Simon Weaver 24 Colchester United

THE GAFFER SIMON WEAVER

Good afternoon and welcome to the EnviroVent Stadium for today’s Sky Bet League Two contest with Colchester United. We can expect a really tough encounter against a side who have picked up some impressive results in recent weeks, including victories against Port Vale and Tranmere who both currently occupy play-off spots.

After a poor performance and result against Leyton Orient in our last home game, it was a relief to get back to winning ways last Saturday and I thought the lads put in a really honest shift. We showed the required energy and graft needed at this level to be competitive and to also come away with the maximum points. There’s no easy game in this division but we had a lot at stake to win that game and I’m glad for the lads that we got through. It's been a hard time for everyone in the last few weeks but response from the group leading up to the Scunthorpe game was superb. We’ve lost key players to injury and things haven’t gone for us at times. We’ve had performances where we’ve played so well but come away no points or one point when it should have been three. After a little while of that, it’s expected that confidence will erode a bit as it’s the points on the board which determine our league position. However, I think that result can lift a bit of weight off everyone’s shoulders and the squad deserves credit for keeping the spirits high throughout this period. I understood that it was quite a nervy start against Scunthorpe and when you do take a few steps back, it allows the ball into feet. There were a couple times where they got through on goal and those are the moments when you need your goalkeeper, and the Ox is so good in those 1v1 situations. They’re pivotal moments in the game that probably don’t get the credit they deserve but it was a base for us to grow in confidence. The aim now is to rack up as many points as possible and we need to keep trying to put smiles on faces by scoring goals and playing entertaining football like we have done over the past few years. I’ve said before we’ll have sticky patches in the Football League because of the climb we’ve been on, but I said at half time to the players against Scunthorpe, let’s stick together. A team of moaners gets nowhere, so let’s back each other and have the fans with us all the way. Enjoy the game and thank you for your continued support. Simon