Banter with Burns with Colchester United Supporters Association chairman Jon Burns

Seemingly earlier than ever, the football season is well underway and for the U’s there has to be just one thing on their minds, and that is promotion.

Everything else is probably secondary, with the cups a nice little bonus if things go well.

Last season, we all watched League One slip painfully from our grasp after such a fantastic start where I really thought no one could get the better of us.

This season, the U’s and their very decent squad of players have an opportunity to be another strong force in League Two and make sure that come the end of April, we are all celebrating success.

It might mean that they need to extend the new and excellent Fanzone up at the stadium!

Last Saturday they got off to a reasonable, slightly nervy and rusty start, against a rough and tough Port Vale side.

A point is good but we all know that home wins are what we need.

Doing well on the road is also important, with tomorrow no different as the U’s head to difficult Plymouth.

So what did we learn from last week? Well the U’s will be indebted to hard work and attitude of Tom and Tom yet again this season.

Eastman and Lapslie were excellent and I really thought that the younger version would have been given the armband again.

I loved the moment in the second half when Lapslie tackled one player on the edge of our penalty area, then got up and hunted down the next Vale man to tackle, then sprung up again to win the ball off player number three.

It's good to see that Courtney Senior still loves a dribble. He looks to have found an extra nip of acceleration to me.

The U’s will benefit if he can keep doing that, especially if he can bring team-mates into play more.

Looks like we’ll need to be patient with Harry Pell after his injury though but I’m sure he’ll be back to his rampaging best soon.

I’m looking forward to seeing more from the Jevani Brown and Luke Norris combination up front.

Still a slight work in progress perhaps but there were promising signs for me.

Finally, prepare to be kicked lads if last Saturday is anything to go by. League Two players do not like speedy youngsters

running past them it seems.

Good luck to the U’s and all those heading off very early to support them in Devon tomorrow.

Nothing like bagging your first away win of the season against the favourites for the top spot.

Don’t forget that we have Swindon in the cup on Tuesday and then an early local derby next Saturday when Cambridge United pay us a visit.

U’s football is back and it’s coming thick and fast!

Jon Burns, Colchester United Supporters Association chairman