Go on then. Tell us how you’ll do it. Tell us how you can make “Dino Maamria’s Barmy Army” or “Red and White Army” into a workable terrace tune. It’s the one thing we bet Phil didn’t think about when appointing our new gaffer. And it ain’t as if some of us aren’t musically-challenged enough. This *blatant* oversight aside, a brand new era is about to dawn at the Lamex as Dino becomes only the 16th man in our history to manage Boro’.
And we obviously mean full-time, before you write to Points of View, your MP or something daft like that…
Honestly.
So, here we go. It’s Colchester United indoors; a side three places and eight points better off than us as we go into this weekend. And a side who we haven’t seen anything of since the start of term. After the metaphorical and snowy regicide up at Port Vale, we’re obviously hoping for a coronation at the Lamex. At least, that’s what the marketing bods are on the hunt for, just to pull a few more punters into the gaff. But will we be getting it?
Stevenage v Colchester United: The Lowdown
The Referee
P10 W2 D1 L7 F10 A19; last result: Forest Green Rovers 3-1 Stevenage, 13/02/2018
You wait ages for Graham Salisbury to ref one of your games, and then he turns up twice in just over a month. This isn’t, however, ‘good’. Our record when he’s been involved is rubbish. Our last encounter is very much the proof you need of that. He’s reffed us against the Us once upon a time too. It did not end well for us; Anthony Grant seeing red in our first League One defeat of the 2012-3 season. And the start of the end for Smiffy?
The Opposition
P9 W1 D2 L6 F11 A20; last result: Colchester United 1-1 Stevenage, 12/08/2017
OK, so the ref isn’t a good omen. Let’s hope our record against the Us gives us something. *Looks*. Nope? Oh bugger. Not since Boxing Day 2011 when we hit ’em for six have we had the measure of Colchester. The draw at their place earlier this season halted a run of six straight defeats. It was also the first time in five games we stopped them scoring at least three against us. Still, it means we’re well overdue a win so make it be Dino.
The Form
Look at the league table and you’ll see that Colchester have won 13 and drawn 13, but only lost 12. It’s in the interests of the natural order of things, then, that we make this a 13th defeat of the campaign. It’s only right. Dig a little deeper into the form guide and the Us are having a bang average time of things. They’ve taken one less point than ourselves over the past six outings; only one more than us over the last 10.
It feels, then, as if it could be a meeting of relative equals. The Us are not spectacular on the road; four draws from their five most recent away days isn’t dismal. Of course, we might well be thinking that in comparison to our away form. In which case we’d be impressed by anything that resembles a point. What all this can’t factor in, however, is how much of a bounce we get from having a new gaffer. And we’re very excited to find out…
The headline stats from kickoff.co.uk…
• BoroGuide’s Colchester United club profile – as not seen on Richard and Judy’s Book Club…
Comments are closed.