180 MINUTES. Two cup finals. Nothing but two wins will do. We are now at that stage of our survival bid.

We were lucky last weekend that Southend United only gained one point to cut the gap between Colchester United and the relegation zone to four.

Grimsby Town lost, taking the whole meaning of 'we fight together' to another level after two players squared up and one was sent off at half-time in their defeat to Bradford City.

It's all well and good other results going for us if it maintains our League status, but we have to stop relying on this as it will not guarantee our safety.

We're the only ones who we should be relying on and the way we sort this is to beat Walsall and Southend - easier said than done, I know, but the time for talking is over and it's now the time for action.

If we beat Walsall, that will put added pressure on our South Essex rivals on Tuesday week.

Victory for the U’s then will all but relegate Southend and ensure our place in the pyramid for next season.

The Oldham game was a chance to apply the pressure by playing first but that was not to be.

It just ended in another defeat and a moody start to the weekend for myself and many other fans.

There were patches of improvement in the second half, after yet another first half for the U’s to forget.

After going 3-0 down we somehow managed to score twice and really bring ourselves back into contention, before getting caught out on the break twice to condemn ourselves to another defeat.

What I honestly think does not help is the fact we are slow to change things that are not working.

If that first half was not enough to bring changes at the break, I honestly dread to think how bad it has to get to bring a half-time substitution.

It took until we were 3-0 down in the 56th minute to start to change things.

Once the fresh players were brought into the action the tempo changed and we scored twice.

It begs the question - if they had been made sooner, would that have prevented their third and given us more opportunity to score first in the half?

I know it's hearsay, but if something is not working why wait so long to mix it up?

So the Oldham game was poor and for the first time this season, I'm worried that we may go down. Mind you, this is something I'm really happy to be proved wrong on.

Personally, I'd look to make changes to the starting XI, looking at the middle of the second half as a template on to how we play and who plays where.

But when the players cross the white line out there on the pitch, it's down to them.

Now more than ever is the time to play for the shirt, the fans and in some cases, their futures.

We can't afford to carry anyone and must iron out the basic errors of mis-placed passes, not tracking runners etc.

We have got to the stage of the season when chances to stay up are now being measured in minutes, not games left.

Come on lads, put in 180 minutes of hard passion and graft and let's put empty stadiums, enforced restrictions behind us with a League Two tour next season instead of wallowing in relegation and the National League.

Up the U’s.