GIVEN the respective recent form of both teams heading into our trip to Crawley Town tomorrow afternoon, you could be forgiven that it will fall some way short of being a spectacle to enjoy.

Our Sussex rivals also can’t buy a win at home at the moment, and I think we all know how many games it has been since the U’s picked up all three points anywhere.

That said, of course, I’ll still be tuning in. The U’s have to climb out of this rut at some point and I want to watch it when it happens.

The green shoots were starting to climb to the surface against Mansfield last Sunday.

Two good goals, although in fairness one of them was a great goal, and without the two switch off moments at the back, we would have won the game.

The players also looked a little more in their groove and at times dominated the ball. There are still areas for improvement, and I think that Tommy Smith may look back at both of the goals conceded and think he could have done better.

On the positive side, Callum Harriott did very well with his goal, especially with his right peg, and I can’t tell you how happy I was with Frank Nouble’s equaliser.

After going 2-1 down I thought we were doomed, but thanks to Ryan Clampin’s brilliant run, a perfect first-time pass from Callum, Mr Nouble destroyed their centre halves with a superb turn and again wrapped up a wonderful finish from a tight angle.

I certainly appreciate that times are tough being a U’s fan at the moment, but I would like to think that the act of coming back twice in the game, deserves a little bit of credit.

I said last week that the team selection, given all of the players available, would be an interesting one.

Personally I was surprised that one or two started over others on the bench or otherwise surprisingly left out, and I am sure that I am not alone in wanting to see my favourite players play.

Rather than talk down any player, I would just like to reiterate that Tom Lapslie was excellent on a weather-challenged pitch, and that I was very pleased that Ryan got his chance and made a telling contribution to the equaliser.

Let’s see what the team looks like as we take to the pitch at Crawley still urgently needing a win.

The league table does not lie. The U’s could be fourth from bottom after Saturday’s games if it all goes pear-shaped.

Given the fact that ten points is also the difference between us and the play-off places, and us and the relegation zone, it shows how tight it is in between those areas.

This is distorted somewhat by the varying number of games teams have played. Have a look at Carlisle. If they win even just a few of their games in hand, they’ll be top.

The U’s really need to focus on themselves, though. There are loads of games left to play and they have to somehow create a winning run, put a number of points on the board and increase the breathing space, because the teams around us will surely be trying to do the same.

Relegation from League Two would be a disaster, this season.

It is again dreadful that we cannot all be heading to Crawley tomorrow to help the players. It is always a popular away trip for the U’s fans.

Let us hope that those green shoots continue to grow in our absence and bring us a cheery three points, to boost our weekends.