26th February 2022
Colchester United vs Oldham Athletic @ JobServe Community Stadium - Colchester
EFL League Two
15:00 KO
£20 entry (pre-booked - includes programme)
Attendance - 2,983 (462 away fans)
Half-time score: Colchester United 0-1 Oldham Athletic
Goals:
Oldham Athletic: Keillor-Dunn - 19'
Colchester United: Clarke (OG) - 52'
Brief match highlights are on YouTube, see link below:
Final Score: Colchester United 1-1 Oldham Athletic
Another weekend and another huge 6-pointer for the U's, this time entertaining Oldham Athletic. Colchester are on a poor run of form, and cannot seem to beat the teams in and around them, especially at home, recently drawing with Carlisle and losing to Barrow, to name but two. In contrast, Oldham are on a good run with Sheridan back at the helm, and will have to fancy their chances down in North Essex this afternoon. A huge performance is required from a U's, as 3-points will start to put some distance between themselves and the dreaded drop zone. Before the line-ups came out, I had my fingers crossed that I would not be seeing Skuse, Chambers or Coxe on the team-sheet, but somehow I knew that this would never happen...
As ever, once I was at the JCS, I picked up my complimentary programme, this time there was a great pic of Noah Chilvers on the front cover, celebrating scoring a goal on his birthday against Hartlepool United, although the team sadly went on to lose that game.
I headed over to the Fan Zone, grabbed a cheesburger and watched the end of the Blackburn Rovers vs QPR game on the big screen, with Blackburn closing out a narrow 1-0 win to leapfrog over QPR in the table.
The skies were crystal blue, although there was a bit of wind, but happily it was not too bad in the stadium, so perfect conditions for this bottom of the table clash. Colchester started brightly, having the lion's share of the possession, and in the 6th minute, after some good work by Coxe down the right wing, Judge managed to fire off a shot inside the box, but it was saved by keeper Danny Rogers. In the 15th minute, after a well worked throw-in, Chilvers took the ball to the corner of the area and flashed a dangerous strike across goal, narrowly wide of the far post. In the following minute, Oldham attacked quickly, Adams was found unmarked on the right wing, and the space and time allowed him to cross-in a perfect ball, Keillor-Dunn was unmarked in the middle of the box, but the ball just shaved the top of his head and went wide, a big let off for Colchester. However, Keillor-Dunn made no mistake in the 19th minute, Oldham took a deep free-kick, captain Piergianni beat his man to head the ball towards the penalty spot, and the unmarked Keillor-Dunn, who had lost his marker in Hannant, tapped home from close range to make it 1-0 to Oldham. The Col U fans were rightfully incensed as the defending was awful, especially when you consider that 3 centre-backs were in the starting line-up, this sort of goal shouldn't happen.
Following the goal, the game was a fairly even affair, in the 26th minute, Colchester went close, Akinde burst into the box from the left wing and fired in a low ball that was cleared, and Chilvers follow-up shot was blocked, some good last ditch defending from Oldham to deny Col U. In the 29th minute, Oldham had a very similar chance to the one in the 16th minute, a cross came into the box, and this time it was Stobbs who was unmarked, but his header went narrowly wide, more shocking defending from the U's, and the crowd certainly let the players know. In the 44th minute, as Col U pressed for an equaliser, Oldham stole possession and Missilou launched a long ball up to Hallam Hope, who had beaten the offside trap. He ran through on-goal, 1-on-1, butunder pressure from Tommy Smith, his shot went narrowly wide of the far post in what was another huge let off for Col U. Thankfully for Colchester, half-time came shortly afterwards.
In the second half, Colchester came out strongly, and had a huge penalty shout in the 51st minute when half-time substitute Sears was brought down in the box. Col U kept pressing, and in the following minute they got their equaliser, Chilvers showed some great skill on the left wing, and after trying several stepovers and cut backs, eventually fashioned enough room to whip the ball into the box, where it hit the shoulder of the first man, Jordan Clarke, and the ricochet caused the ball to loop over Rogers and into the far corner of the goal, to put Colchester level, with Chilvers celebrating to chants of "He's one of our own".
