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Thread | U's Vs Gills - Preview and Match Chat
at 11:15 5 Dec 2025
(Sorry, I’ve thought hard about a cheesy thread title to honour Durham, but nothing is coming to mind – we can’t clip the Gills wings, can we?)
Colchester versus Gillingham; the most common fixture in the U's history. This will be the 111th competitive meeting between the two clubs, with past results being fairly even - 40 wins, 32 draws, 38 defeats (according to coludata).
Originally this game was due to be played this coming Tuesday night, but one positive of being out of the FA Cup means both clubs have a free weekend, allowing this to be brought forward and hopefully encouraging a sizable crowd. The 12:30pm kick off time also means it'll still be on Sky Sports+ and ifollow.
We go into this game in great form and I don't expect DC to make any changes to the line-up unless they're forced. Aside from all of the long term injuries, Kyreece Lisbie is probably the only doubt, having picked up a shoulder injury against Cheltenham last week. There's been no news on his fitness, so I assume it'll be the same XI.
Macey
KVY Tucker Araujo Inadolo
Hunt (solid last week out of position) Read
Lisbie Mbick Anderson
Tovide
I'll be honest, I've not paid much attention to Gillingham this season. We beat them 2-1 in the car sales cup (aka EFL/Vertu Trophy) in October, but you can't read much into that. Looking at their season so far, they started well going 11 games unbeaten, but have then won once in their last 12. They're eighth in the league with one point more than us.
Their recent form is three draws on the bounce and their last win and clean sheet was at Bristol Rovers in early November.
Last 5
Shrewsbury (away) D 3-3
Barnet (home) D 1-1
Crawley (home) D 2-2
Wycombe (home - Vertu Trophy) L 0-3
Bristol Rovers (away) W 1-0
I don't expect this to be an easy game, but form is very much in our favour, so I'm going to predict a narrow 2-1 win with goals from Jack Tucker (either a header or strike from outside the box) and Harry Anderson (just because he’s on fire).
Played for both
Joe Dunne is the obvious one here. He started his career at Gillingham and is currently their youth team manager. His ColU career should need no introduction but covers most of the time between his spells at Gillingham! 188 appearances over two spells as a player, youth team manager, coach, assistant manager, caretaker manager and manager (99 games) - he'd done it all. Hopefully the BWA Joe Dunne flag will be flying proud tomorrow.
Of the current Gillingham team, Jake Turner is the only player to have played for both - 13 appearances for the U's while on loan from Newcastle and 76 appearances for the Gills so far. He'll likely be in goal against us.
Of the current U's squad, Jack Tucker and Ellis Iandolo came through youth ranks at Gillingham, Tucker went on to make 137 appearances for the first team. Tom Flanagan played 14 games on loan from MK Dons in 2012/13.
Memories
The stand-out game for me is the 1-0 win on the opening day of the 2013/14 season. I don't really remember much about the game, just Andy Bond scoring an 89th minute winner, sending the faithful wild in the ‘temporary’ stand at Priestfield.
More recently is the promising 3-0 win under Ben Garner in August 2023, or the new year's day defeat in 2024, which signalled the end of Matt Etherington's short reign and the beginning of the Cowley era (all in the same season!).
Weather
The forecast keeps changing - the Met Office currently says cloudy with a 50% chance of rain, 11 degrees (feels like 8), and a mild northerly wind.
Up the U's! |
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Reply | Prediction League 2025/26
at 10:56 4 Dec 2025
The table has been updated with the Notts County and Cheltenham results.
Notts County
Two predicted Anderson to score first - gerry_us and ghughes11
Two predicted a win - BLACKCAT and wessex_exile (neither went for a 3-1 win)
Cheltenham Town
Two predicted Lisbie to score first - me and RSCOSWORTH
Everyone predicted a win, two went for 2-0 - Blue4U2 and RSCOSWORTH
Well done RS for a perfect prediction! 
Here's the link to log Gillingham predictions: https://www.fansnetwork.co.uk/football/colchesterunited/prediction-league/predic
Don't forget it's a 12:30pm kick off! |
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Reply | Happy League 2025/26 Week 17 (of 38) - Deadline Saturday 22nd November 12.30
at 11:16 22 Nov 2025
WOLVERHAMPTON WANDERERS v CRYSTAL PALACE 0-2
NEWCASTLE UNITED v MANCHESTER CITY (17.30) 1-1
LEICESTER CITY v STOKE CITY 0-2
PORTSMOUTH v MILLWALL 2-1
EXETER CITY v BURTON ALBION P-P
BARNSLEY v LUTON TOWN 1-2
BOLTON WANDERERS v BRADFORD CITY 2-0
GILLINGHAM v BARNET (12.30) 1-1
CHELTENHAM TOWN v BRISTOL ROVERS 1-0
SWINDON TOWN v GRIMSBY TOWN 2-1 |
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Reply | Air Ambulances, Notts County and the 92
at 15:09 18 Nov 2025
Congratulations on completing the 92 TOOT.
I've done over 100 grounds, but am stuck on 81 of the current 92 (8 Prem, 2 Championship, and Bolton left).
Nearly all of mine are watching the U's. Bizarrely I ticked of the Hawthorns watching West Brom vs Fulham while visiting a friend at Uni, I then ticket off Craven Cottage watching Fulham vs West Brom as a friend had a complimentary ticket going spare. I done the Boleyn Ground in it's final season, I got a £10 to watch West Sham in a European qualifier and left at half time. |
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Reply | Durham Exile AKA Peter Nicholls Sad News
at 14:36 14 Nov 2025
This is such sad news to read. This site has been running for over 25 years and Peter was a mainstay from the start. I vaguely recall that he went under the name PDN Camulodunum (or similar) before he adopted Durham Exile.
He and his optimism will truly be missed. If our opposition have a bird related name I will forever expect them to 'have their wings clipped' in his honour.
David, Stuart, If the modern world allows us to attend his funeral virtually, please do share a link. |
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Reply | English Football League Trophy (Vertue Trophy AKA Pizza Cup)
at 07:11 11 Nov 2025
Copied from Wikipedia:
Minimum of four qualifying outfield players in their starting XI. A qualifying outfield player was one who met any of the following requirements:
Any player who started the previous or following first-team fixture.
Any player who is in the top 10 players at the club who has made the most starting appearances in league and domestic cup competitions this season.
Any player with forty or more first-team starting appearances in their career, including International matches.
Any player on loan from a Premier League club or any EFL Category One Academy club. |
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Reply | 12 months on.
at 12:14 7 Nov 2025
Spot on RS. Mbick is probably a like-for-like threat compared to what Lyle Taylor was a year ago, butvhe has age and fitness on his side. |
| | Daniel
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Site Scores| Prediction League: | 32 | | TOTAL: | 32 |
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