Ready for the run-in

It's all about the final run-in for us now.

We have ten games to go and we have to focus on one game at a time, starting with Yeovil Town at home on Saturday.

We have to build on our performance at Mansfield Town and put Yeovil Town to the sword.

We have Morecambe away next Tuesday but we can’t afford to look too far ahead.

If we don’t get the results we want in the games coming up, it won’t matter what happens in the ones the follow that in the context of us trying to go for the play-offs.

Yeovil got a very good away point at Exeter City on Tuesday night and we have to be wary of their resilience.

But we will aim to put in a dominant performance and look to win the game.

We certainly want a big improvement on our last home performance and result against Barnet but I can count on one hand the number the number of negative displays we’ve had at home, during the manager’s tenure.

We’ve been very good at the Community Stadium and we’ll be looking to continue that, between now and the end of the season.

We’re hoping to return to training on the Florence Park pitches tomorrow, having had to do our work in the indoor dome so far this week.

But I said recently, we’re very lucky to have that facility at our disposal at this time of year, with many of our rivals not having that option of training effectively inside.

The forecast is very cold weather for Saturday.

I really thought we had seen the back of it but I’ll make sure I’m fully warmed up and ready to go.

A much-improved display

It was very important we produced a good performance against Mansfield Town and I thought we did that.

The two previous games had been very poor by our standards and we wanted to put in a much better performance.

I thought our work rate was excellent and we were tenacious, so all in all it was a very good display.

We gained a point and we’re still in with a shout.

We were disappointed as a defensive unit with the goal that we conceded.

I’ve tried to come out to close the angle and it was a disappointing goal to concede, as we’ve been very good in dealing with the long ball this season.

I think the goal was the only header that Tom Eastman and Frankie Kent missed in the whole game and I thought we defended well throughout.

Kurtis Guthrie was only inches away from scoring a winner for us and we deserved the point and maybe more.

United defeat must now focus on FA Cup win

Probably like a lot of other people, I was very surprised to see Manchester United crash out of the Champions League at the hands of Seville, on Tuesday night.

On paper, United had one of the easier draws in the knockout stages, especially with them being at home in the second leg.

For a club like United, to lose in that manner and to not make it through to the quarter-finals has to be regarded as a failure, especially as they will not win the Premier League title this season.

Jose Mourinho has come in for some stick for his approach and they will now have to focus their attention on trying to win the FA Cup this season and come out of it with a trophy.

A Hammer blow

What happened at West Ham United last weekend is a completely unique situation and it’s sad to see.

Most professional footballers will not have to deal with that kind of thing during the course of their career.

To see fans running on the pitch protesting and abuse and objects being thrown towards the owners during their game against Burnley at the London Stadium was pretty shocking, to say the least.

It wasn’t very pleasant to see and I don’t think it particularly painted the game in a great light.

I understand fans have their frustrations but the footage of Mark Noble - who is West Ham through and through and a one-club man - throwing a fan to the floor wasn’t great.

As a professional, you go out onto the pitch looking to perform to the best of your ability and you shouldn’t have to deal with that.

West Ham have arguably one of the most passionate fanbases in the country but at the moment, a lot of their supporters are clearly disenchanted with what is going on at their football club.

Carragher's moment of madness

I think I’m like the vast majority of people in thinking that Jamie Carragher spitting towards someone was disgusting.

I can’t quite get my head around what he did – in my opinion, the guy he did it towards was a bit of an idiot in goading him as he did in the first place and filming it while he was driving.

But the banter was about the Liverpool result – it’s meaningless and that kind of talk happens all the time.

During his 20 years or so as a professional footballer, I’m sure he had to deal with that kind of banter on a regular basis so why he reacted in the way he did, I don’t know.

He has made all the right moves afterwards and fair play to him for that, as a lot of people may well have tried to hide away and keep themselves to themselves in that situation.

He came and fronted up and has apologised profusely but it was certainly a moment of madness.

Thankfully, spitting incidents have gone out of the game although we did have one involving West Ham’s Arthur Masuaku, earlier in the season.

Tiger's on the prowl again

There are quite a few of us at Colchester United who watched a lot of golf last weekend – and one of the main reasons for that was Tiger Woods.

He was so captivating at the Valspar Championship.

I was pleased that Paul Casey won but I would have loved Tiger to have lifted the trophy.

Tiger’s been under the radar and you can see that despite all of the problems he’s had both on and off the course, he’s still offers so much to the game.

It looks like he’s in great shape and I can’t wait for the Masters in a few weeks’ time.

It’s one of the sporting occasions I look forward to the most and I’ll be watching as much as I possibly can.

I’m sure that I won’t be the only one at Col U – a lot of the lads like Tom Eastman, Tom Lapslie, Frankie Kent, Drey Wright, Sean Murray and Doug Loft will also be watching very closely!

A bit of a trek

Apparently, N’Golo Kante has refuted claims that he was known to run to training, during his Leicester City days.

I’m not surprised, given the huge role that sports science plays in our game these days.

I’m not sure our sports scientist Stef Russo would be too happy if I were to run to Tiptree and back from my home every day - not least because I live about 60 miles away!