Graeson looks ahead to Saturday's rip to The Walkers Stadium to take on struggling Leicester City.

Colchester United begin to bid farewell to The Championship with their penultimate away trip to Leicester City. The Foxes are one of a clutch of sides that could still be relegated along with United, so it’s important that the U's treat this game as serious as any others they have left. Yes, there will be time to experiment later on, but doing so tomorrow would be unfair on the other sides in the Division.

Ian Holloway's side are now in the bottom three thanks to a draw for Wednesday in the Steel City Derby, and Barnsley's surprising win at Watford on Wednesday night - a result that condemned the U's to life in League One next season. However, and assuming Scunthorpe are also down, there are still six sides for whom the spectre of relegation still looms large. It’s even possible that the usual safety point tally of 52 might not be enough this season. What is true is that any side who can win three out of their last four will be safe.

Leicester's fate is pretty much in their own hands by playing three struggling sides. They start, obviously, with the U's on Saturday, before a trip to Barnsley and then what could be a huge final home game against Sheffield Wednesday. They finish their season with a trip to promotion chasers Stoke City.
It’s been an interesting season at The Walker's Stadium with three managers so far. They started out with Martin Allen who was sacked after a fall-out with Chairman Milan Mandaric. Allen was replaced by Gary Megson who lasted only a few games before he decided that he'd like to relegate Bolton from the Premiership instead. So now we have rent-a-quote manager Ian Holloway who was appointed in November. His record of eight wins, six draws and fourteen defeats has led to calls for his head from the fans - it would be interesting to see if he still has a job there next season if he does relegate the club.

The problem with Leicester is that there appears to be no consistency with them. A four goal thumping of Norwich in February was followed by a two nil defeat at Coventry, followed by a single goal win at Cardiff. The next two home games saw them beaten by Preston thanks to Darren Carter's last minute goal before a goalless draw against Bristol City.

A defeat at Southampton was then followed up by their stand-out result - a 4-1 win at West Brom thanks to Steve Howard's hat-trick though it should be noted that host's played most of the game with ten men.

Like the U's, they also lost to an impressive Hull City side who look as though they have timed their promotion charge exactly right. Their last home game saw Lee Hendrie's first goal for the club - he's on loan from Sheffield United - overcome Scunthorpe United while last Saturday they were unfortunate to lose to Sheffield United. They had a mad ten minutes when they completely capitulated allowing James Beattie to score his first Blades hat-trick. However, it all started when central defender Patrick Kisnorbo was adjudged to have fouled his man (Beattie I think) as he raced in to the penalty area and was subsequently shown a red card just ten minutes in to the game. TV pictures clearly show that the Foxes man was nowhere near the player and, quite rightly on this occasion, an appeal has seen the decision and suspension overturned. The problem is, though, that Beattie scored from the spot, and with ten minutes had grabbed another two before the scoring ended for the day. Though the appeal was a successful, the points were gone and lost - it could prove to be a pivotal moment of the season for the former Filbert Street outfit.

There is not much history between these two sides with this only the third occasion in which they have met. Those three meetings - one earlier this season on Sky TV - and last season have all ended in draws! Johnnie Jackson's header just before the break cancelled out Stern John's early goal.

Graeson's Team
As I said earlier, tomorrow is not the time for Geraint Williams to experiment to see who he has for next season. It simply wouldn't be fair on the other teams in the Division.

I think Williams is a pretty fair guy overall as well so I can't see him making too many changes to the side that beat Ipswich in the A12 Derby last weekend.

Certainly, Scott Vernon's two goals have given him the nod up front even if Clive Platt does recover from his back problem. Medy Elito will continue on the left wing after his decent performance against Town while Matt Heath will look to get back on the score sheet against the club where he made his Football League debut.

So my side will be Dean Gerken in goal. A back four of Ifil, Coyne, Heath and John White. The midfield comprises Duguid, Hammond, Jackson and Elito with Kevin Lisbie and Clive Platt up front.

Graeson's Prediction
Leicester City will be a bag of nerves for this game despite Holloway's attempts to get them going before-hand. The first goal could well be crucial. If City get it, then they could well go on to romp home against a broken side. However, if the U's were to score in Leicester for the first ever time, then the home side could be as nervy as a Fox spotting the local hunt.

The U's know their way to goal, and I suspect that they will get that early goal. Leicester might well crawl to safety - but they'll only get a point from a one all draw.

Another goal for Kevin Lisbie as he continues to repay the faith that Geraint Williams has shown in him this season.

Photo: Action Images

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