Late winner condemns U's to defeat at Doncaster

8:53pm Saturday 5th January 2013 in Sport By Matt Plummer

Tussle - Anthony Wordsworth does battle during Colchester's 1-0 defeat at Doncaster Rovers. Picture: RICHARD BLAXALL Tussle - Anthony Wordsworth does battle during Colchester's 1-0 defeat at Doncaster Rovers. Picture: RICHARD BLAXALL

Colchester United slid to an eighth successive league defeat this afternoon after losing 1-0 at Doncaster Rovers.

David Cotterill netted the only goal six minutes from time, curling home to secure victory for the Yorkshire side at the Keepmoat Stadium.

It put them level at the top of the League One table with leaders Tranmere Rovers and leaves the U's just one point above the relegation zone.

But Joe Dunne's side produced a competent display which belied their lowly league position.

Colchester performed well against their high-flying hosts and Rovers goalkeeper Gary Woods denied Drey Wright early on.

However, Doncaster had their moments, with U's keeper Mark Cousins saving at the feet of experienced striker Iain Hume and then watching Emile Sinclair's snap-shot whistle past the post.

But Colchester felt they should have been in front just before half-time when Josh Thompson's header was ruled out by referee Richard Clark, who had spotted a push by Anthony Wordsworth on Jamie McCombe.

Cousins denied Hume just after half-time but the U's kept going though and Wright curled over the bar, before the deadlock was finally broken when Cotterill curled a delightful shot past Cousins to win the game for Doncaster.

For Jon Waldron's match report, U's reaction and pictures, see Monday's Daily Gazette.

 

Comments(18)

Mr Honest says...
9:55pm Sat 5 Jan 13

By all accounts we played quite well but the result is what matters and its a club record equalling 8th successive defeat. Dunne looks out of his depth and whoever is scouting these young players who keep coming in on loan needs firing. John Ward,all is forgiven.

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25414nora says...
10:06pm Sat 5 Jan 13

Reading the 'green un' match report, and listening to the game on bbc essex,
this was a much improved display by Col U. I know It's little consolation, this was our 8th defeat on the trot, but credit where it's due, the players could not be faulted through lack of effort.
To say we were the better team, is perhaps an overstatement, but Doncaster are joint leaders, and we mostly matched them, especially first half. Maintaining our league one status is going to be a monumental task,
But I for one will be rooting for the lads all the way..Up the U's...

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angryman!!! says...
11:54pm Sat 5 Jan 13

Yes it's 8 defeats In a row, but to go to a team that's top of the league and have more of the game is a good effort. So annoying couldn't have stopped the rot. Saturdays game is such a massive a game I hope everyone that has any kind of felings towards to the teams turns up. Need the points so much, if we keep going for it like today that will happen

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Steve86 says...
12:11am Sun 6 Jan 13

Apparently a good performance, but still no goal scored. 442 is the answer, as we can play the passing game, but one striker has too much pressure on his shoulders. So lets go back to the traditional style of 442. Scrap the midfield heavy rubbish and let's make some goals, as we have plenty of players that can play upfront now. Wordsworth needs to go, and should take his mate Cousins with him.

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Steve86 says...
12:23am Sun 6 Jan 13

Just seen that we had 1 shot on target in the whole game!!!!!!!!!! Shocking, who do you blame for that? Perhaps the team needs to do some target practice in their 'State of the art training ground'

I have to go back to my previous comment here and say that 442 will create more shots on goal.

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Steve86 says...
12:41am Sun 6 Jan 13

Dan Potts played well today against Man Utd. Weird really, as he was appalling for our Col Utd.

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Boris says...
1:12am Sun 6 Jan 13

As so often, the U's seem to have played better against a strong team than they do against weaker teams. The Scunthorpe game will be a six-pointer but they need points as much as we do, and they drew each of their last 2 games, so it is going to be a very tough one. Let's hope all our players are fit.
Up the U's.

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We're not singing anymore!!! says...
1:44am Sun 6 Jan 13

Mr Honest wrote:
By all accounts we played quite well but the result is what matters and its a club record equalling 8th successive defeat. Dunne looks out of his depth and whoever is scouting these young players who keep coming in on loan needs firing. John Ward,all is forgiven.
John Ward all is forgiven......you must be on drugs. Although we haven't won in a while we are still mostly playing with JW's team. He's the reason we're in this mess and not Joe Dunne. At least the style of play has been slightly better than it was under JW.

