Colchester United fan Si Collinson gives his U's views

We have had the rollercoaster of emotions, the highs and lows of football all brought clearly into focus and highlight just why we love the game like we do.

The positive was the first win at Portman Road since 1951.

Luke Hannant sure picked the game in which to score his first Colchester goal, writing himself in to the fabric of the club's history.

The night was one to remember and look back on in years to come and say 'I was there'.

Of course, there has been a lot made of the issues with a small minority of the 1,400-plus fans who were there.

While there's no condoning their actions, it shouldn't take the shine off what was a night of nights.

Both clubs have rightfully come out and said they will be taking the strongest course of action against those found to have been responsible and it is now a case of watch this space to see what the next steps are.

On the subject of seats, please can fans understand that unless the games are a massive sell-out, allocated seating is not enforced.

There is plenty of space and it is very un-cool to ask people to move from their groups just to sit where your ticket says.

Would it really hurt just to sit a few rows different and leave everyone to themselves?

It may seem a minor point, but one that can be very frustrating when there are clearly unoccupied seats elsewhere.

As ever with Colchester, every high always seems to be followed by a low that brings us sharply down to earth and have the clear reality of a situation presented to us fans.

The trip to Stockport was one that saw a good following of the faithful embark on their first trip to Edgeley Park since 2010 and there was an air of hope and positivity in the air.

That was sadly slowly removed throughout the 90 minutes and replaced with a degree of frustration and at times pure wonder as to just what we were trying to achieve, out on the sun-drenched pitch.

Whatever it was, the stats don't lie and it was not our most productive day at the office.

While it is to be expected that the plan will not survive the test and changes will be needed, it was perhaps the manner in which these changes were brought about - or not, as the case may be.

This season, we have the chance to use five substitutes in order to influence and dictate the game in a different way, if the original was not working out.

This is what they are for and every role of the dice should be used so it was a very disgruntled fanbase that witnessed us go 1-0 down, on 67 minutes.

Even before then, it was clear our play was not maximising any forward opportunities, reflected by us having only two shots all game (but none on target).

As soon as Wootton headed the hosts to their first win since their promotion, our bench should have been the hive of activity with tactical discussions, subs stripping to come on and all purpose turned to getting back in the game.

So imagine the annoyance of one change on 69 minutes, then nothing till a double change in the 81st and finally a fourth, in stoppage-time.

How can any player be expected to come on with nine minutes to play, get up to speed with the game, put in place a change of system and capitalise on fresh legs?

Yes, there are the so-called super subs, but more often than not changes this late on are more to time waste than tactical.

If the fans can see the issues, why can't those paid to see them?

We should have put Newby, Akinde and Tovide on earlier, by the hour mark at least and then pushed Chilvers up into a midfield three, leaving Marshall-Miranda to screen the defence.

This would have put players in their stronger positions, along with giving us more attacking threat to get something out of the game.

If we are going to lose, then at least go down fighting - fans will always respond to that in a more positive fashion, rather than the feeling of a team rolling over easily.

But that is all done and now in the history books, both good and bad.

What now matters is the next game and how we manage to respond with the triple header of home games.

One thing that is for sure is that we need to back the lads and let's hope there are no more mentions of any seats in the negative light. Up the U’s.