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Colchester United beaten at ten-man Walsall

4:58pm Saturday 20th March 2010 in


A dramatic late goal from substitute Darren Byfield saw Colchester United beaten 1-0 by ten-man Walsall at the Bescot Stadium this afternoon.

For the second successive game, the U's played more than a half against a team with only ten men.

But they will be hugely disappointed they could not make their advantage count and against the Saddlers, in their on-going promotion push.

Kevin Lisbie had a golden opportunity to give Colchester a tenth-minute lead but was denied by Walsall goalkeeper Rene Gilmartin.

And at the other end, U's keeper Ben Williams pulled off a brilliant save to thwart Saddlers midfielder Dwayne Mattis, soon after.

Colchester were handed a boost just before half-time when Walsall were left down to ten men, after their captain Mark Hughes was shown a straight red card for a foul on Ashley Vincent.

The U's did their best to make their numerical advantage count in the second half.

Lisbie dragged a shot wide after a promising run, while Anthony Wordsworth had an effort ruled out for offside, after Gilmartin had saved from Clive Platt.

Substitute Steven Gillespie hit the post with a shot from the edge of the area in the final minute.

But four minutes into stoppage time Byfield, amid suspicions of offside, latched onto Troy Deeney's long pass before cutting inside the area and squeezing a low shot past Williams for the winner.

For a full match report, pictures and reaction to Colchester United's game at Walsall, see Monday's Gazette.

Comments(25)

No.1 says...
5:24pm Sat 20 Mar 10

We are ****, ten men again..should of finished them off not start complaining about a possible offside. And they want more money for a season ticket, Yea right. The club needs to start improving.
Keep the faith my fellow C Oh F**k off.

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crazy comments says...
5:30pm Sat 20 Mar 10

Dont blame the players, blame Boothroyd. WHY WHY WHY does Wordsworth gets picked for every game. He is bl--dy useless, has not got a clue what he is doing and runs around like a headless chicken. Honestly what can you expect when Wordsworth,Heath and Platt are all playing at once. Im fed up on hearing people say Platt is good at holding the ball up. He is, but he also needs not to stand static and run into open spaces. Aidy get a video of Greg Holt and show Platt what he should be doing. . He might pick up a few hints. Listening to the radio Heath made several errors this afternoon with mistimed tackles and simple passes., reason Baldwin should be in the team. You have lost it big time Boothroyd. Your team selection,and tactics are rubbish . Be ready for a backlash from me Tuesday night. I never wanted you to be the manager and I hope you will be on your way soon. I'm seething with anger when for two weeks running we can not even beat ten men. Get rid of John Ward as well and give Joe Dunne the chance to get this team playing football as it should be played.

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No.1 says...
5:41pm Sat 20 Mar 10

We should of stuck with Joe Dunne might have less experience in managering but has got the know how, as he demonstrated a few games ago when Aidy had to depart for a family crisis. im not saying Aidy should not have gone, but im saying joe took control of that game with john ward faffing about doing nothing.

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haggydaggy says...
5:42pm Sat 20 Mar 10

Agreed No.1, we are absolute pants! No wonder Aidy was offered a one year rolling contract, because after this poor end to the season we wont be in the play offs so keep ticking along until the summer and then lets have a complete clear out.
We need to install a football playing manager who will play players who have skill and a commitment to Colchester United, week in week out all I hear is we must learn from what we did that last game! and then we do it again...two games a whole two half's against ten men and two losses.
Mean while a lot of the teams above us drew, we should at least be second in the table in my book.
Absolute terrible 2010 so far...7-0 5-0, total 5 wins, 5 loses & 3 draws plus rubbish second rate football.

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Sparkfilms says...
6:05pm Sat 20 Mar 10

We have our biggest squad ever, but we do not possess the automatic choice of a goalscoring striker.

The lack of a proven striker has caught up with us.

Incredible that we also have the most players out on loan to other clubs in our history.

