I SINCERELY hope that, football aside, you all had a good Christmas and that despite the restrictions you were able to spend a lovely few days with members of your family.

Any sort of boost at the moment has to be grasped with two hands and cherished.

Disappointingly, in the fixture that probably matters the most to the U’s supporters this season, Boxing Day in South Essex failed to give us any sort of lift. In fact it actually took us the other way.

Even worse than burning the turkey or having a box full of crackers with no bang, the team we support delivered an unmemorable festive performance that apart from two or three players, contained none of the positive descriptions lavished by the opposition manager on his own team – attitude, work rate and endeavour.

I felt that the benefit of the doubt was available after their below-par defeat against Morecambe, but after watching the effort at Southend, I cannot think of any valid excuses that fit the bill.

I hope beyond hope that somehow ahead of the Cheltenham game they got a strong hold of themselves, had a good shake, and realised that they had a job to do.

One of my often annual frustrations with the U’s is that they have the ability to go into their shells, almost collectively, for several games at a time. It is like they have been given dreadful news or something else.

Minds are elsewhere and it comes across to the fans, and I am sure that this is not the case, that they don’t seem to realise what's at stake.

The U’s were not beaten by the better team, they were beaten by themselves I think. Maybe they were feeling sorry for themselves with Pell, Harriott, Bramall and Norris all absent through injury?

Good to see Tom Lapslie back on the pitch though and I will always attribute those three aforementioned descriptions to his good self.

Personally I am not sure what the thinking was with the other Tom Eastman at right-back and I am afraid that a certain other player probably needs to be taken out of the firing line for a while, with someone else given a chance, because he pulls out of too many challenges for my liking.

These have been tough words to write because I hate to criticise, and it is not just because it was Southend, but something is not right at the moment and they all need to play a part in fixing it.

You look down the squad list and we have seen each and every one of them have top games in a U’s shirt.

They need to re-kindle that fast otherwise I think the under-18s who have been on the bench or even starting so far this season will be taking their places.

May I wish you all a very Happy New Year. 2021 has to be better on so many levels than 2020, and let us also hope that it can be successful one for the U’s, starting with three points off Tranmere this weekend, when sadly we will be excluded from the stadium again.