U’s plotting route to the play-offs

IF ATHLETIC team bosses think things have been bad of late, they can console themselves with the thought that at least one side — Colchester United — have had it worse.

Paul Dickov's men travel to face the Essex side at the Weston Homes Community Stadium on Tuesday (3pm kick-off) and will be hoping for a more straightforward journey there and back than the U's managed on Saturday.

While Dickov and his squad were forced to make a U-Turn an hour-and-a-half into the abandoned trek to Milton Keynes, Colchester players and staff had to spend no less than 14 hours aboard their coach before arriving home from a similarly-postponed game at Bristol Rovers.

Poor weather conditions left their route out of Bristol gridlocked and it wasn't until the early hours of Sunday morning that they finally made it home.

The season on the field to this point hasn't been nearly so rocky for manager John Ward's men, who are chasing promotion.

The U’s are a point and a place clear of Athletic and are just inside the play-off places.

Two defeats have arrived at home. The first was a 3-0 reverse to Huddersfield and the second, four weeks ago, came via a 2-0 loss to Brentford.

Athletic have already played Colchester once this season and were left frustrated by a 0-0 Boundary Park draw in which a second-half assault frustratingly came to nothing.

Striker David Mooney, on loan from Championship club Reading, is Colchester’s main danger man with nine goals to his name in all competitions.

Former Athletic defender Marc Tierney missed the clash between the teams earlier this season, but should be fit for the game after recovering from a hernia operation.

Tierney does battle with Tom Williams for the left-back slot, while long-term injury absentees include centre-back Magnus Okuonghae, John-Joe O'Toole and Morten Knudsen.