I do not recall any team losing consecutive games against 10 men, but I assume it's happened to someone.

I think we have to be honest enough to accept that the squad has too many average players and we lack someone ( like Danns ) to lift the crowd.

Defeat against Brentford on Tuesday could cause on-going damage.

I'll be there though.

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RB, Lexden says...
6:42pm Sat 20 Mar 10

Will AB still be here at Christmas,if we fail to make the play offs and then make a poor start next season?.I wonder how long Robbie C.will allow it to drift if that happens.

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bumbleprime says...
7:04pm Sat 20 Mar 10

Supporting Colchester is now becoming an embarrassment. I didn't think lightning would strike twice in 2 games but it has. Time for Joe Dunne to save our season and get us playing football again like we did under Parkinson and Williams. Our cr@ppy pitch didn't stop Brighton from knocking it around the other week. Bring back Hackney, Elito and Baldwin and play the ball on the deck before the 3,000 loyal fans finally give up the ghost. I've stuck by the manager and team all season but the level of performance and entertainment has become a predictable joke. A minimum of £18 to sit there and watch paint dry while the ball is hoofed aimlessly while decent players like Fox warm the bench? Unfortunately I've already got my tickets for the next 2 games. 6 points and a bit of urgency is required next week.

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crazy comments says...
7:09pm Sat 20 Mar 10

haggydaggy wrote:
Agreed No.1, we are absolute pants! No wonder Aidy was offered a one year rolling contract, because after this poor end to the season we wont be in the play offs so keep ticking along until the summer and then lets have a complete clear out. We need to install a football playing manager who will play players who have skill and a commitment to Colchester United, week in week out all I hear is we must learn from what we did that last game! and then we do it again...two games a whole two half's against ten men and two losses. Mean while a lot of the teams above us drew, we should at least be second in the table in my book. Absolute terrible 2010 so far...7-0 5-0, total 5 wins, 5 loses & 3 draws plus rubbish second rate football.
Haggy you and me seem to agree on most things.. I imagine you must have been watching the game of football a few years now,and know when a team plays decent stuff. I love my team and want us to do well but I have never been convinced we have been that good this season apart from the first game. Many of the posts on here have been stating brilliant this, and brilliant that, yet I thought we were very lucky to scrape a result from some of the games we played. I watch a lot of football often three games a week,so I often go to watch other teams, not to support them in any way,as Feisty always suggests I do. I like to compare different teams tactics and style. Having seen every club in div 1 now play this season Swindon,Huddersfield
, and Norwich stand head and shoulders above the rest so its comes as no surprise to me,whats happening now. I said at Christmas time we had no chance of promotion,to what I had seen other teams play like, and I stick by that. I have seen Swindon play three times now this season and in every match their work rate and movement is first class. They keep possesion and pass the ball around not just whack it up into no mans land. I can see Swindon doing a Norwich on us at home just like I predicted Norwich would. If some of the U's players had played like Mark Tierney this season giving 110% all the time we might have stood half a chance but he is a wanted man so I dont expect him to be with us next season and will be saying goodbye on a free as he is out of contract end of season. Giving a player Izzet a fresh contract just shows what future this club holds.

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Layer Road Exile says...
7:18pm Sat 20 Mar 10

Will Cowling still be there at Christmas? This must be costing him an absolute fortune with our meagre crowds, massive squad and over inflated contracts. It could be that he is gambling everything on promotion for the circa £2M of additional revenue that the Championship brings. He has no-one to blame but himself if it fails but ultimately, it will be the fans that suffer if he leaves an unsustainable legacy ala Portsmouth, Leeds, Southampton, Chester, Bournemouth, Luton and countless others. This is as worrying as the shocking 'football' that Boothroyd forces fans to endure. It gets results when it works but when it doesn't, Boothroyd hasn't a clue how to change it. If the finances of the Championship were not seemingly so crucial, I would prefer to see us in League One next year with a new manager. Roll on Tuesday!

