EFL League 2: Stevenage 1-0 Colchester United

20th November 2021

Stevenage vs Colchester United @ The Lamex Stadium - Stevenage

EFL League Two

15:00 KO

£22 entry (pre-booked ticket)

Attendance - 2,946

Half-time score: Stevenage 1-0 Colchester United

Goal:

Stevenage: List - 45'(P)

Brief match highlights are on YouTube, see link below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzBWpaKpk90

Final Score: Stevenage 1-0 Colchester United

Today's away game for Col U at Stevenage was the first league game that I had attended ever since lockdown began way back in early 2020, and I was excited for the game. I had thought about going to a home Colchester game for a while, but it had never happened due to various reasons, but I made sure not to miss the away game at Stevenage, as it is the easiest away day for me, and also a ground that I had never previously visited, so another one to chalk off the board. It was also a game with a great back-story, with both teams struggling near the bottom of League 2, and with two recent Col U players in the Stevenage team, namely ex-captain Luke Prosser, and striker Luke Norris. Stevenage had also recently sacked their manager, adding further intrigue to the tie, therefore I expecting a good atmosphere, and a strong Col U turnout. I had dusted off the hat and scarf ready to get behind the boys in blue & white again.

I left the house at 11:15am, and swung by the corner shop to pick up a couple of tins of beer for the train journey, and despite walking down with my toddler, I made it to the station in good time, and hopped on the 12:00 train to Cambridge. On the other platform were quite a few Norwich City fans, and a handful of Southampton fans, on their way to the Premier League game up at Carrow Road.

At Cambridge, I got on the Thameslink train heading to Brighton, and after a few stops, I was at Stevenage. The walk down to the ground took me through the town centre, and along a dual carriage way through a housing estate, taking around 25mins, and sadly I found no pubs on the way. The stadium was fairly easy to find, and picking up my pre-paid tickets was nice and easy.

There was a bit of a hold-up getting into the ground, a large queue had formed, so I joined the end, and got into the ground after 10 mins. Due to this. there was another long queue for food, but I was starving and joined, and I am glad that I did, the 'Boro' burger was lush, a half-pounder with cheese and two thick rashers of bacon.

After eating the burger, I fancied another drink, but there wasn't any for sale, I am guessing that the club house outside the ground was where the drinks were being served, but as I was already in the ground I did not want to go out again, or was indeed even possible. There were also no programmes, there were electronic ones that you could download for free, but this isn't the same, and is a trend that I am hoping dies out, but suspect it will not.... If I come again, I now know to head to the club house first!

A lot of fellow Col U fans had made the journey down to Stevenage, and the 1,400 capacity away stand was reasonably packed, and the fans were in good voice. I read somewhere that 620 Colchester fans had made the journey, but it felt like more.

In the first half, Colchester dominated proceedings, creating a lot of chances, and putting a lot of pressure on the Stevenage defence, particularly down the flanks, however, they were unable to convert these chances, with either a poor final ball, shooting wide or being millimetres away from contact. Dobra and Jasper were the main attacking threats, causing a lot of issues down the right and linking up well, and both players came very close to scoring, Jasper deserving a goal after spectacular strike that was well saved by Stevenage keeper Adam Smith. Stevenage were sitting back, but did look dangerous on the break, List and Andrade looking very pacey, and putting Chambers in particular under a lot of pressure. Just as the first half was drawing to a close, Stevenage scythed through the centre of the Colchester defence, Jake Reeves was found in the middle of the park with acres of space and he slotted through the perfect ball for List, who left Chambers dead for pace, the weight of the ball was perfect, and was pulling up at edge of area, leaving goalkeeper George, who had rushed forward, in no-mans land, so he stayed at the edge of the box, List touched the ball to take it round him, George dived down to his left and took the player out, and it would have been a certain red if Chambers hadn't have made the run back, List's touch was heavy and looked like Chambers could have possibly got there first. George was given a yellow, and Stevenage were awarded a penalty and George gingerly stepped up to the goal line, holding in ribs and looking in a lot of pain. List, the man taken out, stepped up and sensing George's injury, slotted the ball in the far corner, 1-0 to Stevenage just before the break. A few Stevenage fans in Teletubbies outfits enjoyed the goal a bit too much, and caused a ruckus down where the two sets of fans were close, was a bit surreal.

In the second half, George only managed a couple of minutes before being taken off, the knock to the ribs during the penalty incident was clearly causing him some issues, so on came Jake Turner, on loan from Newcastle United. Despite this, the pattern of play in the 2nd half continued from the 1st, with Colchester having the better possession and chances, and a few minutes into the half, Tchamadeu created a bit of space and whipped a perfect ball into the box for Nouble to nod home, que rapturous celebrations, but it was quickly chalked off by the linesman for being offside. Despite all of the Col U pressure, they were only able to carve out half-chances, Nouble blasting wide from a tight angle (why he did not square the ball I will never know), and a powerful low ball into the box from Jasper that was narrowly missed by both Sears and substitute McCoulsky, nail biting stuff. As Colchester pressed higher up the pitch, Stevenage had more room in which to counter, and substitute and ex-Colchester striker, Luke Norris, had two chances to put the game to bed, a completely open header fired straight at Turner, and his half-volleyed effort that was deflected wide for a corner. It has to be said that Stevenage closed the game out well in the final 5-10 minutes of the game, with Colchester struggling to get hold of the ball, and Stevenage keeping it around the corner flags of the Colchester half, and managing their time well.

That game was really the story of the Colchester season, lots of great endeavour and good play, but unable to finish. The strike force of Nouble, Sears, Jasper and Dobra are all similar players, fast and skilful, but none are marksmen, Colchester desperately need a proven finisher. Colchester are also missing Judge, his through balls and visionary passes would have helped to crack open the Stevenage defence, a lot of passes from the midfield went sideways, with the best attacks coming down the flanks, starting with wing-backs Tchamadeu and Daniels. Overall, I was pleased with the performance, but the inability to score remains frustrating.

The journey back to Thetford was a bit of the pain, with two train cancellations, but I eventually got back at 8pm. Due to the lack of pubs, and obvious places to drink, I will definitely drive down next time, and I hope that there is a next time as it was a decent ground, just lacking a few facilities really. My next Col U game will be at home in a couple of weeks, a 2nd round FA Cup tie against League 1 Wigan Athletic, a game kicking off on a Sunday. Between then, Col U have two important home fixtures against difficult opposition in Exeter City and Newport County, I will be pleased if we can take 3 points from those two games, I wish the lads the best of luck, UP THE U'S!!

Line-Ups:

STEVENAGE: Adam Smith, Luther James-Wildin, Max Melbourne, Scott Cuthbert, Ben Coker, Bruno Andrade, Jake Taylor, Jake Reeves, Chris Lines, Elliott List, Jamie Reid. SUBS: Joseph Anang, Ross Marshall, Arthur Read, Elliot Osborne, Bradley Barry, Luke Norris, James Daly.

COLCHESTER UNITED: Shamal George, Junior Tchamadeu, Luke Chambers (C), Tom Eastman, Charlie Daniels, Sylvester Jasper, Cole Skuse, Noah Chilvers, Armando Dobra, Freddie Sears, Frank Nouble. SUBS: Jake Turner, Cameron Coxe, Tommy Smith, Miles Welch-Hayes, Chay Cooper, Luke Hannant, Shawn McCoulsky.