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Colchester United kicked off their league campaign with a creditable 2-2 draw at Accrington Stanley last weekend, thanks in no small part to a sublime Rob Hunt chip from 35 yards. No, seriously, stop giggling at the back. Tomorrow, we see what the U’s can do as we get our home league campaign underway, and we’re already in another injury crisis. Thank goodness the window hasn’t closed yet, but in the meantime Danny has dipped into the Southampton loan market again to bring in midfielder Moses Sesay.
Whilst the U’s were battling away at Accrington, just down the road Oldham were off to a flyer at Boundary Park, beating new arrivals from League 1 Port Vale 2-0 with a second half brace from Calum Kavanagh. Possibly a case of Port Vale still readjusting back to League 2 football perhaps, but a solid result for the Latics regardless. As with last season, Oldham, who finished two points and two places above the U’s in May, are an outside bet for promotion and will no doubt be targeting the play-offs as a minimum – but then again, so should we.
Form is temporary… Two games in, scored two, conceded four, won zero, drawn one and lost one. That’s all you can really say where form is concerned. If the team that played Southampton in the first half and the team that played Accrington in the second half turn up, we should be fine. If not, it may be a long afternoon. I know Danny praised Lo-Tutala after the Accrington game, and he did make a few reasonably solid saves, but I’ll be honest, I’m not yet fully convinced. He’s a big physical presence, likes to command his box, and seems to have a good eye for quick distribution, but at times he just seemed a bit too…’flappy’ for me. Mind you, unless Tom Smith is going to be available, we don’t really have much choice.
Played for both Even without reference to Graeson’s ColUData website, there’s no doubt who I’m putting at no. 1 on my list – Colin Garwood. One of my most favourite U’s players of all time, Garwood spent three seasons at Oldham, followed by a season at Peterborough before arriving at Layer Road. It was whilst at Colchester he achieved his career 100th goal scored and finished with 39 goals for the U’s from 105 matches, and in all that time, only one yellow card. Those of a certain generation will likely never forget his FA Cup injury time equaliser against Derby County in 1977.
Mind you, some of the names also on the list reads like a veritable who’s who of Col U royalty – Wayne Andrews, Guy Branston, Noah Chilvers (probably in the squad tomorrow), George Elokobi, Rob Hunt (definitely in our XI tomorrow), Chris Iwelumo, Chris Porter, Mark Yeates, and one of Durham’s favourites, Super Scotty Vernon to name but a few. Clearly over the years, both we and Oldham have had an eye for quality.
Head to head To date, we’ve played Oldham Athletic 55 times, all as league matches, never in any of the cups. If some of you are thinking, how’s that not an even number, the visit of Oldham in 2020 was one of the nine matches we lost to Covid. Our record is even too, won 15, drawn 23, lost 17, with 69 goals scored and 79 conceded. We first met almost exactly 65 years ago, on 28th August 1961, when Benny Fenton’s U’s drew 2-2 at Boundary Park. We won the home game too, thumping the Latics 5-1, and still our best result against them to date.
We played regularly through the 60s and into the very early 70s, but with Jimmy Frizzell taking over as player-manager, Oldham were promoted to the Third Division in 1971 and moved up to new levels. They went on to climb back up to the Second Division before Frizzell was somewhat surprisingly sacked, albeit he was replaced by Joe Royle. Arguably Oldham’s most successful manager, Royle took them to the First Division play-offs in 1987, the League Cup Final in 1990, and in 1991 gained promotion back to the top-flight after an absence of 68 years. They were still there as inaugural members of the new Premier League in 1992.
They were eventually relegated in 1994, Joe Royle left for Everton, and in 1997 Oldham dropped back into the third tier – at which point our relationship with the Latics was rekindled. Since then, they have been common opponents for the U’s, predominantly in the third tier, but Oldham had the good grace to follow us down to the fourth tier as well, where we’ve played nine of those games so far. It would have been more, but Oldham also spent a few seasons in the National League, relegated in 2022 and coming back via the play-offs in 2025 after defeating Southend 3-2 aet. Incidentally, we’ve played Oldham early in the season (i.e. within first four matches) five times, and every game has been drawn.
