 | Blog | Knees-up Mother Brown #24
by wessex_exile at 13:54 30 Mar 2024
After another weekend break to spend a very enjoyable afternoon with Spireite Craig watching the U’s get a well-deserved point at runaway leader Mansfield Town, followed by promotion back to the EFL for Chesterfield, the matchday Saturdays left before the end of the season are running out. So, given I’m away again next Saturday again to join 9,000+ for the visit of Planet Hollywood, I’m going to slip in a Good Friday special ahead of what will undoubtedly be two extremely important fixtures in deciding the fate of Colchester United. On Monday the family are arriving for their traditional Easter Egg Hunt (and obligatory roast dinner), so here goes for the visit of t’other Exiles to the JobServe. Come on Col U! |
| Blog | Knees-up Mother Brown #23
by wessex_exile at 14:35 17 Mar 2024
Following a disappointing result at Holker Street, exacerbated by yet more poor refereeing to deny us a clear penalty in the first half and award a non-existent free-kick to give the Bluebirds a first half lead (albeit the free-kick was an absolute blinder), and the inevitable postponement of the Donny game on Tuesday, the U’s now find themselves in the relegation zone. It is what it is, and with seven of our remaining 11 games at home, our destiny is still very much in our own hands – but everyone has to do their job, both on and off the (repurposed) pitch. |
| Blog | Knees-up Mother Brown #22
by wessex_exile at 14:16 10 Mar 2024
Thanks to a combination of postponements and a trip to Sutton following the U’s, it has been three weeks since the last blog, as the U’s prepare to face a very tricky opponent in Barrow AFC. Since they were voted out of the football league in 1972 (arguably thanks to Ronnie Radford’s screamer against Newcastle in the Edgar Street mud), the Bluebirds spent 48 years in the non-league wilderness before their return following the Covid-19 curtailment to the 2019/20 season. Some are surprised at how well they’re doing this season, but probably shouldn’t be – under new manager Pete Wild they finished a very respectable 9th last season and are clearly aiming to improve on that this time around. Mind you, we’ve got our own new management team in place too, and whilst wins are proving elusive right now, we’re certainly making ourselves a team hard to beat. |
| Blog | Knees-up Mother Brown #20
by wessex_exile at 14:09 11 Feb 2024
Bill Shankly once said that form is temporary, class is permanent. He was of course correct, but let’s hope never more so than today’s visit to Wetherby Road to take on the form side of League 2, Harrogate Town. I don’t think it’s unreasonable to say the Sulfurites have defied the expectations of most pundits, many tipping them to be in another relegation scrap this season. But, long-standing manager (and former player) Simon Weaver has turned things around, and they currently sit just two places and two points outside the play-offs. Weaver was rightly awarded the Sky Bet League 2 Manager of the Month for January – hope he looks after it, because it’ll be Danny’s soon. |
| Blog | Knees-up Mother Brown #19
by wessex_exile at 14:18 4 Feb 2024
February, and the U’s enter the most pivotal month of the season. Six games in just four weeks, with four of them against sides also in the bottom six. By March we should be either well clear of danger, or even deeper in the sh*t. With Danny Cowley’s U’s still unbeaten, and looking stronger game on game, I’m sure it’ll be the former, but first we have to do our bit to consign Steve ‘Sour Grapes’ Cotterill’s FGR back to non-league. After our shambolic 5-0 defeat at New Lawn, nothing would give me greater pleasure, even if it meant losing one of my closest awaydays in the process. What’s the excuse going to be today Steve – shocking pitch, faking head injuries, Mexican banditry or some other bit of sour-grapery bullsh*t? |
| Blog | Knees-up Mother Brown #18
by wessex_exile at 14:17 28 Jan 2024
It’s the last Saturday of January, and thanks to a succession of games either not on a Saturday, postponed because of the weather, or me actually being there, this is only the second blog of the New Year. The upside of all that is that Danny and Nicky Cowley have had a full two weeks to continue to work on both the physical and mental agility/ resilience of the U’s squad. It will be interesting to see how they get on against a Morecambe side unbeaten in the league so far this year, their only defeat a 2-0 loss in the FA Cup against Championship side Swansea City. With a game in hand over most above them, and only six points below 7th place, the Shrimps will probably think they still have an outside chance of making the play-offs. I sincerely doubt it, but we’d willingly swap places if we had the chance. |
| Blog | Knees-up Mother Brown #16
by wessex_exile at 13:57 14 Jan 2024
After another break from blogging, with the U’s getting last Saturday off thanks to our FA Cup first round departure at Shrewsbury, not that there was too much disgrace from that particular performance, KMB15 returns. Heaven knows though, there’s been precious little to smile about in recent weeks, conceding 11 goals in the last three matches alone. Not counting when he was temporarily stood down as interim Head Coach, this is Matty Etherington’s tenth game in charge, and his future as manager is already hanging by a thread. Ironic therefore that today he goes up against his former club Crawley Town, so here’s hoping the WAGMI-owned club fold as easily as their embarrassingly worthless contract clause claim did. |
