EFL League 2: Colchester United 0-0 Barrow AFC
- jsredman1
- 8 hours ago
- 6 min read
3rd May 2025
Colchester United vs Barrow AFC @ Colchester Community Stadium
EFL League Two
15:00 KO
£22.50 entry (include complimentary programme)
Attendance - 7,512
Half-time score: Colchester United 0-0 Barrow AFC
Brief match highlights are on YouTube, see link below:
Final Score: Colchester United 0-0 Barrow AFC
An excellent run of results from January to April saw Colchester United shoot up the table and in the mix for the final play-off place. However, the momentum has shifted of late as a combination of injuries, suspensions and illness spreading through the camp has seen them falter of late, with large defeats away at Doncaster Rovers and Salford City all but killing off the promotion dream. However, it was still mathematically possible for Col U to break into the last play-off spot, but with a poor goal difference three other results will need to go our way, so there was perhaps a 5% chance. Either way, it has been a brilliant season, the U's are on the up, the Cowley's have been brilliant and the recent much larger attendances are testament to this, it feels like the club has its spirit back. So much so that I could not get a ticket in my usual S1 stand, in fact the entire South Stand was sold out, incredible stuff. I prefer the cheaper seats, and having seen games from the West and East stands, when I saw that the North Stand, the traditional away end, was open to home fans, I jumped at the opportunity. I was particularly intrigued to see how the raucous South Stand appears to away fans. Visitors today were Barrow AFC, a huge trip down from Cumbria with nothing to play for, so fair play to the group who travelled down.
Today's free matchday programme summed up the season and was a big thank you to the fans, who have been incredible this year, with a big shoutout to the BWA who have contributed heavily to the much improved matchday experience, great effort.
It was a balmy sunny day in Colchester initially, with the sun going in and a bit of a wind whipping up in the 2nd half. Out into the sunshine, in front of a packed out stadium, Colchester United lined up in blue and white with Barrow AFC in their away yellow and black hoops. There were many permutations of how today would end, but for Col U to be in the mix they simply had to win!
KEY MOMENTS
CU = Colchester United
BA = Barrow AFC
3' - CU - Some fine skill from JK Gordon to knock the ball past the defender and sprint down the left, he squares the ball in and Tovide is mere millimeters away from making contact, almost the perfect start from the U's.
10' - BA - Jackson with the ball on the far right of the box, he cuts across and fires in a strike that arcs wide of the top left corner of the goal.
20' - CU - A neat touch from Bishop sees the space open up in front of him, so he elects to shoot from 20yrds out, the effort is well-struck but rising and scoots just over the bar.
41' - CU - Iandolo slips Payne in on the left, he immediately swivels and shoots at the near-post, but his effort is drilled into the wrong side of the net.
60' - CU - Thorn with neat threaded ball puts Tovide 1-on-1 with the keeper, it looks to be a surefire goal, but Stanway is out quick to close the space, Tovide tries to lift the ball over him, but Stanway makes the stop - how huge could this moment end up being?
65' - BA - Intense Barrow pressure from a corner, two efforts come in from Fletcher, first one is volleyed in, it ricochets back to him and he powers in a header, but it is blocked by the Col U defence, conceding a goal at this stage would be disastrous.
72' - CU - A swift 1-2 between Payne and substitute striker Simpson, Payne's snap strike across goal well saved and collected by the stretching Stanway.
74' - CU - Payne with a corner ball whipped into the near-post, Kelleher is on the end of it but his headed effort is fractionally wide of the goal, Col U doing everything but breaching the net.
76' - BA - RED CARD - A long ball up the field from Vincent-Young to Simpson, amazing control as he turns and threads the ball forwards, setting off a sprint race between the substitute centre-back Kyle Cameron and Col U's pacey winger Kyreece Lisbie. There was only one outcome and the Barrow defender cynically brings down Lisbie and is shown a straight red with no hesitation as the last man. There were some question marks however regarding whether Cameron won the ball, either way, Barrow immediately put all men behind the ball, not entirely helpful for the U's chasing the win.
80' - CU - Col U giving it their all, they bombard the Barrow box, Iandolo dinks the ball back into the box, Simpson fends off the defender and hits a volley on the stretch, the effort spins into the post and out!
96' - BA - As Col U search desperately for the goal, they push up high, but Barrow break away down the right through substitute Whitfield, he drives forwards 40-50 yards before crossing the ball into the far-post to find fellow substitute Popov, he controls the ball and as it drops he fires in at the near-post, but Macey is on hand to make a fantastic save, he's been epic between the sticks this season!
A game the U's deserved to win having been on top for most of it, but try as they might they could not find the goal, and in doing so they ended up finishing the season in 10th place. I can also say that the U's fans are decently loud from the North Stand, much louder than a lot of grounds I've visited over the year despite not even scoring, and the flag displays also look impressive, the 'Team For Me' banner the highlight of the day. If the U's had won, Chesterfield would still have taken the final play-off spot, but it would have been nice to end on a high for what was another strong home crowd. Reflecting on this season, if I look back to last year, we were teetering on the edge of relegation in the final game of last season, so fighting for the play-offs shows how far the U's have come in a year. They are a much tougher side, hard to defeat and tenacious, only losing 11 all season, 1 more than the eventual title winners Doncaster Rovers. The issue was being unable to score enough goals, today being a prime example, the U's drew and incredible 19 games this season, the most in the league. If just two of these were converted into wins the U's would be in the play-offs. I'm super impressed however with the turnaround of the club, the Cowley's have done a fine job, there was a lot of rot so it will take time to re-build, and if we keep this core (please extend Lyle Taylor's contract into next season!) and strengthen over the Summer, there is no reason why we cannot be battling at the sharp end of the table next season. All-in-all this season was a step too far for the team, but I've not been this excited for the U's in a long time, bring on the 25/26 season, in the Cowley's we trust, UP THE U'S, UP THE U'S, UP THE GOOD 'OL WHITE AND BLUES!!!!!
Line-Ups:
COLCHESTER UNITED: Matt Macey, Rob Hunt, Fiacre Kelleher, Tom Flanagan (C), Ellis Iandolo, Jack Tucker, Teddy Bishop, Oscar Thorn, Jack Payne, John-Kymani Gordon, Samson Tovide. SUBS: Kyreece Lisbie, Tyreece Simpson, Mandela Egbo, Anthony Scully, Kane Vincent-Young, Tom Smith, Arthur Read.
BARROW AFC: Wyll Stanway, MJ Williams, Niall Canavan (C), Sam Foley, Elliot Newby, Isaac Fletcher, Robbie Gotts, Ben Jackson, Connor Mahoney, Tyler Smith, Emile Acquah. SUBS: Kyle Cameron, Katia Kouyate, Sam Barnes, Chris Popov, Ben Whitfield, Paul Farman.
