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Before the MK Dons match I mentioned that last season the team that finished 7th was Chesterfield on 70pts, so if that was the target then Col U needed 17pts from the remaining 30pts available.
Remaining fixtures were: Wed 18 Mar (A) MK Dons (3) (0) Sat 21 Mar (A) Bromley (0) (0) Sat 28 Mar (H) Walsall (3) (1) Fri 3 Apr (H) Oldham (1) (0) Mon 6 Apr (A) Tranmere (1) (3) Fri 10 Apr (H) Swindon (1) Tue 14 Apr (H) Accrington (0) Sat 18 Apr (A) Harrogate (3) Sat 25 Apr (H) Notts C (3) Sat 2 May (A) Cheltenham (3)
The first brackets were the points we achieved in the first fixtures and now I have added in the second brackets the points we achieved in the second set. That is 4pts less points picked up than before with only 5 more points available (stay with me, as the win vs Swindon would add 2 to the draw we picked up in the reverse fixture, and a win vs Accrington would add 3 to the 0 = 5). Add these to the tally of 9 from the Harrogate, Notts C and Cheltenham matches would not only put us on a 6-match winning streak to end the season but also on 72pts! That would have been enough for 6th last season (depending on GD). However, this season it might not be enough for Top 10!
So, onto Swindon Town on Friday night (or Saturday morning NZT), a team (according to the BBC) we have lost just one of our last six league games against (W3 D2), scoring 12 goals across those matches! Also, Swindon have failed to win any of their last seven away league games against us (D2 L5), since a 4-1 victory in the third tier in February 2016. That all sounds promising until you read that we have failed to win any of our last six league games played on a Friday (D4 L2), since a 2-1 home win over Newport in March 2024 and Swindon have won four of their last six league games played on a Friday (D1 L1), though did lose their last 1-0 against MK Dons on Boxing Day this season.
The reverse fixture against Swindon was played on Sat 25 Oct 2025, when Swindon missed out on the chance to go top of League Two after eking out the drabbest of 0-0 draws with Colchester. They currently sit 5th with 74 pts – level on points with Cambridge Utd in 4th. However, Cambridge do have a game in hand). It is still mathematically possible for them to finish as Champions. However, more realistically a place in the Top 3 and auto promotion is the main aim for them!
Onto the ‘They played for both’ section of the blog, and two of our best players this season have also played for Swindon. Jack Payne spent two seasons (2020-2022) with Swindon playing 78 games and scoring 17 (this is Wikipedia, so I think they do league games only). The other is Ellis Iandolo who came through the Swindon Town youth system and made 137 league appearances for the club across eight seasons. Signing Ellis must have been one of the (if not the only) great things that Ben Garner (former Swindon Manager) did for us! Now according to Microsoft Copilot, other players that have played for both include Barry Corr (I challenged this and can confirm that he never played for Col U!) Gary Alexander, Hasney Aljofree and Steve Jones were also added to the list, but after the Barry Corr catastrophy, I asked Copilot again to check the records and the final result is: “There are zero confirmed players who made senior competitive appearances for both Colchester United and Swindon Town before 2010. This is not a guess — it’s the outcome after eliminating every incorrectly attributed name.” In conclusion, I think Graeson Laitt is safe from AI for now 😊
Team news. I haven’t listened to the pre-match interview with DC yet, so not sure what the latest with Samson is – last I heard was a hip injury and should be back for this match. Too early to start so a place on the bench it is. With Vincent-Young and Bishop coming off against Tranmere, this match might come too quick for them two, and so a start for their replacements (Hunt and Barbrook) would not come as a surprise:
GK: Macey RB: Hunt CB: Tucker CB: Terry LB: Iandolo RM: Anderson CM: Barbrook CM: Read LM: Edwards AM: Payne ST: Goodwin Subs: Chamberlain, Back, Kuffour, Gape, Akachukwu, Lisbie, Williams
I have swapped out Edwards for Lisbie after the former changed the game against Tranmere with his direct running and providing the cut-back for Payne to finish for the 0-1 win.
According to Copilot (so I would expect the opposite), the forecast for Colchester, England on Friday night (Friday 10 April 2026) based on the latest available data: Conditions: Cloudy to mostly cloudy Temperature: Around 8–9°C overnight Rain: Very low chance (generally under 10%) Wind: Light to moderate, around 10–12 mph, mainly from the west to south-west Overall, it’s expected to be cool, dry, and overcast, with no significant rain expected during the night. A light jacket would be advisable if you’re heading out late.
