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Thread | U's Mad As Hatters Take The Win
at 16:22 2 Oct 2026
Another draw on the road and our second 2-2 in eight games after going 111 without one. Once again, it was another game where we’ve led and not taken three points although when you go behind in the 92nd minute escaping with a point must almost feel like a win. It’s a return to the Jersey Mike’s Trophy this weekend, a game intelligently switched from midweek as it suited both clubs, and the visit of Luton Town, the current holders although it was called a different name when they won it of course.
This is probably a game that we need to win if we’re to have any chance of progressing in the competition and with no other game now until next Saturday, I was kind of expecting Danny to treat this like a league fixture and play our strongest team but after listening to his pre-match interview yesterday I don’t think that will be the case. We may pick a slightly stronger/more experienced team than we did against Peterborough, but I still think a number of youngsters to feature so I’m expecting the U’s to lineup as follows:
Lo-Tutala
Hunt Tucker Kuffour Jr Terry
Digby Perry
Thorn Lubala
Harvey
Ihionvien
Subs
Akande, Connolly, Payne, Williams (Jaden), Oni, Sesay, Roberts
This isn’t the team I’d pick if I wanted to win the game, far from it in fact and I’ve just realised I don’t have a defender on the bench so at least we’re going for it in that respect. As far as I’m aware Smith and KVY are both injured and will miss out. It’s been announced that Leake requires surgery and will be out for some time, but Bishop is back training now which is great news. I’m not sure whether Chiwome is injured or just out of favour. The available squad is growing with recent additions and players returning from injury and I do wonder whether Chiwome, Ihionvien, Digby and Williams will be included much going forward.
Not sure there’s anyone in the current Luton squad who has previously played for the U’s but they do have Jamie Donley (on loan from Tottenham) who grew up in Colchester and played for Colchester Villa. Players that come to mind having played for both clubs are Alec Chamberlain, George Moncur, Rowan Vine, Tony Thorpe, Wayne Andrews, Dean Morgan, Chris Coyne, Aaron Skelton, Cohen Bramall, Luke Gambin, Cameron McGeehan and Joe Taylor who was a lot more successful for us than he was for them. Most of these have been in the last 20 years and I’m sure there are plenty more due to the geographical proximity.
The weather at the JCS tomorrow is set to be cloudy and warm at 21 degrees with a gentle breeze from the west-south-west. Luton aren’t a team we’ve played a great deal, especially recently, only 28 meetings in total of which we’ve won nine to Luton’s 10. Of the six meeting in the last 20 years, we do have four wins to their two though. I know Luton have a few players away on international duty but they do take this competition pretty seriously so I’m expecting them to pick a strong team tomorrow and one that’s probably too strong for the team I’m expecting us to field so I’m going to go for a 1-2 defeat with our goal being a late consolation from substitute Oni.
Up the U’s! [Post edited 2 Oct 16:23]
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Reply | Match Previews 2026/27
at 09:43 1 Oct 2026
If no other takers I can do a quick preview for Luton tomorrow. |
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Reply | Lubala Proves To Be Shrewd Signing At New Meadow
at 09:05 30 Sep 2026
Odd kit that Shrewsbury were wearing on Saturday. I thought they were in their away kit but have since checked and it's this year's home kit. Maybe something to do with their 140 year anniversary? |
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Thread | Lubala Proves To Be Shrewd Signing At New Meadow
at 17:31 25 Sep 2026
Seven points after three matches was a pleasing, if slightly fortuitous return, but nine points from seven games doesn’t look quite so good. On the balance of play I think nine points is probably about right given the up and down nature of the performances and the last time we had more than nine points after seven games was in the 2020/21 season, so it’s actually been a pretty decent start to the season for us. A trip to Shrewsbury is next up for the U’s. A side who are a few places below us in the table and also one of the lowest scorers in the division. We did the double over them last season and we really could with three points tomorrow. Four of our next five league games are against teams below us in the table so in a few weeks we’ll have a much better idea of what kind of season we’re in for.