| Blog | Knees-up Mother Brown #15
by wessex_exile at 14:10 10 Dec 2023
After another break from blogging, with the U’s getting last Saturday off thanks to our FA Cup first round departure at Shrewsbury, not that there was too much disgrace from that particular performance, KMB15 returns. Heaven knows though, there’s been precious little to smile about in recent weeks, conceding 11 goals in the last three matches alone. Not counting when he was temporarily stood down as interim Head Coach, this is Matty Etherington’s tenth game in charge, and his future as manager is already hanging by a thread. Ironic therefore that today he goes up against his former club Crawley Town, so here’s hoping the WAGMI-owned club fold as easily as their embarrassingly worthless contract clause claim did. |
| Blog | Knees-up Mother Brown #14
by wessex_exile at 14:31 26 Nov 2023
The blog returns with KMB14, after another awayday last weekend and first visit for me to Edgeley Park to see the U’s pit their wits against the heir apparent champions Stockport County. Despite a stewarding fubar that I’ve probably mentioned more than enough already, it was a good day out overall, with the U’s more than a match for Stockport for most of the game, apart that is from a 90 second lapse in concentration either side of half-time. Certainly no disgrace though, and with the U’s getting straight back on the bike midweek with a comfortable 1-0 victory over League 1 Posh (albeit against largely their second string), I think we can look forward to this afternoon against promotion contenders Barrow with a degree of confidence. |
| Blog | Knees-up Mother Brown #13
by wessex_exile at 10:48 26 Nov 2023
KMB13, and this weekend I’m sure we will all, in our own way, pause to remember the fallen. With war again raging in Europe, and the Middle East aflame, I’m sadly reminded of the lyrics of Eric Bogle. |
| Blog | Knees-up Mother Brown #12
by wessex_exile at 12:42 5 Nov 2023
It’s a wet, windy first weekend of November, which can mean only one thing – it’s the magic of the FA Cup again! Today we face a trip to the New Meadow, home of League 1 Shrewsbury Town. I’ve never been to the New Meadow, my last trip to Salop was to watch the U’s win 2-1 in our FA Cup second round match at Gay Meadow back in December 2005 – and what a day that was too. That match was featured in Matches of Yesteryear #20, and it was pleasing to see it was the focus of a club interview with Greg Halford last week. There is also something very noteworthy about today – unless my calculations are awry, this will be our 200th appearance in the world’s greatest cup competition. |
| Blog | Knees-up Mother Brown #11
by wessex_exile at 14:34 29 Oct 2023
Well, following the U’s has been a bit of a rollercoaster through the last week. Ben Garner’s U’s slumped to a very poor home defeat last Saturday against Harrogate Town, despite taking the lead with a sublime strike from Chay Cooper. Robbie had seen enough, and that evening Ben was let go, with U21 lead coach Matty Etherington announced as the interim Head Coach on Monday. On Tuesday night, Matty Etherington’s U’s put in one hell of a shift, to come away from Grimsby (Cleethorpes – ed.) with all three points and a masterclass from Arthur Read – happy days, could Matty be our man? Well, not right now that’s for sure, after a call to Robbie from Crawley Town yesterday letting him know that apparently Matty is tied up in a contract exit clause from his brief spell at Crawley, seemingly forbidding him from operating in a head coach/ manager role until May 2024 (when his Crawley contract would have expired). So, Matty Etherington is stood down, with Assistant Head Coach Scott Marshall stepping up as our new interim Head Coach for the tough trip to Accrington Stanley. |
| Blog | Knees-up Mother Brown #10
by wessex_exile at 14:20 22 Oct 2023
Back again, after another U’s-induced matchday ‘experience’ at FGR, and what an experience it was. What was already a poor match between two poor sides descended into insanity after the red card for Mingi, with the U’s dismantled repeatedly to let four second half goals in. I hardly ever leave a game before the final whistle, but as the board went up for nine more minutes I’d seen enough and me and Alfie headed out for our lift home (and as a result, missed the frank exchange of views between players and supporters at the end). However, let’s focus on the positives, whatever was said, a much changed U’s were a different team on Tuesday at League 1 Cambridge. The U’s thoroughly deserved the win and their Pizza Slice Trophy three points, thanks in no small part to an excellent performance from Chay Cooper. |
| Blog | Knees-up Mother Brown #10
by wessex_exile at 14:20 22 Oct 2023
Back again, after another U’s-induced matchday ‘experience’ at FGR, and what an experience it was. What was already a poor match between two poor sides descended into insanity after the red card for Mingi, with the U’s dismantled repeatedly to let four second half goals in. I hardly ever leave a game before the final whistle, but as the board went up for nine more minutes I’d seen enough and me and Alfie headed out for our lift home (and as a result, missed the frank exchange of views between players and supporters at the end). However, let’s focus on the positives, whatever was said, a much changed U’s were a different team on Tuesday at League 1 Cambridge. The U’s thoroughly deserved the win and their Pizza Slice Trophy three points, thanks in no small part to an excellent performance from Chay Cooper. |