Score prediction: Copilot: Predicted final score: Colchester United 1 – 1 Swindon Town “Friday night games often start cagey, especially between two sides who know each other well. Colchester tend to be more competitive at home but don’t always convert chances. Swindon usually have enough going forward to nick a goal, even away. So I’m leaning toward: A tight first half Goals in the second half Neither side quite doing enough to win it”
Me: With Copilot being very unreliable (sorry Gerry looks like your fav 1-1 is off), I am going for an optimistic 2-1 with goals coming from the two former players mentioned above!
Back in the day loanees playing until end of season was never a problem due to most were seniors playing to end of season . The problem now is most are academy players from higher level clubs wanting a window on how they perform at league level and game time. Reverse the problem our reserve players are also gone out to clubs, getting vital experience, and not on the fringe of first team duties yet. So many facets to this problem. Clubs also get a reputation, which could be vital in players choosing clubs later in their careers.
Robins to go bob-bob-bobbing along home with 0 points.... on 20:59 - Apr 11 by TAFKAT
I'm pleased for Goodwin if you are nominating him for the '2025/2026 Tom Hopper good performance' award.
I would argue that it's not good performances you need from a number 9, it's goals. I'd be happy with a chain smoking, goal hanging, lard-arse if he chalked up 25 a season, but 3 in 25 (and 3 in 38 for ST) is pretty hopeless in that position. It's more like the numbers you would expect from a centre back.
As always, a centre forward must be top of our shopping list this summer (after retaining the services of Payne, Lisbie, Anderson, Read, Edwards, Tucker, Iandolo & Macey).
Barbrook and Akachukwu would be a bonus but I think they are both destined for higher leagues.
[Post edited 11 Apr 21:03]
Tucker is one of the few players already under contract for next season. Hopefully that'll cheer you up a bit.
Robins to go bob-bob-bobbing along home with 0 points.... on 09:37 - Apr 11 by TAFKAT
So when the games were important, week after week, we weren’t good enough. The players, DC/NC, the tactics, the effort, the desire, all not good enough.
Now we have half a dozen meaningless games and it turns out, we can turn it on and play football, put the effort in and out play the opposition.
I’m struggling to find any positives, quite the opposite. It just confirms that we could have made the play-offs, but we failed.
It’s not as if these games will help prepare for next season, because chances are half the squad will be gone. You could even say that the better we play now the more interest there will be in our out-of-contract players.
We can pretend otherwise, but last night and the remaining games are just a waste of washing powder, they are less important than pre-season games.
[Post edited 11 Apr 9:38]
Think this a pretty harsh and unfair assessment personally.
I've watched 10 games live this season (four wins, three draws and three defeats) and we could and possibly should have won all 10. I haven't seen us outplayed once, outsmarted and outmuscled by Bromley perhaps, and all whilst dealing with injuries to a number of key players. Plus a number of decisions went against us as key moments yet again.
When you look at what they'd had to deal with this season, both on and off the field, I'm really proud of the team and how they've played.
Robins to go bob-bob-bobbing along home with 0 points.... on 09:26 - Apr 13 by RSCOSWORTH
Think this a pretty harsh and unfair assessment personally.
I've watched 10 games live this season (four wins, three draws and three defeats) and we could and possibly should have won all 10. I haven't seen us outplayed once, outsmarted and outmuscled by Bromley perhaps, and all whilst dealing with injuries to a number of key players. Plus a number of decisions went against us as key moments yet again.
When you look at what they'd had to deal with this season, both on and off the field, I'm really proud of the team and how they've played.
Fair dues (or do’s if you prefer).
Under the circumstances, a solid mid-table performance is a very good achievement this season, but euphorically celebrating wins or great performances when it’s too late, is not for me, the games now IMO are no better than friendlies and it’s as bad as the Curate and his egg.
I feel sorry for DC/NC. The likes of Graham, Big Roy, Wiggy and Parky are set in our history as great achievers, but DC/NC are possible the most important mangers we’ve ever had. If you think back to AFC Wombles away, when it turned nasty against Etherington, all aspects of the club were in a tailspin. We know that a dip into non-league is not the same as it was in the 90’s, it could easily have been ‘Goodnight Vienna’, but instead they have brought hope, increased gates dramatically and made us an attractive proposition.
I hope they get the chance to show what they can do with a decent budget.
On Friday night we showed our class and that's what is so disappointing. But it gives me great hope for the future as it showed there was a consistency in our training so everyone sang from the same hymn sheet.
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