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Cuthbert says...
7:31pm Sat 20 Mar 10

Must see the video of Greg ( Grant ) Holt ( Halford )... :-) Anyway a gut wrenching last minute defeat. On way back from Birmingham. Let's face it, we are in a struggle for the play offs. Keep behind the team till season's end and then make judgements. Divided we fall. Up the U's!

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Cuthbert says...
7:33pm Sat 20 Mar 10

Must see the video of Greg ( Grant ) Holt ( Halford )... :-) Anyway a gut wrenching last minute defeat. On way back from Birmingham. Let's face it, we are in a struggle for the play offs. Keep behind the team till season's end and then make judgements. Divided we fall. Up the U's!

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crazy comments says...
8:21pm Sat 20 Mar 10

What happened then Cuthbert.? You were at the game I presume as your travelling back from West Brummie. Never sounded like we made many chances listening to the local radio. Can you tell us why its gone pear shaped the last few games ? Give me a honest answer is it the players playing badly or is it the fault of the managers tactics.

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RB, Lexden says...
8:35pm Sat 20 Mar 10

If AB does eventually leave,I hope that Crazy will apply for the job and,if appointed, that he would immediately start talks to bring in 'Greg'Holt and 'Les' Hoolahan,perhaps offering the Canaries Ian Henderson, Joel Thomas, Matt Heath and Alan Maybury,in part exchange .I don't think that Crazy could possibly do any worse than the two Micks,Mills and Wadsworth and we would certainly see more entertaining football.

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Sparkfilms says...
8:52pm Sat 20 Mar 10

I would like to sidetrack a little if I may.

Has anyone else noticed that the combined goal output of Offiong / Thomas ( who Lambert was prepared to pay a combined fee of £250,000 ) for the current season stands at 1?

If I was the Chairman I would be taking notice of this situation for future reference.

And for the record, we payed ( according to reports ) £125,000 for a player ( Thomas ) who had a price tag of max £50,000 in Scotland...all very strange.

PS - Another goal for Medy today!

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crazy comments says...
9:29pm Sat 20 Mar 10

Sparkfilms wrote:
I would like to sidetrack a little if I may. Has anyone else noticed that the combined goal output of Offiong / Thomas ( who Lambert was prepared to pay a combined fee of £250,000 ) for the current season stands at 1? If I was the Chairman I would be taking notice of this situation for future reference. And for the record, we payed ( according to reports ) £125,000 for a player ( Thomas ) who had a price tag of max £50,000 in Scotland...all very strange. PS - Another goal for Medy today!
Reckon Lambert got a backhander out of the deal with Thomas.Never trust a Scotsman as they say!.
What we dont know is would have
Lambert made these players a big success with his man managment and style of football..For instance David Fox would have been a huge success under Lambert because Foxy is a very talented footballer that knows how the game should be played yet with Aidy he is a failure because he is not crude enough in his tackling and not suited to whacking balls first time up field as Aidy wants.

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crazy comments says...
9:45pm Sat 20 Mar 10

Sparkfilms wrote:
I would like to sidetrack a little if I may. Has anyone else noticed that the combined goal output of Offiong / Thomas ( who Lambert was prepared to pay a combined fee of £250,000 ) for the current season stands at 1? If I was the Chairman I would be taking notice of this situation for future reference. And for the record, we payed ( according to reports ) £125,000 for a player ( Thomas ) who had a price tag of max £50,000 in Scotland...all very strange. PS - Another goal for Medy today!
Well done Medy. Got man of the match award again. Playing as a winger and seems like he is enjoying himself.

