 Wednesday, 17th Mar 2010 20:03 Simply not good enough on Saturday. This was definitely the worst that I have seen the U's play this season and at a time when three points would have kept the pressure on Leeds. The result however has allowed Millwall to gate crash the party. The pitch was good, albeit bouncy, which the players took some time to come to terms with. In truth Colchester started the brighter with a speculative effort from Fox and a volley from Lisbie.
However it was to be the Jason Price show. He showed the threat of things to come with two efforts, one which he should have scored from and the second where he was definitely offside but the Assistant referee failed to flag.
Now Carlisle should be indebted to Tom Taiwo who managed to commit three fouls and received two yellow cards for his troubles and was rightly dismissed. However his sending off only managed to galvanise the home team and to rouse the home support from their slumbers. Colchester never seems to play well against 10 men. We fail to spread the play and make the opposition compete across the pitch instead we sit back and become too complacent. So it was to prove on Saturday.
Taiwo received his marching orders just before half time and it was as if Carlisle decided that they wanted to win the match more than the U’s. Whilst we enjoyed the lion’s share of possession the Cumbrians used the ball better.
Now I don’t want to criticise individual players unduly but Henderson adds no value to the Colchester team. When not in possession he is guilty of giving away too many niggling fouls and when he does receive the ball he invariably loses it by attempting to take on too many players or through ineffective use of the ball. He was booked in the first half and it was his run that led to him being fouled that cost Taiwo an early bath.
Aidy either decided at half time that Henderson was out of his depth or that his continued presence would only antagonise the partisan crowd further and so replaced him with Wordsworth. Initially we played well in the second half but soon started to allow the ten men to dominate proceedings.
Ironically it was a lack of peppering the opponent’s penalty area that seemed to confuse the U’s and too many moves broke down with passes going astray or possession lost when an opportunity beckoned.
Aidy always makes substitutions when he feels it necessary and Saturday was no exception. Ashley Vincent stills lacks match fitness and was replaced on the hour mark by Phil Ifil. Kayode Odejayi had another frustrating day and gave way for Clive Platt who immediately seized on some good fortune in the Carlisle penalty area to score with ease.
At this point Greg Abbott was sent to the stands for something he said immediately after the Colchester goal.
The faithful who had been quiet for long periods of the second half came to life. That was it, three more points for the U’s and the turgid second half long forgotten. Sadly it wasn’t to be. The goal only made the U’s more complacent and stirred Carlisle into life. Suddenly it was 1-1 after some nifty footwork from Price and Marshall scored with a shot into the corner of Williams’s goal.
Unfortunately disbelief turned into sheer frustration as Colchester allowed the Cumbrians to dominate and it came as no surprise when we conceded a second. Price turning in an innocuous looking low cross at the near post with Matt Heath and Williams unable to keep it from trickling in.
Although Colchester tried to conjure something and indeed Clive Platt should have done better when presented with a similar chance to the one he converted, it was not to be.
Collin in the Carlisle goal managed to waste so much time during the second half that I was amazed when the Referee only found four minutes additional time. Six substitutions should have accounted for three of those minutes so the U’s were denied some “Fergy time.”
Aidy has suggested that the U’s were amateurish. The truth is that if we play like that from here until the end of the season then we will not catch Leeds (which is definitely still achievable) and could even miss out on the play off places. I only had a one hour journey home to Durham. The travelling faithful faced a 300+ mile journey of misery and reflecting on might have been.
There is no time to dwell on this disappointment; we now must get three points at Walsall next Saturday. Anything less and we face dropping to sixth place in the table.
In marathon parlance we have hit the wall. Only one point from nine has cost us momentum and the chance to establish third place. It matters not that Norwich are defeating everyone. They have Swindon and Leeds to play in successive games so 6 more points for our Norfolk friends will be very welcome.
It is vital however that we do not become reliant on others. There are still 33 points to play for and we therefore need to hit the winning trail again and soon.
There are only the following fixtures left to secure second spot:
Walsall Away
Every game must be thought of as a cup final. We can move to within 5 points of Leeds with our game in hand. Second place is definitely there for the taking. Trouble is that Charlton, Swindon, Millwall and Leeds believe that too.
Aidy must decide on what his best team is, in particular his striking options. There must be a place for Odejayi, Platt and Lisbie in the same team. (Gillespie as super sub). O’Toole, Prutton and Izzet are also on the team sheet with Williams, White, Okuonghae and Tierney. That leaves one place for Reid if fit or Heath if not. Wordsworth, Fox, Vincent and Ifil are all able deputies. Every player will definitely be needed between now and the Orient match.
More determination is needed. Saturday was not good enough and more disappointing than either the Preston or Norwich debacles especially as we should have won especially with numerical advantage and having scored first.
So plenty of thinking this week, it is decision time, how much do we want that second place, a refocus on what is needed to achieve promotion this season. We are in a rut and must get out of it and quick. A trip to the West Midlands must produce three more valuable promotion points.
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