OUR good record at Stevenage was well and truly blown out of the water by Kurtis Guthrie and co last Saturday - and there was plenty of water to be honest.

Most of it found its way into the stand, where we were all shivering.

You could say that the U’s were undone by a certain amount of climbing for their first goal and a certain amount of penalty area misjudgement for their second goal.

But that doesn’t hide the fact that apart from the opening period, Colchester were below par and struggling in the wind and driving rain.

Conditions suited the Stevenage play, with lots of tall men quite happy to see the ball in the air most of the time.

The U’s prefer a different style of play and to be honest, a couple of our lads went missing a bit as a consequence.

Just one game though and definitely not the end of the world - a win tomorrow against Crawley and we’ll be back chasing the top three again.

It’s debatable as to whether John McGreal will get the shepherd's crook out on a player or two. Not really his style perhaps?

The good performance against Southend seems to have given him food for thought though and he would dearly love to bring Kent back, possibly alongside Prosser and Eastman.

He’s also been talking up our Wolves loanee Aaron Collins this week, who I thought played quite well in the season opener but since then has hardly kicked a ball in anger.

We shall all see about 2pm tomorrow when the team is announced.

So what of that Southend win and indeed the EFL Trophy competition? Firstly, I had a little smile when I saw that Charlton had placed 8 (eight) past Stevenage.

Clearly though still not popular with the fans around the country, although an Essex derby peaked the interest somewhat.

The U’s victory sets up a nice final game shoot out at Joe Dunne’s Cambridge in November, with the winner taking their place in the final 32.

I do agree that the competition needs work. It has the stigma of annoyance about it at the moment and I struggle to see the purpose behind it.

That said, the U’s have a very good chance of progressing so I’ll be Cambridge bound to support them.

Back to tomorrow and Crawley will be tough opposition. They can claim Lincoln as a scalp already this season and although better at home than away, I doubt they’ll be easy pickings for the U’s players.

It'll be great to have a good backing of U’s fans to support them and don’t forget that your support of the new supporters bar would also be appreciated.

The more people using it, the better chance we have of keeping it and developing it long term.

Thanks for your support as always.

Jon Burns, Colchester United Supporters Association chairman