SCUNTHORPE away was one of those games that Colchester United's travelling fans were almost convinced we would win, given the hosts' form and with the U’s beating Port Vale at home in our last game.

But in true Colchester fashion, we managed to make it much harder than it needed to be. In hindsight, this added to the entertainment value, but it wasn't very good for my pulse rate.

We came out of the blocks well and had the game on the front foot, creating a few chances to take an early lead until another lapse in defending and our lack of ability to clear the ball in the box resulted in our bottom of the league hosts taking an early lead.

As expected, this had a massive knock-on effect, taking the wind out of the sails of both players and fans alike. I do not think I was alone in secretly worrying that we were now in for a long afternoon.

A glimmer of light was suddenly cast on the game when Luke Matheson was shown two yellow cards within eight first-half minutes being sent for an early shower with 35 minutes on the clock.

Now this was a gift of an opportunity to get back into the game with Scunthorpe down to ten men, with enough time before the interval to capitalise on the disorder this sending off caused.

Well that's what most teams would do but not it seems us, as we just laboured to half-time.

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During the break much was made of who would come on and how would we change things to make the man advantage count.

But this was talk of fantasy as it turned out it was not us making the first change, but rather the home side looking to reorganise to hold on to the three points.

We finally made our first subs on 55 minutes, before which the U’s faithful were getting restless and could see something was needed to change our fortunes.

This point was being made clear, with some colourful language being used to get the point across.

In the end, it was Noah Chilvers who grabbed the game kicking and screaming back in our favour.

His goal for the equaliser was a brilliant solo effort, driving from deep in our own half to stick the ball in the net, even if the build-up to the goal was to the soundtrack of Nick screaming for Noah to release the ball.

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Once the much-needed celebrations were over, there was a feeling of the brakes coming off and finally the lads finding their rhythm and confidence.

Owura Edwards grabbed a second and the ever-dominant Chilvers grabbing his brace to make it 3-1, turning the game on its head in 16 frantic second-half minutes.

While we were out-played and looked very poor in the first half, we looked a different team after the substitutions were made in the second half.

This begs the question as to why we do not start games with the line-up and formation we finish with, with it offering more in the final third and more options to play the ball into, along with looking more comfortable at the back.

It would be nice to see a more settled XI and one that includes two strikers week in, week out.

So while Saturday may not have been all plain-sailing, it was a job done come full-time and three points coming home to North Essex.

Right now, we need the points no matter how they come and with other results in our favour the gap is slowly opening.

But that said, in this league things can change very quickly so we need to keep pushing and achieving all we can in every game starting with the trip to Bristol Rovers on Tuesday night.

Up the U’s.