Colchester United season-ticket holder Si Collinson

I WAS finally able to get to a Colchester United under-23 game at the stadium, on Monday.

Although the visitors Bristol City ended up winning by two unanswered goals, it was positive to see Tom Lapslie get some more minutes under his belt to aid his recovery and make steps towards a first team return.

It was also a chance to see Miles Welch-Hayes for the first time since he joined.

He looked confident and once his match fitness and sharpness returns, he'll become an asset to John McGreal and Steve Ball with options in the right-back and right wing-back position.

With players coming back from injury and returning to match fitness, this can only be a good thing.

Although it will provide a selection headache of the good type, it will also allow players to be rested if needed, as well as a strong bench of impact subs to be used at the right time to influence the game and change it as necessary.

Colchester made the long trip up to Carlisle United last weekend and although the temperature may not have been great, the U’s were on fire and returned to winning ways running out clear winners in a one-sided contest.

A Kwame Poku brace and another well-taken goal by Luke Norris ensured that the three points returned to North Essex, putting the U’s back into the play-off places in the process.

With results going slightly in our favour we now have our promotion dream back in our own hands.

Every game from now until the end of April is a cup final and must be treated as so.

But what was pleasing to see was the fact that the luck of the bounce and the deflections actually went our way.

It might not seem much but in recent years this has not been the case and the shot that deflected in off the post would have deflected out instead.

John McGreal celebrated his 200th game in charge at Carlisle and I was pleased that he was rewarded with the win.

I like him as a manger and a person, so was glad to see that was the case.

He will hopefully have more to cheer about later on this season with a play-off victory at Wembley and the long-awaited return to League One.

All we need to do is keep this winning formula and push hard for the remaining games.

We're back at home on Saturday for the first of two quick-fire home games, with the visit of Scunthorpe United followed by that of league leaders Crewe Alexandra.

Both teams will prove to be tough opponents, as Scunthorpe will be hurting from their derby loss to Grimsby on Saturday past, while Crewe are flying high at the top of the table and proving very hard to beat.

Our home support has been good all season and is rightly getting mentioned in the reports and interviews.

Let's ensure that this remains the case and as many as possible are there to cheer the lads on from the first minute all the way to the final whistle.