Five talking points from U's win over Stevenage
Powers of recovery
IT had been a long time since Colchester United last came from behind to win a football match.
The U’s recovered to beat Stevenage 3-1, which was the first time they had fought back from a deficit in a game since winning 3-2 at Swindon Town back in December 2017.
Colchester’s recovery was a reflection of the confidence and belief currently evident within their ranks, after a run of just one defeat from their last 12 games in all competitions.
Being bold
BY his own admission, John McGreal made some brave decisions in selecting an attack-minded Colchester United starting line-up against Stevenage.
Some might argue that if you can’t be bold at home to the division’s bottom team then when can you, especially after a run of positive results.
But after making four changes to the starting line-up for the second successive match and going for two up front in Luke Norris and Theo Robinson, boss McGreal got his rewards.
Fantastic Frank
FRANK Nouble came close to missing Colchester United’s game with Stevenage.
The experienced forward passed a fitness test on the day of the game, where he was able to shrug off what he has described as a ‘minor issue’ to take his place in the U’s starting line-up.
How Colchester were glad he did; the former West Ham youngster played a big part in their 3-1 victory, winning and converting a penalty before then doing brilliantly to set up Kwame Poku for the U’s third of the afternoon.
Straight off the training ground
COLCHESTER United had been working on crosses into the box all week.
So it must have been satisfying for them to see their endeavours pay off against Stevenage.
Theo Robinson did brilliantly with his delivery for Tom Eastman to nod home the U’s equaliser, as did Frank Nouble for his assist that set up Kwame Poku to net Colchester’s third.
No to knuckleball
YOU can’t beat a good old fashioned free-kick – at least that seems to be the view of U’s head coach John McGreal.
By taking a more pragmatic approach to a set-piece, Luke Norris came a lick of paint away from scoring for Colchester United against Stevenage.
“We’ve been talking about getting away from this knuckleball – this Ronaldo thing that they try and do,” said McGreal.
“You just have to hit it true at this level and you don’t want to complicate things.”
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