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Feisty CBC says...
10:31pm Sat 20 Mar 10

crazy comments wrote:
Dont blame the players, blame Boothroyd. WHY WHY WHY does Wordsworth gets picked for every game. He is bl--dy useless, has not got a clue what he is doing and runs around like a headless chicken. Honestly what can you expect when Wordsworth,Heath and Platt are all playing at once. Im fed up on hearing people say Platt is good at holding the ball up. He is, but he also needs not to stand static and run into open spaces. Aidy get a video of Greg Holt and show Platt what he should be doing. . He might pick up a few hints. Listening to the radio Heath made several errors this afternoon with mistimed tackles and simple passes., reason Baldwin should be in the team. You have lost it big time Boothroyd. Your team selection,and tactics are rubbish . Be ready for a backlash from me Tuesday night. I never wanted you to be the manager and I hope you will be on your way soon. I'm seething with anger when for two weeks running we can not even beat ten men. Get rid of John Ward as well and give Joe Dunne the chance to get this team playing football as it should be played.
Were you actually at the game? No? Shutit numpty lol

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Cuthbert says...
12:37am Sun 21 Mar 10

Just got back. Total nightmare trying to post on a mobile phone on a Virgin Train.

I do agree with a lot of sentiments about football as it should be played – i.e. the Beautiful Game.

With regards to today’s game, I think we were unlucky to lose – I thought only one team should win once we had a man advantage, but only thought we might win in the last 15 minutes, when we truly looked like scoring. I should have been more cautious after Carlisle.

Col U looked more lively in the first five minutes. Walsall then seemed to get the better chances until they lost their man. After that only Col U looked like scoring until the breakaway goal at the end ( in my opinion )

I think the forwards get too much stick, especially Clive Platt. Dug ( my mate from Brightlingsea, who posts here sometimes ) would probably disagree. I think the main problem is the midfield, which seems non existent as a creative force – possibly a product of the long ball game, which avoids them?

I also agree with people’s thoughts about valuable players possibly leaving (Tierney, Baldwin etc.)

I think the goalposts have now changed – forget about a top two finish, just concentrate on getting to the play-offs, for which Aidy should be well equipped. I sometimes wonder whether players, or people who know them, read the negativity that’s posted here; even if justified, it can’t help our cause in the short term.

Get behind the team and help them get to those play offs! Up the U’s!!

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Ozzie says...
3:24am Sun 21 Mar 10

I didn't go along - listened painfully to the events as they unravelled on the radio. One word sums up our efforts - but I am not allowed to state it here in text! Championship,'we're having a laugh!'. This is all totally unacceptable and I do not like hearing Boothroyd keep saying that the fans have come to expect too much and that our expectations need to be taken in context - that we are 'punching above our weight!'. Well, in the last fortnight we have gone from being strong contenders to get the automatic second spot to just scraping into the final play-off berth! Tell me that is expecting too much! Remember Mr Boothroyd - alongside Mr Cowling, we pay your wages and are entitled to feel the way we do! Do you honestly think that gaining 1 point from a possible 12 is promotion form? Think again!
UNACCEPTABLE! I am fed up of the excuses now. If I performed like that in my job I would be disciplined and probably given a warning about my performance, even ultimately being given the sack! The tactics you employ are failing. Surely you can see that? We are becoming the team with the worst record in the division! That is relegation form, not promotion form! I am sad, like many other supporters, that our wingers, Medy Elito, Simon Hackney and stalwart Pat Baldwin are all out on loan elsewhere when the balance they could add to the team is immense! We need the wingers to operate as wingers, getting the crosses into the box for the strikers to finish. It worked successfully earlier in the season, so why has it all stopped now? I am a die-hard, core U's fan to the bone but do not like the present situation - we get offered opportunities to take advantage of the results around us but always fail to do so. It is almost becoming an embarrassment to admit I support the U's. However, Boothroyd needs to get the players in and stop messing around before the games - same old routines - for goodness sake - change them! They need revamping. Even I know now the routines - when I see players who are allegedly 'top class strikers' missing empty, open nets from 10/15 yards, that tells you something, then they turn around and grin! Serious - they are taking the mickey - taking their money and using the club - they seem to have little focus or intention to ensure they even try to get promotion - and let's face it why should they when they are having a good time at the club's expense - just going through the motions. Mr Cowling - I hope you listen to us fans, because without us core '3,000 loyal fans' your fan base will decline even further. Success off the pitch starts with success on the pitch - I have no doubt the result on Saturday will ensure we see only a 3,000 and something crowd again attend Tuesday night against Brentford. Dare I say it - hope we can all remain behind the U's but my faith is really being tested right now - 'Up the U's!'