Line-up As we already know, Bishop is out for some time, still no sign of Perry, and I’m not certain how long we might be without Leake who came on for Bishop and then had to be replaced by Digby. I’m not certain about Lisbie either, given he wasn’t in last Saturday’s squad. I’m also assuming Smith won’t be available, so possibly another game without a goalkeeper on the bench? Given who’s left, I think most of the team picks itself, it’s really whether Sesay goes straight into the XI, or Digby starts and Sesay on the bench. On balance, because I think he deserves it, I’m going with Digby to start.
Substitutes: Chiwome Connolly Sesay Kuffour Oni Terry Akande
No season is decided on matchday #2, but this will be a real test of our intentions this season, against a team I expect will be in and around the play-off places. Last season we dropped too many points in August and September, which left too much to do post-Christmas. So, the U’s to build on the battling performance at Accrington Stanley with a 2-1 victory over Oldham Athletic. Goals from Ihionvien first half and Chiwome off the bench second half, in front of about 5,500 (7-800 visitors).
Weather watch The welcome rain that most of us have experienced this week won’t be back tomorrow, but it will be a much more comfortable 21 degrees with sunny intervals and a gentle breeze from the north.
0-1 at half time, but the big news is that Gus Scott-Morris is off right on half time with a straight red card. Latics might feel hard done by, but he went in studs up, got nowhere near the ball and instead caught Iandolo on his ankle. That's a red card these days, but can we make it count?
New season, same anxiety: the Colchester vs Oldham survival guide on 16:56 - Aug 22 by CrashBandicoot
2-1 to the Us
Yeah - I was too busy charging around celebrating to post. Oldham will point to the red card as a game-changer, and it certainly was, but they've only themselves to blame for that - clear red in the modern game. Their bigger mistake was sitting far too deep trying to grind out a 1-0, never going to happen. When they woke up at 1-1 they showed they could still pose a threat, but it was too little too late and we had the momentum. It might have been an own goal, but it happened because of our pressure, and it was thoroughly deserved.
Even first half nothing to choose except a delicious shot from outside the area separating the sides until the ref gives a straight red which becomes the game changer. However after half time with a man advantage the U’s are far too narrow and try to play through the middle . The key though is crossing or attacking down the sides, Thorn however does deliver, for Anderson to head home at the far post. Homer ref then gives a polite pen when Williams gets goalside of his man to win a pen, not converted by Payne who seems to have become the play maker now without Bishop and Read. Fortunate winning goal when defender is unbalanced to clear with the ball heading towards goal with everyone following it up. Pretty sure a draw would have been the outcome without the red . Generally the U’s more rigid this season than last with Hunt and Digby in the hole and the biggest factor is there is sadly no pace, and unable to take control of the ball down the middle . Need to follow up with another home win next week.
I watched the highlights and some of the OAFC fan videos, talk about whining. Maybe we should offer them cheese & crackers with their sour grapes whine next time? Their players need to learn to keep cool heads.
Apparently today’s referee father was also a referee - Paul Durkin. He was the referee when Latics played Chelsea in a 1999 cup tie. He was hit by a hot dog from the Latics part of the ground. I wonder if the father and son had a pre and post match conversation?
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New season, same anxiety: the Colchester vs Oldham survival guide on 06:15 - Aug 23 with 1598 views
New season, same anxiety: the Colchester vs Oldham survival guide on 22:21 - Aug 22 by mfb_cufc
Apparently today’s referee father was also a referee - Paul Durkin. He was the referee when Latics played Chelsea in a 1999 cup tie. He was hit by a hot dog from the Latics part of the ground. I wonder if the father and son had a pre and post match conversation?
Difficult to say as refs are paid to be impartial or at least theyre supposed to be. Weve had enough bad refs working against us over the years as well though tbf they do have a difficult job. If the Oldham management and players were aware of that then they should have been more vigilant.
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