WE have to give credit where credit is due. The number of players arriving at the U’s this January is almost unprecedented and whilst we failed to intercept the Arsenal centre-forward on his way to Spain, our club has managed to provide plenty of cover.

I would like to think there's plenty of competition within the squad to see us through until the end of the season, numbers-wise anyway.

I think the only way of judging a player on his quality is not by his stats and age but by how he plays for us and I look forward to seeing what all of these new faces can deliver for the team.

Not all of them can be involved in the matchday squad of course, as there is a limit imposed for loanees, so the management will have some tough calls to make on who even makes the bench during the next few months. They will have to be ruthless in my view.

If a player is not delivering, whether contracted or not, then they will need to step aside. When or if a new permanent manager comes to Colchester, they might even start everyone with a clean slate. That could be interesting.

Let us all hope that this investment in our chances of survival pays off. We have 19 games left, and if we can keep on building results as we have in the last three games, maybe even this squad strengthening will let the U’s conclude this season on a high. I think we could all do with that.

Gazette:

Two home games, two draws and two points to widen the gap to the bottom two. Both games similar in my view in that the U’s stood off the opposition too much and allowed them to play.

I think we are more than capable of competing for the ball at the halfway line but I didn’t see much of that. That said, I have to praise the courage shown by the U’s against Swindon.

Quite high in this category is young Ted Collins who took the gloves in front of a vociferous away end and yet was positive, fearless and decisive. Huge credit to the lad for stepping up and to not being found wanting.

For me, everything seemed to going against us so the late equaliser was the perfect riposte. As for the red cards, well Shamal does not strike me as a nasty player or person, so I suspect there was some smoke before the fire. You could also say that the player Chambers grabbed was offside.

One of many calls that seemed to go the other way last Saturday.

Gazette:

Alan Judge’s (pictured above) strike on Tuesday will be shown time and time again. It was brilliantly struck. Just a pity that after squandering a few good goes at the second goal, we faded, look a bit leggy and conceded to drop two points.

However it was good to see Tom Eastman (pictured above) back on the pitch. Also good to see what John Akinde (below) can do for us when he perhaps gets totally match fit.

Personally, I think we need to get Freddie on the ball more. We failed somewhat in the first half. Building those partnerships with Big John and Corie Andrews, who I also like, will be key to our attacking threat.

Gazette:

So all in all a productive and even promising week for the U’s. The proof of the pudding will be our results and how well we can nudge our way from our current still precarious position.

It is off to the draw specialists Leyton Orient tomorrow, where I am sure that we’ll see a large number of U’s fans in attendance. They will need our support for what will be a tough game.

And then we head to high-flying Mansfield for a tough test. Wouldn’t it be great to get a point or more from both of these?

Have a great week U’s fans and thanks for your support.