It has certainly been an eventful month for Colchester United.

And since his appointment on the first day of September, it has also been a fruitful one for Tony Humes.

Humes inherited a side which had been performing relatively well but had failed to win in five league matches, losing four in a row prior to his appointment.

But after guiding that side to eight points out of 15 and four clean sheets out of five, he has ensured that the U’s will head into October sitting outside of the bottom four and brimming with confidence.

Surely that makes Humes a strong candidate for League One’s manager of the month award?

The way in which he has transformed Colchester’s fortunes in such a short space of time has been impressive but he has had to make some key decisions along the way.

Experienced midfielder Marcus Bean, a regular under the U’s two previous managers, has struggled to make the bench under Humes, while the likes of Dan Holman and Josh Thompson have been told they can regain their match fitness elsewhere on loan.

Likewise, the choice to bring in young Cardiff City striker Rhys Healey on loan, who made the bench ahead of the likes of Macauley Bonne and Dominic Smith for the trip to Crewe Alexandra, was a telling one.

Without doubt, Humes has made a big impact since his appointment.

A word too for the U’s players, though.

They have come in for their fair share of criticism from some supporters, who have felt in the past that they have not performed to their capabilities.

But while the majority were signed or handed their first-team debuts by previous manager Joe Dunne, they have nevertheless embraced the ideas that Humes and his assistant Richard Hall have put to them.

That is clear by the performances and results that they have produced.

Colchester begin a new month of fixtures this weekend when they travel to play promotion-hopefuls Preston North End, in what will be the biggest test of Humes’ reign to date.

How they fare at Deepdale will be a good indication of whether or not October can be as productive for the U’s as the previous four weeks have been.