Saturday 5th January 2013 will unfortunately go down in the club records as a record equalling eighth successive defeat and arguably our unluckiest defeat for many a season.

Make no mistake not even the most fervent Rovers fan could disagree with the statement that they were very fortunate to win against a spirited Colchester side that bossed possession and were the better team for long periods of the game.

Still when you are languishing at the foot of the table, it would appear that not many breaks go your way.

The Keepmoat stadium is the new 15,000 all seater home of Doncaster Rovers FC, Doncaster Belles and also Doncaster Rugby Club. Set within a new Lakeside Complex with housing, retail, factory outlets and the Doncaster Dome it is an impressive facility particularly for those of us who remembered the old Belle Vue ground. The pitch is wide and this helped both Drew Wright and Brian Wilson yesterday in their endeavours to get crosses onto the head of loanee Dominic Samuel who showed enough touches to suggest that his time with the U's will be productive.

The weather was mild and dry with the appearance of some welcome winter sunshine, which initially shone straight into our faces, until it disappeared below the stand.

It was also a day for some of the U's exiles to meet up, Gerry made the journey from the East Coast, Wessex from Wiltshire and I persuaded my youngest son to make the journey from Durham. We also met up with Daniel who had predicted a 1-1 draw for yesterday's game and was there to tick off another stadium on his personal tally.

The 183 U's faithful were in very good voice particularly early doors and for much of the game the Donny Rovers home support resembled the atmosphere in a library. Dean Saunders had asked his team to make Colchester pay for the apparent injustice suffered at the hands of the Blades when the gloss was taken off their last home game when Paynter saw red after clashing with Tony McMahon whilst attempting to decorate his legs in shades of black and blue (allegedly).

JD had made three changes and Colchester lined up 4-5-1 when defending and 4-3-3 when attacking with Massey and Wright the two widemen:

Cousins

Wilson Magnus Thompson Rose

Massey Izzet Bean Woody Wright

Samuel

Subs: Pentney, Bond, Heath, Morrison, Sears, Porter and Compton.

The 6,373 crowd were easily outshouted by the vocal faithful who paid tribute to Magnus in their own inimitable style and gave renditions of other crowd favourites. In fact Colchester bossed the first half with Kem Izzet the stand out player in midfield and Drew Wright “who will tear you apart” according to the faithful looking lively on the left wing.

Young Dominic Samuel impressed but needed more support in my opinion and perhaps Clinton Morrison should have accompanied him up front from the outset.

Chances for the home side were at a premium, the one notable one being a shot across the face of the goal from Sinclair which Cousins had covered. Colchester had efforts from Woody, Bean, Samuel and Magnus who perhaps should have done better when the ball fell to him and he headed it around the post.

Colchester were desperately unlucky in the 44th minute when from a free kick Josh Thompson headed into the net only for the goal to be disallowed by the ref for alleged pushing by Woody. The ref in fact demonstrated the alleged pushing to Kem Izzet as they strode off at half time.

Gerry remarked on the referee (Tony Bates) who he had seen before and before long we were all commenting on the fact that there had been no stoppages in the first half, no trainer intervention, no bookings and very few free kicks.

In fact there was no additional time at the end of the first half. Wessex observed that Nick Hornby in his book Fever Pitch had referred to the match between Cambridge United and Leicester City where there were no fouls whatsoever during the game.

Saunders would have been relieved that the score was 0-0 such was his side's inability to seriously threaten the U's goal.

Half time and the opportunity to sample the culinary fare – Gerry opted for a Cornish pasty and I went for a Meat and Potato pie. We were therefore staggered when the young lad who was serving remarked that there were no pasties or meat and potato pies.

So we opted for a steak pie and I sampled a coffee. The £3 steak pie came in a foil dish and an individual box. Both agreed that it merited a score of 7 out of 10, the pastry was acceptable and the filling was meaty with a generous filling of gravy. My son enjoyed a £3.30 cheeseburger which was wolfed down.

We took our seats for the second half. No substitutions had been made and JD would have been delighted at the scoreline and the level of the U's performance.

The second half took the pattern of the first, ineffective Doncaster attacks with plenty of long ball, whilst Colchester played it from the back and involved the mid field at every opportunity.

