The result and performance against Accrington on Saturday in such an important match and in front of a big crowd feels like it will go down in the pantheon of infamy that the Crewe JPT game and Burton match under Mowbray exist in. Just when we were starting to believe this team could achieve promotion, the season is in danger of spiralling out of control.
The injuries and illness that left Mark Robins suddenly without several key players has to be taken into mitigation, but it was the lack of a game plan – or even concentration on avoiding errors – that was disappointing regardless of the 11 players on the pitch in their various conditions.
With this game against Colchester United coming so quickly off the back of Saturday’s debacle, it makes Mark Robins’ task of instilling the basics into what will remain a makeshift and unfit side especially difficult. However, it’s a game that we have to get a result, preferably a win, in to prevent things spiralling further into a full-on crisis.
There will be the temptation for Robins to change things up for this game but that could only serve to further the disjointedness of the past couple of performances. A lot of players have been introduced – or re-introduced – into the side over the past month, which has unsettled the balance we once had. Any changes Robins makes have to be necessary and with a specific game-plan in mind, rather than just throwing another collection of players together to see what works.
The injuries at the back mean that Mark Robins can only really drop Dion Kelly-Evans from the side, and that would only be to play Jordan Willis at his weaker right-back position. It’s 50-50 to me whether Kelly-Evans is given a chance to redeem himself after what can charitably be described as a rusty performance on Saturday.
Further forward, Saturday’s midfield duo of Liam Kelly and Tom Bayliss both showed signs of rustiness. The problem is that with Doyle’s injury and Ben Stevenson’s sale, the alternatives are playing Jordan Shipley in the centre – which leads to further changes out wide – or bringing in the inexperienced Callum Maycock for his first league start of the season. Kelly in particular needs to get back to the level he’s capable of otherwise Doyle’s injury could be especially costly.
Jordan Shipley’s move into a central position would allow Robins to bring pantomime villain Kyel Reid back into the side on the left-wing – which is the only position he can really play. Bringing Peter Vincenti into the side on the other wing should offer whoever plays at right-back extra protection and the team in general some much-needed experience at this time.
Up front, unless Marc McNulty is unfit, it would be too disruptive to bring Jonson Clarke-Harris in to start. Purely because his style of play is so different from McNulty and Biamou, it’s going to take time to figure out how to bring the best out of him. Clarke-Harris looks like he has something to offer, but this is a game we need to get a result out of, not one to experiment in.
Last Time We Met
Our game against Colchester earlier in the season was an utterly unremarkable game during a period where we were low on confidence. The only notable thing to come from the game was Colchester’s Tom Lapslie picking up a bizarre second yellow card for hand-ball while appealing for a free-kick just minutes after receiving his first yellow.
How Are They Doing?
Colchester are having a slightly frustrating season, struggling to maintain consistency despite showing the quality at times to be in the top seven. Like us, they’ve had good patches of form, but have consistently stumbled whenever they’ve had the chance to secure a place in the play-offs.
Attacking midfielder Sammie Szmodics was in excellent form in November and December, a technically-gifted player who finally added goals and assists to his game, however he has tailed-off in recent weeks and manager John McGreal has dropped him to the bench. That’s because young winger Courtney Senior has really come to the fore, in his six league appearances this season, he has three goals and three assists. A tricky and skilful winger with the determination to create and score goals, he’s the man we’ll have to nullify.
The presence of the powerful Mikael Mandron up front is another key element of this Colchester side. Mandron is fairly similar in style to Maxime Biamou, and while he is more of a goalscorer than Biamou, there is a sense that Colchester would be doing a lot better this season if Mandron was more clinical.
Tom Lapslie and Sean Murray in central midfield offer Colchester composure on the ball, with Lapslie playing a deep role and Murray offering forward drive. Wolves’ move to send Ben Stevenson straight into this Colchester side probably had in mind that they are one of few League Two side that would give a young ball-playing midfielder the platform to express himself. Stevenson scored within minutes of making his debut for Colchester, seemingly having been given more licence to roam forward than he had with us.
Colchester generally like to play a back three, with the powerful Tom Eastman an important presence for them in dominating the back-line. With the vastly experienced Luke Prosser having returned from a long-term injury recently, there is further determination at the back from Colchester to cope with the physical side of the game. However, a lack of pace could well be an area we should be looking to exploit.
Prediction
We’re going to have to produce a performance of some kind here. It’s probably too early still to be talking about make-or-break games, the defeat on Saturday feels like it could be really damaging psychologically unless we harness that frustration quickly in a galvanising manner. It doesn’t help that at the moment our away form is poor, but the way this season has gone for us, it feels like you can’t read into these things too heavily.
I think Mark Robins will set the team up to get a draw here – which would be our first draw in 12 league games. Unless a Marc McNulty or a Jonson Clarke-Harris or a Kyel Reid produces something inspired out of nowhere, I think we might be able to eke out a turgid 0-0.
Sideways Sammy 