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Cuthbert says...
7:08am Sun 21 Mar 10

I also think we're lucky that other teams are stuttering too.

I've seen quite a few dire away performances. I feel sorry for those who go up and down on the supporters' coaches - at least I check out the best local pubs etc., so have something else from the day. One of the worst games was Brentford away - actually it was probably the worst imho. Should be good on Tuesday...

If our home form now goes ( and some of those wins have been lucky ) we can forget top six. :-(

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crazy comments says...
3:34pm Sun 21 Mar 10

Feisty CBC wrote:
crazy comments wrote: Dont blame the players, blame Boothroyd. WHY WHY WHY does Wordsworth gets picked for every game. He is bl--dy useless, has not got a clue what he is doing and runs around like a headless chicken. Honestly what can you expect when Wordsworth,Heath and Platt are all playing at once. Im fed up on hearing people say Platt is good at holding the ball up. He is, but he also needs not to stand static and run into open spaces. Aidy get a video of Greg Holt and show Platt what he should be doing. . He might pick up a few hints. Listening to the radio Heath made several errors this afternoon with mistimed tackles and simple passes., reason Baldwin should be in the team. You have lost it big time Boothroyd. Your team selection,and tactics are rubbish . Be ready for a backlash from me Tuesday night. I never wanted you to be the manager and I hope you will be on your way soon. I'm seething with anger when for two weeks running we can not even beat ten men. Get rid of John Ward as well and give Joe Dunne the chance to get this team playing football as it should be played.
Were you actually at the game? No? Shutit numpty lol
You want to tell them all on here to shut it then because they are all agreeing the same things. If your happy with things so it be .

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Surb says...
6:42pm Sun 21 Mar 10

BRING BACK ELITO! BRING BACK EEEELITO, BRING BACK ELITO GET RID OF WOODY! - Also look at the other facts, Magnus and Batth in defence = a long string of games unbeaten. Magnus and Heath in defence = 1 point out of a possible 12. Just shows that Heath is useless! Aidy please get rid of Heath, and wordsworth - Bring back Hackney, Elito, and Pat Baldwin.

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crazy comments says...
8:40pm Sun 21 Mar 10

Surb wrote:
BRING BACK ELITO! BRING BACK EEEELITO, BRING BACK ELITO GET RID OF WOODY! - Also look at the other facts, Magnus and Batth in defence = a long string of games unbeaten. Magnus and Heath in defence = 1 point out of a possible 12. Just shows that Heath is useless! Aidy please get rid of Heath, and wordsworth - Bring back Hackney, Elito, and Pat Baldwin.
YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES please . Heath is useless, with rash mistimed tackles, shirt tugging, jumps on backs, indisive with the ball and cant pass for toffee. And Boothroyd calls him a jewel. Well Aidy stop being a football manager and become a comedian instead. Please be a man and admit your wrong on this one. However like all the others I will give be giving my full support still on Tuesday night so please drop Heath and Wordsworth now before its to late.

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e8joe says...
9:23pm Sun 21 Mar 10

I have seen one decent performance since christmas at the whcs and that was against southampton with lisbie and gillespie up front, no long ball!. I have been to every home game, just hope brentford will be better, the person I feel sorry for is Robbie Cowling I am sure he has the very best intentions and when he got aidy in he thought the same as me that he is relatively high profile for our club and would be a great success. I do like david prutton though. Finally i don't think next years prices are dear, if i pay by may my seat is still cheaper than standing in the barside! just hope the football improves

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love Dr says...
2:19pm Mon 22 Mar 10

maybe sign up Bob Russell and Lord Hanningfield,that would bring in the crowds.

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