Colchester versus Gillingham; the most common fixture in the U's history. This will be the 111th competitive meeting between the two clubs, with past results being fairly even - 40 wins, 32 draws, 38 defeats (according to coludata).

Originally this game was due to be played this coming Tuesday night, but one positive of being out of the FA Cup means both clubs have a free weekend, allowing this to be brought forward and hopefully encouraging a sizable crowd. The 12:30pm kick off time also means it'll still be on Sky Sports+ and ifollow.

We go into this game in great form and I don't expect DC to make any changes to the line-up unless they're forced. Aside from all of the long term injuries, Kyreece Lisbie is probably the only doubt, having picked up a shoulder injury against Cheltenham last week. There's been no news on his fitness, so I assume it'll be the same XI. [Update: Lisbie will have a fitness test]

Macey

Vincent-Young, Tucker, Araujo, Iandolo

Hunt, Read

Lisbie, Mbick, Anderson

Tovide

I'll be honest, I've not paid much attention to Gillingham this season. We beat them 2-1 in the car sales cup (aka EFL/Vertu Trophy) in October, but you can't read much into that. Looking at their season so far, they started well going 11 games unbeaten, but have then won once in their last 12. They're eighth in the league with one point more than us.
Their recent form is three draws on the bounce and their last win and clean sheet was at Bristol Rovers in early November.

Last 5
Shrewsbury (away) D 3-3
Barnet (home) D 1-1
Crawley (home) D 2-2
Wycombe (home - Vertu Trophy) L 0-3
Bristol Rovers (away) W 1-0

I don't expect this to be an easy game, but form is very much in our favour, so I'm going to predict a narrow 2-1 win with goals from Jack Tucker (either a header or strike from outside the box) and Harry Anderson (just because he’s on fire).

Played for both
Joe Dunne is the obvious one here. He started his career at Gillingham and is currently their youth team manager. His ColU career should need no introduction but covers most of the time between his spells at Gillingham! 188 appearances over two spells as a player, youth team manager, coach, assistant manager, caretaker manager and manager (99 games) - he'd done it all. Hopefully the BWA Joe Dunne flag will be flying proud tomorrow.
Of the current Gillingham team, Jake Turner is the only player to have played for both - 13 appearances for the U's while on loan from Newcastle and 76 appearances for the Gills so far. He'll likely be in goal against us.
Of the current U's squad, Jack Tucker and Ellis Iandolo came through youth ranks at Gillingham, Tucker went on to make 137 appearances for the first team. Tom Flanagan played 14 games on loan from MK Dons in 2012/13.

Memories
The stand-out game for me is the 1-0 win on the opening day of the 2013/14 season. I don't really remember much about the game, just Andy Bond scoring an 89th minute winner, sending the faithful wild in the ‘temporary’ stand at Priestfield.
More recently is the promising 3-0 win under Ben Garner in August 2023, or the new year's day defeat in 2024, which signalled the end of Matt Etherington's short reign and the beginning of the Cowley era (all in the same season!).

Weather
The forecast keeps changing - the Met Office currently says cloudy with a 50% chance of rain, 11 degrees (feels like 8), and a mild northerly wind.

Up the U's! (and don't forget it's a 12:30pm kick off!)

Photo: Action Images

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