30th September 2023
Colchester United vs Notts County @ Colchester Community Stadium
EFL League Two
15:00 KO
£21.50 entry (includes a free programme)
Attendance - 4,389 (925 away fans)
Half-time score: Colchester United 3-1 Notts County
Goals:
Colchester United: Chilvers - 10'
Notts County: Austin - 21'
Colchester United: Fevrier - 31'
Colchester United: Read - 38'
Notts County: Langstaff - 48'
Colchester United: McGeehan - 58'
Notts County: Jones - 67'
Colchester United: Read - 73'
Notts County: Langstaff - 92'
Brief match highlights are on YouTube, see link below:
Final Score: Colchester United 5-4 Notts County
A tough decision picking between Col U & Thetford Town today, but looking at fixtures ahead, this could be my last game at Col U for a few weeks, so I though best to head down to Essex to watch my beloved U's. The other factor was a chance to see table topping Notts County, the oldest team in the football league and one of the original founders, a truly historic club and it's great to see them back in the league, big respect to them. Despite Col U's stuttering start to the season, all the fans can see the potential of this team, having shown flashes of brilliance against teams near the top of the table in Gillingham, Mansfield Town and MK Dons, and to get a result against Notts County, it was going to have to click this Saturday afternoon!
Once at the ground, I caught the end of the Southampton-Leeds United game, then grabbed food, drink and the complimentary glossy programme, a good one with captain Connor Hall adorning the front cover.
It was a warm and still afternoon game, with added sun for the final 30mins, with the temperature around 20°C, perfect conditions for todays contest. Col U lined up in the famous blue and white stripes, with Notts County in their home black and white stripes. Whilst a bit of a colour clash, their away kit is blue so the best choice out of a bad bunch, they need a third shirt.
KEY MOMENTS
CU = Colchester United
NC = Notts County
8' - CU - Kazeem crosses a ball into the box from the left, Tovide chests the ball down and volleys the it towards goal, but it is deflected over for a corner. From the corner, the ball bobbles around the box then finds captain Hall open on the left side, he powers in a shot, but it is straight down the throat of Stone for a simple save.
10' - CU - GOAL (1-0) - Tovide pressurises a back pass to keeper Stone who was just outside his area, he miss hits the ball, and showing fantastic awareness, Chilvers hits the ball first time from 30 yards, straight into the open goal, great vision from the Col U talisman.
21' - NC - GOAL (1-1) - Crowley slips a through ball to release Langstaff. In the ground it looked offside to me, and having seen the replay I still believe this to be the case. Nevertheless, Langstaff takes a great first touch and fires the ball towards the bottom left corner, Goodman gets down well to make a fantastic save, but the balls falls right into the path of Austin, who gets in front of Egbo to put the ball into the net, unlucky stuff for the U's.
25' - CU - Tovide out-muscles the defender and is through on goal, cutting in from the left, but he is cynically taken out before he enters the box, and much to the surprise of the crowd, the referee inexplicably waves play-on, the first sign of things to come from the officiating today....
31' - CU - GOAL (2-1) - Some simply sublime play from young winger Fevrier, from the right wing, he battles past Jodi Jones, takes the ball into the box, and with a fantastic turn sends both Palmer and Cameron the wrong way then blasts in a right footed strike, beyond Stone, and with too much pace for the defender on the line to make a block, excellent skill shown for his first goal for the U's, and putting them back on top in this game.
35' - CU - Some neat play from Chilvers in the middle, he shuffles the ball out to the left to put Taylor through on goal, but his shot at the near-post is well stopped by Stone, and the follow-up effort from Chilvers was floating in, but blocked off the line by a high boot!
38' - CU - GOAL (3-1) - Col U are awarded a free-kick in a dangerous position, after Taylor is taken out as he skips along the periphery of the area. Both Chilvers and Read line this one up, but the left-footer, Arthur Read, wraps his foot around the ball and guides it up and over the wall and beyond the reach of the diving Stone, top bins, it was an exquisite hit from the midfield maestro, to send the home crowd into jubilation.
45' + 3' - CU - Col U are close to a 4th before half-time, Taylor picks up the ball and powers in a shot, it takes a wild deflection of the covering defender, but is given as a goal-kick, face-palm!
45' + 4' - NC - After the poor decision, Notts County nearly go up and score at the other end, a shot from the veteran McGoldrick flashing just wide of the far post.
48' - NC - GOAL (3-2) - Col U fans were bracing themselves for Notts County to come out of the blocks fast, and they certainly did not fail to deliver. A ball is whipped into the mixer, the headed clearance dips just inside the box where captain Cameron volleys it across the box, where he finds goal-poacher extraordinaire Langstaff, whose reactive stab at the ball with the outside of his boot sends it beyond Goodman, game on!
