And so we come to what could be described as Boro’s biggest game for at least a couple of years. Colchester United are in town and – beg, borrow or steal – we need three points to breathe new life into our slightly faded hopes of staying in this division. Many of our rivals are starting to think our local Fat Lady is starting to clear her throat and we’ve got ever fewer chances to steal the songsheet from her. We are current favourites to take all three points, but if you’re thinking of having a bet, load up on the free bets first; that way you are not risking your own cash
This weekend calls for a hero. A bone fide, worship-you-forever hero. Even if the winning goal bounces in off the bum cheeks of an upside down Jon Ashton, we won’t complain – it isn’t important how they go in, just as long as they do. It’s a must-win game, quite simply. It’s now becoming very difficult to say “we still have games to get the points”. We do, that much is true, but a team that relies on points from Brentford is often disappointed.
With 58 per cent of our goals coming in the first half, you can already see how crucial it’ll be to come out with all guns blazing. The Us are are on a four-match losing streak and the time to be charitable towards them came and went at Christmas. Let’s just repeat that – a four-game losing streak. If we’re going to stay up, we have to see the Us as being there for the taking, even if you could’ve said the same about Port Vale a couple of weeks ago.
So, we’re holding out for a hero ’til Saturday night. Strong? Fast? Maybe. Fresh from the fight?
Who knows… we just need a hero.
Colchester United: MATCH PACK
We’ve Met Them Before
Our record against Colchester United is bleeping bleep. Since demolishing them 6-1 over at their gaff back in 2011, we haven’t managed a bleeping goal against them. That changes this weekend, mainly because it has to for a start. You’ll hear England fans saying that we can win the World Cup this summer and are prepared to put a bet on that. But you’ll get a better price on us staying up, and it’ll be still very much conceivable if we win this one.
| 26 Dec 2013 | A | Sky Bet League One | 0-4 |
| 02 Mar 2013 | H | npower League One | 0-2 |
| 13 Oct 2012 | A | npower League One | 0-1 |
| 20 Mar 2012 | H | npower League One | 0-0 |
| 26 Dec 2011 | A | npower League One | 6-1 |
Referee Watch
Mark Heywood is the man pencilled in to take charge of this weekend’s game and we’ve been searching around to see if his appointment is in any way a good omen for Boro’. The bad news is that there’s not a lot to go on, at least historically. The good news is that, what we do have to go on, is an impeccable record of two wins in two games – both by the one goal. If that’s enough to lift your spirits ahead of the game, we’ve done our job well.
• This season for Mark Heywood:
Games: 27 — Yellow: 88 (3.26pg), Red: 3
• Our record under Mark Heywood:
P2 W2 D0 L0 F2 A0 – Yellow: 3, Red 0
FIFA 14 Verdict
We gotta replace the controller again, so FIFA 14 is on hiatus right now. Oops…
Bookie Bashing
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At the moment, we’re seen as favourites for this game going by the price of 10/11 for the home win. Colchester United’s recent poor record has them out at 3s by comparison. However, we’re unable to completely ignore our record against them and the visitors are 11/10 to keep a clean sheet. We’ve also lost nearly a fifth of our home games by a single-goal margin and a 1-0 away win is priced at 10/1 should you be feeling morbid.
But there are positives to take. A fifth of Colchester United’s away games have finished as a 1-1 draw (6/1) and another fifth as a 2-0 defeat (17/2). We’re 5/1 to score over 1.5 goals in the first half, the period in which we’ve scored more than half of our tally this season. A goalfest, however, shouldn’t be expected – games involving us at home produce 2.45 goals on average, while those involving the Us on the road average 2.5. Go under (8/11).
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