16th September 2023
Colchester United vs Mansfield Town @ Colchester Community Stadium
EFL League Two
15:00 KO
£20.50 entry (includes free programme)
Attendance - 3,740 (460 away fans)
Half-time score: Colchester United 1-0 Mansfield Town
Goals:
Colchester United: Taylor - 30'
Mansfield Town: Keillor-Dunn - 90'
Brief match highlights are on YouTube, see link below:
Final Score: Colchester United 1-1 Mansfield Town
After a somewhat stuttering start from the U's, there is certainly promise having beaten league leaders Gillingham 3-0 away from home, and completely dominating Tranmere Rovers last week, so even with the prospect of facing unbeaten Mansfield Town, there was a air of positivity around the club. Ben Garner has begun to put his stamp on the squad, with the young team playing some of the best football seen for years, with high work rates, quick breaks and more community based initiatives, the club is certainly buzzing. There was also a plethora of new signings, so I was excited to see the new look squad.
On the way in, I grabbed a cheeseburger, Fanta and the obligatory complementary programme, this is certainly an area where Col U does well compared to other clubs at this level.
It was a gloriously sunny and warm day, and with the fan group BWA (blue and white army) bringing back the big flags, there were excitement levels pre-match not experienced for a while, it was fantastic. Into this cacophony of sound and noise, Colchester United came out in their famous blue and white stripes, with Mansfield Town in their away red kit.
KEY MOMENTS
CU = Colchester United
MT = Mansfield Town
26' - CU - Taylor latches onto a loose ball and stabs in an effort with the outside of his boot towards the near-post, forcing Pym to make a save, and collect the rebound.
27' - CU - A long ball is pumped forwards by Chilvers down the left, Taylor beats the offside trap and a fine touch sees him control the ball and take it into the box, and from a tight angle he fires in a shot at the near-post, but Pym is again equal to the effort to deny him for the second time in two minutes.
30' - CU - GOAL (1-0) - Third time lucky for Taylor, Read bounds forwards with the ball, and a slide rule pass from him sends Taylor through on goal, and this time he makes no mistake to powerfully fire the ball between Pym's legs.
35' - CU - Mitchell is still in the box, having hung around after a corner, a ball in finds him at the far post, but he lashes his strike wide.
36' - CU - Read pings the ball over the backline for Tovide to latch onto, under the attention of a few defenders he does well to fire off a shot just inside the box, but his daisy-cutter is narrowly wide.
84' - CU - From a Read corner, substitute Akinde rises highest and directs the ball towards the goal using the side of his head, it is heading in but Aaron Lewis clears it off the line, so close!
90' - MT - GOAL (1-1) - A long ball is pumped forward into the box, captain and centre-back Flint, playing in an advanced role, nods the ball down, Mitchell is unable to clear and Keillor-Dunn storms in from the right side of the box to power his first touch left-footed strike into the top left corner, heartbreak for the U's.
Whilst at the start of the game I would have settled for a draw, Mansfield Town were poor today, and Colchester United created enough big chances to have seen the game through, 2-0 would have been a fairer reflection of the game. Colchester looked good against the undefeated Mansfield, cutting out attacks early, and breaking through their back line of several occasions, it was great to watch. But, Mansfield scored with their only decent chance of the game, and it has to be said that the referee played into this with a late period of closing down several Col U attacks with some very dodgy officiating, including an incident which led to this attack, typical! However, Col U should hold their heads high, if they maintain these performance levels and can be more clinical in-front of goal, there is no reason why they will not be able to climb up the table. I was particularly impressed with the midfield Arthur Read, he ran the show today, and I also thought Mitchell looked composed at the back for a youngster. Other positives include watching Fevrier & Kazeem down the wings, Tovide and ex-Wroxham striker Taylor battling up front and both Egbo and captain Hall looked solid at the back in the most part. All-in-all, a fun day out, and some positive signs down in North Essex, all that is left to say, UP THE U'S, UP THE U'S, UP THE GOOD OL' WHITE AND BLUES!!
Line-Ups:
COLCHESTER UNITED: Owen Goodman, Mandela Egbo, Zach Mitchell, Connor Hall (C), Jayden Fevrier, Arthur Read, Cameron McGeehan, Al-Amin Kazeem, Noah Chilvers, Samson Tovide, Joe Taylor. SUBS: Jay Mingi, John Akinde, Bradley Ihionvien, Mauro Bandeira, Tom Smith, Ronny Nelson, Donell Thomas.
MANSFIELD TOWN: Christy Pym, Calum MacDonald, Lewis Brunt, Aden Flint (C), Jordan Bowery, Hiram Boateng, Louis Reed, Aaron Lewis, Davis Keillor-Dunn, James Gale, Lucas Akins. SUBS: Callum Johnson, Baily Cargill, Ollie Clarke, George Williams, Will Swann, Scott Flinders, George Cooper.
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