"OH what a night, watching Col U on a Tuesday night……”

There were groans from some when we handed a League Cup fourth-round tie at Crawley Town.

After all the scalps we took to get here, it seemed rather unfair that the two League Two teams had drawn each other.

But last night was amazing, buzzing, heart-stopping and another 1,000 emotions along the way.

A Tuesday night on a packed terrace, under the lights, feeling the nostalgia of my childhood flood back.

As a fanbase it was fantastic support and the team more than delivered, even going behind and then equalising so quickly only added to the drama.

Every single player left a part of themselves on that pitch.

We embarked on this cup run with little hope that it would get us anywhere but suddenly we are three games away from Wembley, remembering the semi-final is home and away.

It has been an adventure that no matter what happened next will live on in the memory and hopefully influence a new generation of fans.

Luke Norris got his goal, big Frank Nouble was unstoppable, Ben Stevenson was everywhere in midfield.

John McGreal and Steve Ball got the set up and tactics spot on.

The list of praise goes on and on.

One thing is for sure, if come March 1, 2020 we are heading to the Arch, the U's boss needs to start planning where he would like his statue to be put up outside the JSC Stadium.

Back to the all-important league and even the most faithful of Colchester fans must have had that 'oh no, here we go again' feeling last Saturday when Newport scored so early on after splitting our defence.

But it was not the case; the game settled and we were clearly the better team.

The creativity and fresh ideas were there for all to see and although they did not always come off, they did get the fans in voice and that seemed to lift the team to another level.

After the mid-week game at Crewe last week, there was a sense of disappointment mixed with pleasure.

Anyone would have taken a point away, with a clean sheet thrown in, before the game kicked off.

But with the missed penalty there was a feeling of two points lost.

I think we did well for the point and should just put the miss down as bad luck and move on.

Frank did not aim to miss and was man enough to hold his hand up, take it on the chin and apologise on social media, which as a measure of a man should not be overlooked.

Anyway, back to the Newport game. After the initial blimp, the team started firing and looked so dangerous going forward.

I know I have covered this before but our players started to shoot at half chances, that got the volume up in the stands and leads to more confidence and shots, including a potential goal of the season contender from Ben Stevenson.

As soon as the shooting started, Newport had no answer to the barrage and really opened up for the taking.

We had 18 shots to their six and Courtney Senior finally got his long-deserved goal, which after all the 'oh so nears', will fingers crossed get him scoring more regularly.

The FA Cup returns early next month and a home game against League One side Coventry will be one that we can win.

For me the FA Cup was the competition of hopes and dreams.

The games were on TV (big event back then) and cup final day was next to Christmas Day on the list of big days on the calendar, with whole day TV coverage.

I know it has lost this but Coventry due to their issues – they are playing home games at St Andrew’s - do travel well as fans who boycott home games, come away.

They will bring a lot of support so let’s all make the effort to out-number and out-sing them.

Who knows, maybe we can embark on another cup run and come January boast another big-team scalp?

Colchester United season-ticket holder Si Collinson's views on the U's