58' - NC - A crossed ball from Crowley out on the right is headed by McGoldrick, forcing Goodman to make an important stop.
58' - CU - GOAL (4-2) - Taylor intercepts a poor pass in the Notts County defence, he skins ex-U's player Brindley, takes it beyond Cameron then prods the ball across the face of the goal to find McGeehan who lashes into the open goal, a much needed goal to take the wind out of the Notts County sails. Also McGeehan's first goal for the U's, been great since he was signed.
64' - NC - Crowley is having a field day on the right, whipping multiple balls into the box, this one is met by a glancing header from McGoldrick, falls just wide of the goal.
67' - NC - GOAL (4-3) - Some brilliant plays by Jodi Jones on the left wing sees him take the ball past Fevrier & McGeehan, and from the corner of the box he wraps his right boot around the ball to curl it into the far corner, beyond the reach of Goodman, what a hit, and this puts Notts County right back into this game. Even Col U fans were applauding that goal, can't argue with a strike like that.
72' - CU - McGeehan is threaded through on goal, but the linesman inexplicably waves offside, when he was clearly on running behind the defender. He is given a yellow card for his protestations.
73' - CU - GOAL (5-3) - From the right wing, Fevrier threads the ball through a small gap to find Arthur Read open at the 20 yard mark, he takes a touch to set himself, then with his wand of a left boot he hits a magical strike into the top right corner, top bins again, he is some player! The Col U fans went absolutely wild, limbs everywhere as the 2-goal lead was restored.
79' - CU - RED CARD - Tovide is man-handled by the Notts County defender, being put in an arm bar, and nearly having his shirt ripped of his back, but the tenacious striker breaks free of this attention and fires in a stinging shot at Stone, but he is able to take the pace off his, batting it to the ground then collecting it. During the play, McGeehan was taken out, McGeehan protests to the referee about this and the multiple fouls on Tovide, and receives a second yellow to get his marching orders, what an absolute shambles from the ref, this decision jeopardising 3 critical points for Col U.
80' - CU - A Nott County shot heads over, and Goodman goes to collect the ball from the away fans. In the process he is assaulted, but manages to get the ball and the stewards storm in. He is then given a yellow card from the referee for time wasting, I'm sorry but this referee really was a prize twit, to put it politely!
92' - NC - GOAL (5-4) - It was coming, and Notts County get their 4th to set up a nail-biting finale. A ball is crossed in too deeply, Jodi Jones picks it up, steps towards the by-line to make space then chips the ball over Goodman to find Langstaff lurking at the far post for a close range header, he doesn't miss from that range!
I'm still trying to calm down from this one, hands down the best game I've been to since lockdown, surpassing the incredible 1-0 away win at Portman Road in the Carabao Cup, my voice is still a little hoarse! Col U outplayed the top-of-the-league side for majority of the game, with the dodgy officiating allowing Notts County back into the game at key moments, and closing the game with 10-men, with all backs to the wall as Notts County crossed in ball-after-ball. Despite this, Col U held firm to claim the famous win, and during the game they always had an answer for when Notts County scored, and even wasted a few chances, such was the high quality of todays attack! All players were fantastic today, but Arthur Read was the clear man-of-the-match, he ran the show and scored two absolute worldies, including what was to be the winner. Other impressive performances came from McGeehan, Tovide, Taylor and Fevrier, with Chilvers also showing his flair throughout the game. The Col U fans were also magnificent, loudest I have heard for a while, and facing off each goal conceded with a stoic attitude, drowning out the celebrating away fans with our own chants. I love this club, always behind the lads even when things don't go their way, we may not have as many fans as other clubs, but we make up for this with our passion, quality over quantity as they say. Based on this evidence, there is no reason why Col U cannot begin to climb up the league, with gaffer Ben Garner stamping his exciting brand of football on the club, here's to more big results like this one. 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, Cameron McGeehan, Arthur Reed, Al-Amin Kazeem, Noah Chilvers, Joe Taylor, Samson Tovide. SUBS: Will Greenidge, Tom Hopper, Jay Mingi, Mauro Bandeira, Tom Smith, Chay Cooper, Bradley Ihionvien.
NOTTS COUNTY: Aidan Stone, Jodi Jones, Kyle Cameron (C), Richard Brindley, Aden Baldwin, Aaron Nemane, Sam Austin, Matt Palmer, Dan Crowley, David McGoldrick, Macauley Langstaff. SUBS: Jim O'Brien, John Bostock, Tobi Adebayo-Rowling, Sam Slocombe, Connell Rawlinson, Will Randall, Adam Chicksen.
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