Following the equaliser, the game became quite tight, but chances still came for both sides. In the 65th minute, Oldham attacked and were awarded a free-kick. Adams whipped the ball into a dangerous area and the Oldham attackers won yet another header, this time at the far post, but it was comfortably caught by Shamal George. In the 66th minute, Colchester hit back, Judge launched a brilliant long ball forward and Edwards won possession in the box. He chipped the ball back into the danger area, where Hannant was waiting unmarked, he took a touch to control the ball and hit a sweet half-volley that was goalbound, but it was tipped over by Danny Rogers in what was a decent reaction save. In the 72nd minute, from an Oldham attack, the ball was flashed across the goal, and Keillor-Dunn was almost in again, but his contact was minimal and the ball went wide of the post.
In the 75th minute, Colchester went very close, Edwards showed some great skill down the right wing, and teed up Sears whose flicked shot was heading in, but it was cleared off the line by McGahey. Col U were pressing hard for a winner, and in the 79th minute, Edwards set-up Judge, whose long range side-footed strike was bent narrowly wide. Oldham were going blow-for-blow with Col U, and went close themselves in the 82nd minute, they attacked down the right, and Keillor-Dunn's strike from the edge of the box was blocked, but it fell to Adams on the left of goal, again completely unmarked, he hit the ball immediately, but fortunately Shamal George was in the right place and he comfortably caught the ball. In the 85th minute, Col U had a free-kick in the perfect position, Judge stepped up to take it, but the effort was relatively tame, although on target, and comfortably saved. Both teams tried hard to get a winner, but ultimately both defences stood firm, and the game ended up in a draw.
That was another lost opportunity for Col U, their home form is atrocious, and they have played all the bottom teams recently, and cannot muster nything better than a draw, which could prove to be costly for them come the end of the season. Everything is wrong with the team, the team selection is poor, the formation is poor, the tactics are poor and the defence is embarrassing, and I don't know if this is down to Wayne Brown or Humes and De Souze, although I suspect it is all of them. Colchester need to can the 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3 system if they don't pick the right personnel, and if they insist on hoofing the ball up, it would make sense to play big John Akinde with Freddie Sears and I am still waiting to see these two play together. We also need to only have two centre-backs, three just isn't working, with my preference being Dallison and Eastman, both Smith and Chambers have been too error prone for me this season. We also need to be starting Huws instead of Skuse, another player who is often miles off the pace, and the king of the sideways pass. I honestly think they need to give the tried and tested 4-4-2 a go, with Coxe (I wish Clampin was fit), Dallison, Eastman and Tchamadeu at the back, Huws and Judge in the middle, Edwards and Wright down the wings, with Akinde and Sears upfront. With players like Chilvers, Wiredu, Andrews and Kenlock on the bench, there is a lot of flexibility too if the gaffer needs to change things up.
Although Col U did have more possession today, I think they should count themselves lucky that they got a draw, Oldham looked more dangerous on the attack, and should have had 2 or 3. I was also impressed with their away support, the best I have seen at the JCS all season so far, so fair play to them. Col U need to get a grip soon and start getting some wins on the board, or else it will be National League football for them next season. I will next be at the Scunthorpe United away game, where anything less than 3-points will be a failure. I just hope I see a line-up free of Skuse and Chambers, but I think this will never happen. Finally, a special mention to Cameron Coxe, it is safe to say that I am not his biggest fan, but he played really well today, he didn't get exposed at the back, and made some good runs, taking it past players and being more direct, which was great to see, I hope that he keeps it up and proves me wrong. In the meantime, there are some big games before the Scunthorpe tie so hopefully thye notch up a good haul of points to take the pressure off. UP THE U's!!!
Line-Ups:
COLCHESTER UNITED: Shamal George, Cameron Coxe, Luke Chambers, Tommy Smith (C), Tom Dallison, Noah Chilvers, Cole Skuse, Alan Judge, Owura Edwards, John Akinde, Luke Hannant. SUBS: Brendan Wiredu, Freddie Sears, Myles Kenlock, Junior Tchamadeu, Sam Hornby, Emyr Huws, Tyreik Wright.
OLDHAM ATHLETIC: Danny Rogers, Sam Hart, Carl Piergianni (C), Harrison McGahey, Jordan Clarke, Jack Stobbs, Callum Whelan, Christopher Missilou, Nicky Adams, Davis Keillor-Dunn, Hallam Hope. SUBS: Jayson Leutwiler, Raphael Diarra, Alex Hunt, Jamie Hopcutt, Tope Obadeyi, Benny Couto, Harry Vaughan.
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