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No.46 - Tues. 18th March 2008; Coca-Cola Football League Championship 7.45pm at Layer Road, Colchester, Essex (Att: 5497; Prog: £3; Admn: £19) |
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Colchester United (1) 1 Hull City (2) 3 U's suffer defeat on historical day Driving home from Colchester was a most uplifting experience to say the least. When the evening's football results were broadcast on Radio Five Live I just couldn't hide my delight and turned up the volume another notch on the car stereo to saviour this most wonderful moment. My inane grin resembled a Cheshire Cat that had just found a huge saucer of full cream milk. Sports Editor Vassos Alexander summed up another action packed Coca-Cola Football League Championship programme of games with those surreal words: 'Hull now move into the play-off places..' Was I dreaming? Did he really say that about the team that I had supported (through thick and thin) all these years? A team I first watched on Bunkers Hill at Boothferry Park when Waggy was my hero. No. This was very real. Despite standing in freezing cold conditions for over two hours a tingle of pleasure brought goose bumps to my skin. I can tell you it felt great to be a Tiger.
The match, rearranged from January (due to a waterlogged pitch) marked an historical day for all U's fans and football grounds enthusiasts. With only a few games left before the club move out to a new stadium at the rather quirky sounding 'Cuckoo's Farm'*, off the A12, this was to be the last game ever to be played under floodlights at Layer Road. The end of an era. Sadly this bit of history was not as important as the U's struggle for Championship football survival. They were at the wrong end of the table even though a gutsy draw here against Cardiff City three days earlier had given the Oystermen a glimmer of hope.
Tonight's game was always going to be a stiff test for the U's. By full-time the visitors had taken all three points back up to East Yorkshire and boosted their promotion hopes with a 3-1 victory. Hosts Colchester were reduced to ten men after just 14 minutes when defender Phil Ifil was sent off for violent conduct on Hull striker Fraizer Campbell. It looked a very harsh decision and it certainly incensed both the Layer Road crowd and home manager Geraint Williams. Campbell continued to be in the spotlight as he then bagged a quality brace to put the Tigers in the driving seat. Campbell fired home the opener at the second attempt in the 20th minute after his first shot had been blocked and the Manchester United loanee then doubled the lead just after the half-hour mark. Livewire Campbell sprinted on to a through ball by Henrik Pedersen and he completely wrongfooted keeper Dean Gerken with a calm finish. But ten-man Colchester refused to go down without a fight . Kevin Lisbie gave them hope of a revival by halving the deficit in the 37th minute. The ex-Charlton striker benefited from some determined play by team-mate Johnnie Jackson, before squeezing in his shot from just inside the box. It was his 14th goal of the season. Colchester had a couple of chances to equalise in first-half stoppage time, when both Matt Heath and Clive Platt were denied from close in following inswinging corners. The U's understandably began to tire in the second half and they were indebted to several fine saves from their keeper Gerken. However, the Tigers wrapped up the points when substitute Caleb Folan rounded Gerken to add a third goal with just two minutes remaining on the clock.
The match was attended by only 5497 (capacity is only 6340) spectators in a game played in near arctic conditions. The original programme, printed for the game in January, was sold for £3. However credit must go to the club's programme editors as a full colour up-to-date 16-page pull-out was included in the price. My £19 ticket (hugely OTT) offered me a standing place in Terrace 3 situated between the corner flag and edge of the penalty. Not ideal but at least I was there!
As the season draws to a close there is still much to play for (what a massive understatement). For the U's their destiny almost seems to have been written. One of the elderly stewards (a lifelong U's fan who fondly recalled that famous FA Cup victory against Leeds United in the 70's) was quite level-headed about it all: 'The drop into Division 1 might bring renewed success to the club and this could tempt people to go and visit the new ground. After all fans enjoy winning don't they?' As for the Tigers it's a different journey into the unknown. Manager Phil Brown refuses to get carried away by it all and will simply take one game at a time. Hull-born City stalwart Dean Windass, interviewed afterwards on Sky SportsNews, thinks otherwise and spoke about his very real ambitions to play in the Premier League. But as we all know there's still a long way to go yet. Oh the joys of being a Hull City fan....COME ON YOU HULL....COME ON YOU HULL...
*Finally, a bit about the new ground. The project name for the 35-acre site is called The Colchester Community Stadium. Building work began in July 2007 and is scheduled to be completed in time for the 2008-2009 season. The stadium will have a capacity of approximately 10,000 (though this could potentially increase to 18,000) and will cost £14 million, largely paid for by a £10 million loan from Colchester Borough Council as well as grants from the Football Foundation, the Communities and Local Government Trust and the East of England Development Agency. The site will contain over 600 parking spaces, 5 mini football pitches for use by the CUST. The complex will ultimately encompass a wide variety of sports, leisure and business facilities, including tennis courts, a hotel and restaurants. For some excellent up-to-date photos from the new CUFC ground development go to the following web link: http://www.clubfanzine.com/colchester_united/showNews.php?id=9215 FGIF Rating: 5+* |
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edited on 20/03/08 |
