and heavily home biased. After being the better side for much of the game, we threw the kitchen sink at Swindon in the last ten minutes (three strikers + two wingers!), whilst Swindon’s time wasting and other skulduggery was premier class. He lost control at times and was justifiably berated by U’s fans that witnessed repeated injustice as he was suckered by Charlie Austin and the other Worzels antics.
When the equaliser went in, literally the last act, the ground erupted. 7,000 angry Swindon fans that watched their team capitulate from a 2-0 lead led the noise targeted at the beleaguered home team, while 359 jubilant U’s fans and a U’s team couldn’t have been more animated if they had beaten Liverpool. I’ve not witnessed anything like it since Norwich 1-7 or beating Preston to stay up. Frankly, we succeeded in getting a point despite the best efforts of the referee to achieve otherwise. I don’t know what the Cowleys said to him, but it was probably justified. Hopefully an assessor watched his performance and we won’t ever see him again.
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Resurgent Super U's to clip Robins' wings at County Ground on 21:38 - Jan 6 with 803 views
Resurgent Super U's to clip Robins' wings at County Ground on 21:03 - Jan 6 by gerry_us
There's passion and then there's "passion' I would suggest. Not a good example when manager and assistant get booked together. We've lost enough player playing time from bookings this season. As a performance by the players...brilliant; by management..not so good. There's passion and there's passion! Get it right Cowley's.
LOL - chill out Gerry, nobody died.
I'm pretty sure if the rules are the same for technical staff as players, they can afford another four each before either get a one match suspension, so not something to get too concerned about. Caught up in the passion of the moment, nothing more
As Danny Cowley has said in the Gazette, he was simply running up the touch line to celebrate with the fans and found himself booked for inciting over exuberance, just like when players remove their shirts and encroach into the fan areas. No bad example, as the team and fans were already on cloud nine.
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Resurgent Super U's to clip Robins' wings at County Ground on 23:32 - Jan 6 with 751 views
I have now watched the equalising goal several times.
At first I thought Conor Wilkinson's back heel went straight in but Bradley Ihionvien wheels away and touches his chest suggesting he got the final touch.
According to BBC and Sky they credit Ihionvien but then in the text state that Wilkinson's back heel was the decisive kick.
What do the boarders think?
Up the U's
Durham_exile
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Resurgent Super U's to clip Robins' wings at County Ground on 01:18 - Jan 7 with 735 views
Resurgent Super U's to clip Robins' wings at County Ground on 23:32 - Jan 6 by durham_exile
I have now watched the equalising goal several times.
At first I thought Conor Wilkinson's back heel went straight in but Bradley Ihionvien wheels away and touches his chest suggesting he got the final touch.
According to BBC and Sky they credit Ihionvien but then in the text state that Wilkinson's back heel was the decisive kick.
What do the boarders think?
Up the U's
There’s a Swindon vlog on YouTube with footage from behind the goal and it definitely deflects off Ihionvien. Smart bit of thinking by Wilkinson but I doubt it would’ve gone in without the deflection. Deserved that little piece of luck. If we had goal cam in, as we have done for most of this season, that should show it as well I would imagine.
Resurgent Super U's to clip Robins' wings at County Ground on 23:32 - Jan 6 by durham_exile
I have now watched the equalising goal several times.
At first I thought Conor Wilkinson's back heel went straight in but Bradley Ihionvien wheels away and touches his chest suggesting he got the final touch.
According to BBC and Sky they credit Ihionvien but then in the text state that Wilkinson's back heel was the decisive kick.
What do the boarders think?
Up the U's
Way too far away to be sure in real time, but the internet can be a wonderful thing.
Conor’s backheel was the decisive kick, but It came off Brad for the goal. If you slow down this fan’s footage from behind the goal it’s clear as day.
The fan video evidence is conclusive, but Brad knew little about it. Early Press reports suggested the decisive back heel was Brad’s, but that was clearly Wilko’s. It required Brad’s deflection to beat the congested goal line defences.
I was similarly convinced Dallison got the first, but video suggests it might have skimmed his head before Jay added the decisive headed touch. As Wessex said we were a long way distant.
Late night research Wessex, can’t imagine how many celebratory ales you might have sunk by 01:19!
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Resurgent Super U's to clip Robins' wings at County Ground on 08:48 - Jan 7 with 691 views
Cowley boys ask presenters who interviewed them on appointment, their impressions of the current state of play, which seem to backup what they had already heard elsewhere, and they said a recent ex player told them of how easy it was to beat us, rolled over far to easy.
One point on the road, now just need a home win to start some momentum.
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