3rd September 2022
Colchester United vs Hartlepool United @ Colchester Community Stadium - Colchester
EFL League Two
15:00 KO
£20.50 entry (pre-booked - includes free-programme)
Attendance - 2,983 (178 away fans)
Half-time score: Colchester United 0-1 Hartlepool United
Goals:
Hartlepool United: McDonald - 29'
Colchester United: Lubala - 94'
Brief match highlights are on YouTube, see link below:
Final Score: Colchester United 1-1 Hartlepool United
Since the historic win at Portman Road, Colchester United have been on a disastrous run of form, with a series of abject performances seeing them drop to 20th in the table, and dissolving most of the pre-season optimism that I had. As such, todays home game against fellow strugglers Hartlepool United already felt like a huge game this early in the season, where a win could see the team push on, but a loss further compound the issues. New head of recruitment, Ross Embleton, looked to have have been largely ineffectual until the transfer deadline day where recent Newcastle United Premier League player Matty Longstaff was sensationally announced to be on loan until January, and ex-Ghana international Kwesi Appiah on loan for the season, which in my opinion are two really strong additions for a L2 side, and as such, my excitement for this crunch game only grew. I would have liked to see more defensive cover, as Col U are calamitous at the back at the moment, but all-in-all, these signings with the additions of Kieran O'Hara, Bez Lubala, Alex Newby, Charlie Owens and Daniel Chesters (on loan from the Hammers) have strengthened the team, and most importantly of all, we managed to keep hold of 2 x times player of the year, and my favourite Col U player, Noah Chilvers, he's one of our own! For these reasons, I had no idea what team would be put out, for the first in a while, adding to the anticipation.
I made the familiar journey down to Colchester for the first time this season, parked in the park & ride and walked over the A12 to see the large Eagle emblem come into site at the front of the ground, always a welcome sight for me. I got there early and headed to the club shop to buy the new kit, where blue and white stripes are back for the first time in at least 3 seasons, although contrary to the commonly held view, I actually really liked the 2020-2022 shirt all in dark blue with a two-tone eagle motif, although this years kit is certainly more traditional Col U.
As ever, I picked up one of the complementary programmes, they do really decent glossy programmes at Col U and I am pleased to see that the club has not been tempted down the route of online programmes, a pet hate of mine.
Col U came out in their blue and white stripes, and Hartlepool, who also play in blue and white stripes, came out in their away strip, a nice red and black shirt with a checkerboard effect.
KEY MOMENTS
CU = Colchester United
HU = Hartlepool United
27' - CU - Newby releases Kazeem down the left flank, he crosses the ball into the box and Longstaff gets to the ball first, but his effort goes wide.
29' - HU - GOAL (0-1) - Route one football, Skuse fails to connect with a long goal kick, the ball bounces and Dallison goes to clear the ball, but is pushed in the back by Hamilton causing him to miss, Tumilty picks up the ball and bursts in from the right, squaring the ball off to McDonald who slots in. A frustrating goal to concede due to the clear foul in the build-up, typical Col U luck.
32' - CU - Chilvers recycles the ball from a corner, his cross heading towards substitute Sears (who came on for an injured Sears) running in at the far-post, but he fails to connect with the ball and the chance goes begging.
57' - CU - A Chilvers free-kick close to the left-hand corner flag is floated into the box, and it is met by an unmarked Dallison whose header goes narrowly wide of the post.
61' - CU - Newby plays a neat ball for Sears to run onto, and he is through on goal, but the linesman flags for offside, it must have been awfully tight!
65' - CU - From a set-piece, the ball falls to Tchamadeu on the edge of the area, he shots but his effort goes over the bar.
88' - HU - With Col U pressing forwards, there is a lot of space at the back, and Hartlepool get a chance to put the game to bed, Oduor makes a good break down the left-flank, he squares the ball to Hastie but thankfully for Col U his strikes goes wide.
94' - CU - GOAL (1-1). Tchamadeu lobs in a long throw into the box, the ball falls back out to Coxe on the right, he pings in a pinpoint cross for Lubala, who rises high to head the ball into the top left corner of the goal, to salvage an important point for the U's.
At the start of the day, I would have been disappointed with a 1-1 draw, but from how the game went, I was pleased that they salvaged a last minute draw. Hartlepool looked a poor team, but Col U looked even more clueless, especially in the first half. The substitutes made a huge difference today, with Lubala, Coxe, Sears and Nouble all having a big impact when they came on. I thought Newby looked lacklustre, similar to Hannant in more than just looks, Miranda looked lost today and the defence just gets opened up all too easily. Other positives were Longstaff, he looked solid, and Kazeem had a decent game too - he looked lively down the wing. I think overall there is a good core here, but the tactics are poor, and Wayne Brown still needs time to find his first team, we have a large bloated squad at the moment. The game could have been different, some of the refereeing was questionable at times, particular the foul on Dallison on the run-up to the opening goal, but it is no excuse, Col U should be challenging for promotion and putting teams like this to bed, but it is sadly looking like another relegation battle again. I hope the performances get better and Col U begin moving up the league, I will be back in October, so looking forward to a better performance, and a home win, as I have not seen one since 2020. Until then, UP THE U's!!!
Line-Ups:
COLCHESTER UNITED: Kieran O'Hara, Junior Tchamadeu, Luke Chambers (C), Tom Dallison, Al-Amin Kazeem, Cole Skuse, Marley Marshall-Miranda, Matty Longstaff, Noah Chilvers, Alex Newby, Kwesi Appiah. SUBS: Sam Hornby, Freddie Sears, Bez Lubala, Tom Eastman, Dan Chesters, Cameron Coxe, Frank Nouble.
HARTLEPOOL UNITED: Ben Killip (C), Euan Murray, Alex Lacey, Rollin Menayese, Brody Paterson, Mouhamed Niang, Nicky Featherstone, Reghan Tumilty, Tom Crawford, Jack Hamilton, Wes McDonald. SUBS: David Ferguson, Mark Shelton, Jack Hastie, Joe Grey, Mohamed Sylla, Kyle Letheren, Clarke Oduor.
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