Still, we never score early goals so no harm done. What’s that? Oh. 1-0 after 17 seconds, a Balotelli-style precision finish by Thomas from Malone’s cross apparently.
Anyway, this was my first view of the new stadium, and it’s a huge improvement on Layer Road (ok not difficult) and, other out of town stadia take note, the transport arrangements are efficient and reasonably priced. Injuries meant some enforced changes to the team, with Peters moving to right back, Purches holding in midfield, a welcome return for Malone in left midfield, and a first start for Fogden “in the hole”.
And quite effective it all looked, with everyone working hard to close down a Colchester side who looked every bit as mediocre as the other sides we’ve faced so far. Barrett and Zubar were winning headers, Peters tackled tenaciously, Pugh and Malone were causing problems on the flanks, and Fogden worked hard to support Thomas. Barrett was getting some stick from the locals for his Southend connections, which just seemed too add extra bite to his tackles and headers. Despite a very solid first half performance it almost all went wrong in added time when Henderson was played in, but Flahavan got down quickly to his left to turn the ball past the post.
Thomas had a great chance to give us some breathing space at the start of the second half with a header at the far post from Pugh’s cross but unaccountably managed to miss the target. A short corner seemed to have brought a second goal as Fogden scrambled in Gregory’s knock-down, but the linesman was already flagging for an offside in the corner quadrant. Back to the drawing board on that routine.
Colchester were starting to penetrate our defence with greater regularity but were proving amusingly incapable of hitting the target. In the end we had to do the job for them. Cummings was caught in possession on the goal line by Gillespie whose low cross went through Barrett’s legs and was turned in by Zubar in front of goal.
Not for the first time conceding a goal seemed to have a greater impact on our confidence than it should as for a worrying spell we stopped closing down in midfield, which could have proved costly against a better side than Colchester. Eventually we settled down somewhat and held out for a deserved draw without too many more alarms. Sheringham and Symes replaced the understandably tiring Thomas and Fogden with ten minutes to go. The latter looks to have the pace and technique to handle the step up and could be pushing for a regular starting spot sooner than expected.
Jaime Peters - committed in defence and attack
AFCB: Flahavan, Peters, Zubar, Barrett, Malone, Purches, Fogden, Gregory, Pugh, Thomas
Subs: Jalal, Carmichael, Fletcher, Symes (for Thomas, 80 mins), Sheringham (for Fogden, 80 mins)
Richie Barker, Leyton