Cousins saved smartly low down at the near post but that was the only real threat on his goal from the home side. We enjoyed much possession but few clear cut chances.

JD took the tiring Wright off after 69 minutes and Jack Compton came to the crease. A straight swap winger for winger. In my opinion we needed a second striker at that stage.

The very influential Kem Izzet was injured (possible ankle injury) and had to go off to be replaced by Andy Bond on 77 minutes. In fairness to Bond we lost some momentum at that time and a match that seemed to be drifting towards a 0-0 scoreline exploded with an unfortunate slip by Brian Wilson wide on the right on 84 minutes which allowed the Donny top scorer David Cotterill to come inside before striking a superb shot beyond Cousins and into the far side of the goal. Cotterill was booked for the celebrations in the corner which were long and protracted. Cotterill was adjudged Donny Rovers man of the match, whereas the real hero for the home side was Rob Jones their captain who rarely missed a header or clearance, save one which was kicked donkey style into the crowd.

Cue the library to wake up and the faithful to groan at the injustice. Now I'm not critical of JD but he should have put another striker on when he replaced Samuel with Porter on 87 minutes. Morrison or Sears should have been deployed for the last few agonising minutes.

The goal did not bring Rovers to life, they persisted with getting the ball into the corner and delaying free kicks. After an incident on the half way line, Massey and Woody were both booked whilst Rovers escaped any sanctions. The complaints continued at the final whistle after Mr Bates (who only allowed 3 minutes of added time) seemed keen to get home.

So Rovers picked up three lucky points and Colchester continue to look worryingly at the league one table.

Make no mistake this was a tough defeat to take. Unlike the dismal performances at Walsall or Scunthorpe there was plenty of passion and commitment shown by most of the players.

Cousins had little to do and could not be faulted with the goal, Wilson had a strong game and should not be criticised for his one critical slip which led to their goal.

The excellent Thompson, ably supported by Magnus looked solid and Rose gave on one of his better performances. When he stays in his own half and maintains his positional play he is very good.

Kem Izzet was my man of the match, covered every blade of grass, tigerish in the challenge and even got a stinging shot away which was destined for the goal until it struck a defender.

Marcus Bean linked well with Samuel and controlled the midfield with Izzet. Woody well what can you say. When Bournemouth offered £850,000 for him we should have taken it, he wants to play championship football and Leicester seem favourites to sign him but how much will we get? Woody is lacklustre at best and no longer takes free kicks or gets stinging shots away. Very disappointing. He can do so much better.

Drew Wright by contrast is a revelation, pacy, scares defenders and will only get better. Massey tries hard and puts in a shift but I would like to see him trying more shots on goal.

Dominic Samuel could be a hero for the U's, he had too much to do on his own up front, he needed Morrison or Sears around him yesterday, but he looked sharp and linked up with the midfield very well.

Of the subs, Compton was the best but none could really get fully into the game in the limited time available.

JD will be pleased with the commitment and performance but not the result. We now embark upon our six pointers against Scunny and the Monkey Hangers. Saunders by contrast looks to be the front runner to take over at Wolverhampton.

I wished the stewards well and told them that we would see them again next season. Many Col U supporters were less convinced.

I know that it seems difficult to understand or believe but we can still get out of this mess and on this performance there is definite hope for survival.

It was certainly good to meet up with the Exiles again.

Keep the faith

Up the U's

Photo: Action Images

coppingerisgod added 14:16 - Jan 7 A nice comprehensive report. While I agree with most of what you say, you were the better team over 90 minutes and did have most of the possession, I think it is worth noting that other then the goal I felt we had the two best chances. Hume was played through one on one in the second half but was too close to the keeper and he made a decent save and a few minutes later he had a close range shot blocked at the last minute. For all your possession I can't remember you creating a chance apart from the disallowed goal? (which I saw nothing wrong with). In conclusion you were a lot better then I was expecting, we played Scunny earlier in the season and they were appalling. You didn't look like a side that had lost seven games in a row. Anyway good luck for the season, I hope you stay up (preferably at the expense of Scunny :) )

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