Consistency has to be the key word this season or rather lack of it.
I felt that a draw would have been a fair result but defensive lapses once again proved costly and we narrowly lost to an improving Barnsley team.
I persuaded my eldest son to accompany me to the match and we set off allowing extra time for road works on the A1/M1 and Friday evening traffic. The journey was surprisingly good and we arrived with 1 hour to spare before the match.
The car park attendant was jovial and we exchanged some football banter. I learned that the Away stand was paid for (£3.2M) by the sale of Ashley Ward to Blackburn Rovers when the Reds were back in the championship after relegation from the Premier League.
So plenty of time for a pre match pie and Coffee. The meat and potato pie was excellent with plenty of good quality meat filling and delicious gravy. My son had a cheeseburger which was equally good.
Particularly pleasing was the friendly welcome and atmosphere both inside and outside the ground.
TH was forced into changes after injuries to Magnus and Frankie Kent.
The U's lined up 4,5,1
Walker
Hewitt Clohessy Eastman O'Donoghue
Massey Moncur Fox Gilbey Watt
Sears
Subs:
Lewington Gordon Eastmond Harney Szmodics Roofe Healey
It was good to welcome Elliott Hewitt back from the Suffolk club but disappointing to see Rhys Healey on the bench (again). Young Michael O'Donoghue was making his senior debut for the U's.
A decent Friday night crowd 9,191 with 211 of the faithful witnessed an early home goal. Sam Winnall allowed far too much space and from the right diagonal he lashed a cross shot past Sam Walker and into the far side of the goal after only 3 minutes.
Oakwell came to life and the crowd were enjoying the scoreline. Now TH has got the U's playing with resilience and it was no surprise when the excellent George Moncur passed to Sanchez Watt who seemed to scuff his shot or maybe it took a slight deflection but the U's were deservedly level after 15 minutes.
Cue time for the books to be handed into the library and suddenly the silence was deafening inside Oakwell apart from the "Ashley Ward" stand where the faithful sang "you only sing when you're winning".
Now Sam Walker decided to frustrate both sets of supporters all night - Barnsley with unnecessary and uncharacteristic time wasting and Colchester by consistently putting the ball straight into touch from his goal kicks which he insisted from taking from the middle of the 6 yard box.
This must stop and quickly.
The remainder of the half was played out and the teams went in level at 1-1. Coffee at half time was enjoyed particularly as the evening became colder and the mist swirled around the open corners of the ground.
The second half began with considerable purpose from both teams. On loan Manchester City striker Devante Cole looked sharp and he turned Sean Clohessy on 56 minutes, the club captain (in the absence of Magnus) and he tackled the loanee only to concede a spot kick which Hourihane despatched to Walker's right.
Now last week Cardiff City denied Colchester the opportunity to play Rhys Healey in the F A Cup but that doesn't mean that we have to lock him up and not allow him to play at all.
He is a talented striker and will play at a higher level in the future. I can understand TH's reluctance to play 2 up front away from home at the start of an away match but it was only when Healey was introduced that our attack took on an extra level of potency.
We had just conceded a third goal and at 3-1, a result seemed a long way off!
The tiring Massey was replaced by the Welsh wizard on 71 minutes and Healey was clearly hacked off at sitting on the bench because he quickly made two robust challenges which earned him a talking to from the referee (who had a good game and generally allowed the play to flow).
My view is play him while we have him. Within 4 minutes of his arrival he played a delightful angled pass to Freddie Sears and the inform striker despatched a fierce drive which beat Ross Turnbull in the Barnsley goal.
So 3-2 with 15 minutes to play.
Suddenly there was more urgency from Moncur and Sears. Space opened up and the crowd became library like again.
The tiring Watt was replaced with Kemar Roofe on the left wing after 77 minutes and the chances materialised. Colchester offered more attacking intent and Barnsley backed off. The faithful sensed a sensational equaliser was on the cards.
Fox was replaced by Szmodics after 85 minutes and Colchester continued to push forward. Roofe offered pace from the wing, Healey attacking intent and Sears peppered the goal.
Almost 5 additional minutes were added but a third goal could not be found and another defeat was both disappointing and undeserved.
The journey back up the motorway was equally gloomy with thick fog in places.
Our league position is still poor but the performances have perhaps not achieved the results which our play deserves.
TH must play Rhys Healey with Sears.
It is great to see Watt playing regularly. George Moncur is a great asset in the midfield and young Hewitt reminds me of Greg Halford.
The Sky Blues are next up at the WHCS. A must win I suspect if we are to climb away from trouble.
Up the U's
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