| Blog | Knees-up Mother Brown #9
by wessex_exile at 14:44 8 Oct 2023
So, what have we learned so far this season. Well, clearly when we play against better teams who also like to play the attractive passing game, we’re as good as anyone in this league (I submit as evidence m’lud, Gillingham, Mansfield and Notts County). When we’re up against the gnarlier more ‘traditional’ outfits, who want nothing more than to get in our faces, close us down and bully us, not so much. The trouble is, this league is made up of about 25% of the former and 75% of the latter, so we’re on a hiding to nothing if we don’t put that right and develop some steel (without the needless indiscipline). With absolutely no disrespect to today’s visitors, I suspect Morecambe will be more of the latter today, as will FGR and Harrogate up next, so what better chance to prove our mettle and take all nine points on offer? |
| Blog | Knees-up Mother Brown #7
by wessex_exile at 14:07 17 Sep 2023
Another Saturday, and another chance to really see what Garner’s U’s are made of. On the evidence from last weekend, it would seem something very special indeed, other Saturday’s perhaps less so. Okay, so Tranmere weren’t that great, but as has already been said, you can only play the team put out against you, and with 8-9 out of 10 performances all over the pitch it was no surprise that three of the U’s, Goodman, Read and Fevrier were named in the EFL Team of the Week. I do wonder, had we had the chance to beat Swindon on day one, whether our momentum might have been different, but nevertheless we are at least off and running now. Mansfield, however, will be a much sterner test than Tranmere, whose manager Ian Dawes joined a long list that have fallen foul of the losing to Col U curse, getting sacked on Monday morning. |
| Blog | Knees-up Mother Brown #6
by wessex_exile at 14:33 10 Sep 2023
The rollercoaster ride that is following the U’s continues, as we wait to see whether it’ll be Dr Jekyll of Gillingham or Mr Hyde of (fill in blank) that turns up at the JobServe today. With back to back home games against Tranmere today and the Scabs next Saturday, never has it been more important to get our season well and truly on track. Six points and a comfortable mid-table slot will do wonders for our confidence, anything less just doesn’t bear thinking about. The least said about Walsall the better, other than to say if we wait until we’ve conceded midway through the second half to actually start playing, that’s not good. What’s even more frustrating is that when we eventually did, we could have easily equalised, and maybe even won that one (albeit that would have been hard on the Saddlers). |
| Blog | Knees-up Mother Brown #5
by wessex_exile at 14:31 3 Sep 2023
Now that the euphoria of our stunning 3-0 victory at league leaders Gillingham has begun to subside, Ben Garner’s U’s ready themselves for a back to earth tough trip to the Bescot this afternoon. I’ve been to Walsall many times, some days good, others less so, and this was one definitely on my radar for this season. However, and as already mentioned on the board earlier, even without the train strike going on, with a long day ahead tomorrow (hopefully) finishing off the eagle seat designs, my aching bones decided two longish trips in one weekend was probably asking a bit too much. More on our deadline day transfer activity later, but for now good luck Junior, and I hope it works out well for you at Stoke City. |
| Blog | Knees-up Mother Brown #4
by wessex_exile at 14:28 27 Aug 2023
Well, apart from family birthday celebrations, last weekend was a barren source of amusement. Joe Taylor did at least show any remaining doubters just how important he’s going to be for our 2023/24 season, to net his third and fourth goals of the season. Our defence, however, showed the importance of remaining concentrated (or not) for the entire 100+ minutes of league games these days, gifting Gilbey an 88th minute equaliser, and then Dennis a 90+10’ winner. Sadly, another weak referee muddied the waters, not sending Mo Eisa off for blatant dissent when it could have made all the difference. Apparently, none of the officials saw what everyone else did, but then he still had words with Eisa and the captain about the dissent – what’s the story Mr Brook, either you saw it or you didn’t? |
| Blog | Knees-up Mother Brown #3
by wessex_exile at 13:52 20 Aug 2023
Not so much after the Lord Mayor’s show, maybe more the comedy warm-up act beckons, as the U’s take on MK Dongs at the JobServe today, with the Lionesses against Spain to follow in the World Cup final tomorrow morning. The family will be gathering for the game tomorrow, with the dubiously happy coincidence that it also marks my passing of another year on this planet. Durham has hit several nails on the head in his excellent match preview, not least just how poor we were on Tuesday against the real Dons. But, as RS has already pointed out, we are only two games into the season, could have beaten Championship Cardiff City, and should have had at least a point against Bradford City, so not quite time to break out the Leonard Cohen albums just yet. |
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