LET'S start our banter this week with something positive in amongst all of the other stuff kicking football in the ribs at the moment.

Two clean sheets already in the league, a couple of goals, and perhaps I detect a slight change of style in the way the U’s are playing that is paying off.

Admittedly we have not got a massive bruiser leading the front line to bang the ball up to these days, so maybe it is enforced a bit, but I am really enthused about the passing game the U’s are working on.

Almost out-footballing the opposition at times. Playing to our strengths, given the level of skill and touch that several of our players have up their sleeves.

It has looked good so far, particularly last Saturday against Bolton. Jevani Brown worked incredibly hard up front and deserved his delightful lob of the stranded keeper. Good to see our closet-centre forward Tom Eastman getting his forehead on another goal, too.

Bramall continues to be a severe weapon down the left and Welch-Hayes does a similar job down the right. All in all a fine team performance. If others can start to chip in with goals too, then it would be a job well done.

Barrow away tomorrow would have been a popular one for the U’s fans. Watching it on EFL iFollow helps us fans to a degree, but I was dismayed how little it helps the club after reading Robbie’s facts about how the income is apportioned.

Not that it should stop us watching and cheering on behind our screens, but best we not think that it’s a great money spinner for the U’s, especially when they play away.

Robbie’s other statement this week stemmed from the hugely disappointing and frustrating decision made by our Government.

It is really worth a read, as yet again he is direct and forthright, with just a hint of his real anger amongst his words.

Obviously the nation’s health is paramount, but for me the pausing of the return of football fans to stadiums for an easy way out for the authorities.

It had not started yet, so they probably thought we all would not miss what we were yet to have.

Compare this decision to everything else going on around us in the press, and tell me how this looks fair from a risk point of view.

For the play-off game against Exeter, just to get that one game played behind closed doors, the U’s had to complete and adhere to a massive risk assessment of 30 pages or more.

Imagine what hoops Robbie and the good folk working there had to jump through to get the sign off to start letting fans in next Saturday?

They did it though, with a huge amount of time, planning and cost thrown in to make it happen. If it came down to sitting in my car for ten minutes before getting to the gate at my allotted time, to find my “bubble” seat in the stand to simply watch (even with a mask) and support the players for 90 minutes and then depart in a socially distanced way, I would have taken that.

How is that worse than shopping in a supermarket or getting on the underground as examples?

Without a massive re-think, without the long-awaited financial help, and please don’t get me started on the transfer fees being paid out in the Premier League recently, the Government is effectively hanging football, and other sports to be fair, out to dry, and that in my view is inexcusable.

Colchester United Supporters Association chairman Jon Burns