Obviously, Danny made wholesale changes for the EFL Trophy match against Peterborough and I’m not sure anyone did enough to improve their case for being a starter rather than a squad player. After picking the same starting XI for three consecutive league matches there will be at least one enforced change tomorrow as Jay Williams is away on international duty. I believe KVY was also hoping to represent his country but will be staying with the U’s instead, in light of this I’m expecting the U’s to lineup as follows:
Lo-Tutala
Vincent-Young Tucker Raggett Iandolo
Sesay Hunt
Thorn Anderson
Payne
Kouassi
Subs
Chiwome, Digby, Ihionvien, Kuffour Jr, Smith, Terry, Lubala
Beryly Lubala has signed on a short term deal today after spending a couple of weeks training with the squad. He was here on loan previously when both Wayne Brown and then Matt Bloomfield were in charge. I believe he was a striker then but is evidently a winger now. We definitely needed a wide player and at 28 he’s good age with decent experience so hopefully he can be a good signing for us. If he’s not able to figure tomorrow I expect Connolly to be on the bench instead as Jaden Williams is now suspended after our failed appeal against his sending off last weekend. I think Hunt is a tidy footballer although I’m not a massive fan of him slotting into the midfield alongside Sesay but, for some reason, Cowley doesn’t seem to trust Digby and I just can’t see him getting the nod to start tomorrow. It doesn’t bode well when the manager is choosing to play a player out of position rather than pick the player that was meant to offer that added bite and steel in midfield. If things don’t change soon, I can see him being this season’s Gape. If Bishop, Oni and Perry were fit I don’t think he would be getting anywhere near the matchday squad.
Don’t think there’s anyone in the current Shrewsbury Town squad who’s appeared for Col U or vice versa. Our former captain and now head of first team recruitment, Tom Flanagan, spent two seasons there before he joined the U’s though. And Anthony Scully has also appeared for both in recent seasons. Please feel free to add any more that you come up with. Gavin Cowan, the current Shrewsbury manager, never figured for Col U but did begin his career at Braintree.
The weather at the New Meadow tomorrow is set to be sunny and warm at 19 degrees with a gentle breeze from the south-west. Shrewsbury aren’t a team we’ve played a lot recently, only 11 meetings this century in fact of which we’ve won four to Shrewsbury’s three. We've not managed an away win this season yet (or a draw) but with the New Meadow feeling somewhat familiar I’m going for the U’s to come out on top 1-0 with a late winner from substitute Lubala.
Up the U’s! |
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Reply | Can the Common U’s overcome the Posh ‘borough?
at 15:23 22 Sep 2026
Definitely not an easy job that. I think a few that have been selected are injured plus I believe we have to field a number of players that figured on Saturday or in other league games. Not completely sure of the rules in play for this one. |
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Reply | Happy League 2026/27 Week 6 (of 38) - Deadline Saturday 19th September 12.30
at 01:22 19 Sep 2026
Week 6
BRIGHTON & HOVE ALBION v ARSENAL 0-2
CARDIFF CITY v CHARLTON ATHLETIC 1-1
STOKE CITY v SHEFFIELD UNITED 2-1
LINCOLN CITY v SWANSEA CITY 1-1
OXFORD UNITED v CAMBRIDGE UNITED 2-1
SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY v STOCKPORT COUNTY 2-1
WIGAN ATHLETIC v WYCOMBE WANDERERS 1-1
CREWE ALEXANDRA v SHREWSBURY TOWN 1-0
GRIMSBY TOWN v CRAWLEY TOWN 2-1
SALFORD CITY v SWINDON TOWN 2-1 |
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Reply | U’s v Port Vale 3/10/26
at 10:42 14 Sep 2026
Absolute joke this! No team below the Championship should be allowed to postpone a game for international call-ups. We've already got to play a minimum of 51 matches we can't be losing a Saturday for stuff like this. |
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Reply | Can The U's Derail Crewe's Unbeaten Start?
at 10:26 11 Sep 2026
Nice one Daniel.
Porter was yet another experienced striker that we messed up with. He was deemed too old to be offered a longer contract and, as most people would in his position, took the offer of a longer contract elsewhere. His performances over the following three seasons showed that he still had so much to offer at this level. He was back playing in League One in 2020! Over three years after we'd decided he wasn't worth a longer contract in League Two! |
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Thread | Robins To Peck Up Three Points
at 18:04 4 Sep 2026
After a demanding, frustrating, encouraging but ultimately fruitless visit to Bristol Rovers on Tuesday evening we now face an equally challenging trip to Swindon Town. As it stands the U’s and Swindon have identical records in League Two with both clubs having 100% records at home so far, but will that still be the case tomorrow evening?
Danny went for a slightly different team and formation against Bristol Rovers, not sure if it was enforced or tactical, but it didn’t really work especially in the first half so I’m expecting a return to our normal formation this weekend. Not sure how ready the two new additions are but I’m expecting the U’s to lineup as follows:
Lo-Tutala
Vincent-Young Tucker Raggett Iandolo
Sesay Hunt
Thorn Anderson
Payne
Ihionvien
Subs
Williams (Jaden), Kouassi, Terry, Chiwome, Williams (Jay) , Digby, Smith
I feel like the starting striker position is very much up for grabs and no one has really made much of a claim for it so far but I’m going to go for Ihionvien to get the nod although it wouldn’t surprise me to see Williams or Kouassi start in that position. I do feel a bit for Connolly though who I expect to be omitted from future squads and also Kuffour Jr who I rate ahead of Terry but hopefully their time will come.
Swindon Town away was Danny and Nicky’s first game in charge of the U’s and we quickly found ourselves two goals behind before a lifeline goal from Matt Jay and an injury time equaliser from Ihionvien, although not sure he knew too much about it at the time. We followed that up with an equally dramatic 3-2 defeat the following season and a pretty drab 0-0 draw last season. The BBC highlighted that Danny is winless in his last five visits to Swindon but we have done exceptionally well against them at home in recent seasons with 3-0 and 4-0 wins. That 4-0 win was, for me, Tovide’s best performance in a U’s shirt. Thought it deserved a mention as yesterday he signed for Huddersfield Town in League One where he joins up with ex-U’s loanee Joe Taylor. I see this as a new start for Samson and a platform for him to prove the undoubted talent that he has on a more regular basis. I really hope it goes well for him there.
Don’t think there’s anyone in the current Swindon Town squad who’s appeared for Col U but Iandolo, Hunt and Payne have all played a significant number of games for Swindon. Jamie Cureton is probably the most obvious link between the two clubs with his loan spell from Swindon during the 2005/06 season being the catalyst that ultimately led to promotion to the Championship. A permanent move would follow and Cureton shone in that memorable Championship season as he picked up the Golden Boot for the division. We also had Tony Thorpe on loan during the promotion season but his time in Essex wasn’t quite as successful. Egbo and Prutton are two other players that spring to mind as having played for both and I’m sure there are many, many more.
The weather at the The County Ground tomorrow is set to be sunny and warm at 21 degrees with a gentle breeze from the west. Swindon are a team we’ve played a lot, over 100 times, and we actually edge them in overall victories but sadly I don’t think we’ll add to that tally tomorrow. I expect they’ll have too much firepower for us and run out 2-1 winners in an entertaining game with the U’s goal coming from Payne.
Up the U’s! |
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Reply | Summer 2026 - Ins, Outs & Maybes
at 11:50 4 Sep 2026
Samson joins Huddersfield on a three year deal. Evidently the two clubs came to an agreement on a fee. I've heard £400K rising to £600K but how true that is who knows.
https://www.cu-fc.com/news/202
Good luck to the lad. When you see his highlights reel he did a lot more positive things than perhaps people give him credit for. He's still only 22 and has loads of potential. On his day he's unplayable. He just needs to have more of those days. Hopefully he will at Huddersfield. |
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