Personally I think the youngsters that have come in on loan this season have done better than most of the established players in our team like Wordsworth, Henderson, Wilson and Magnus, to name just a few. The two Arsenal guys looked pretty good, it's just a shame that they got injured. As for Potts, a few people said he was rubbish but was he given enough time to prove otherwise before the mob set in on him. Well he didn't look too bad today playing against Man Utd. Which goes to show it must have be the players around him that are bad over the last few weeks.

Let's get real about this. Joe is not out of his depth. It's just taking a long time to put right the mess that John Ward left us in.

Who on earth is going to sign for a club that is looking like it will get relegated. Plus how much will the club want to spend on players when we might go down and then our budget reduced even further. Loan players is the most likely way of getting us out of this mess.

Lets all stop moaning about Joe and the team and get behind them. Goodness knows they need our support. You never know, we might even survive.The last time I looked we supported Colchester United......so lets try to be UNITED and cheer our team on to victory and safety.

UP THE U's

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totallyfootball says...
1:08pm Sun 6 Jan 13

Lets not whinge on about its unfair that they scored in the last six minutes, lets question what we did in the previous eighty four, from all accounts very little?

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United we stand says...
5:02pm Sun 6 Jan 13

I agree with the comments made by "We're Not Singing Anymore" other than I'm far from convinced that Joe isn't out of his depth and that it's the team that needs to turn up on Saturday - rather more than the fans! (although I, for one, will be in my seat on Saturday afternoon).
Lack-lustre individual performances by senior squad players continue; And as we can't hit the barndoor from xx paces, it means that when the opposition scores (be that in the first or last five minutes of a match) then its always going to be ZERO points and another record-making defeat on the cards.
I've not been blown away by the very average-looking loan players either.Borne out somewhat by Dan Potts.
Surely if Dan can turn in that sort of performance against Man Utd., then there's a huge question mark over the motivational qualities of Joe and Mark at Col U.

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crazy comments says...
8:48pm Sun 6 Jan 13

SOS. We need a Jock Wallace type manager to come out of the woodwork to shake this whole lot up. Joe is trying to run before he can walk. Yes its great to play the way Joe wants us to play,but its not the right time now. Watching Brighton play Newcastle yesterday on the TV showed the exact vision and the type of football Joe wants for us. Keeping possesion and controling the game. The trouble is that you need players that can go forwards with the ball and can then backtrack just as quick to defend. It must be frustrating for him as I know his heart is set on getting 100% success for this club. For me right now,we really do need some older experienced defender short term that is a leader on the pitch, plus an experienced goalscorer. Just an example but Ipswich have Jason Scotland a proven goalscorer,not even in their first team squad. Not a championship player any more,but could do a job for us in the hour of need. I'm sure Ipswich would be happy for someone to pay part of his wages,rather that get nothing at all. Okay its not ideal long term, we only want a loan deal, but we need to start getting out of this mess now. I also agree with a few other blogs on here that John Ward is to blame in leaving a load of rubbish behind.

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Surb says...
9:02pm Sun 6 Jan 13

442

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Ozzie says...
1:58am Mon 7 Jan 13

Whatever is required to get us out of this absolute disastrous mess needs doing and doing quick! The management at Col Utd need to look long and hard at themselves and poor decisions made previously. Let us all just hope that we can rally round and produce a home win this coming Saturday. I fear anything less than victory is an indicator that we are just not good enough and perhaps it would be a kindness to release us into Division Two. Trouble is, it becomes even harder to scrap out of that division! Happy days! Up the U's!!

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super waluigi says...
8:12am Mon 7 Jan 13

This looks like a genuine mess and only winning is the solution to changing this run around.

4-4-2 is an idea, but it is only that. Who is to say it will work?? we might loose again by playing any formation.

I think we have the players still. We need some good fortune and some confidence to create some form, and then press on from there.

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Col United says...
1:22pm Mon 7 Jan 13

I think 4-4-2 is a good idea. For some reason many clubs adopted the barcalona style 451/433 like Manchester United, Chelsea etc but after failing which the situation now play 442 and you can tell by the change it works out better.
Colchester can do this, but decide to constantly throw one guy up front and expect him to score the goals.

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crazy comments says...
10:04pm Mon 7 Jan 13

Bring back 2- 3- 5

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Boris says...
11:57pm Tue 8 Jan 13

What I dread is a draw. One point is no good to us, and no good to Scunthorpe. It is better to win one game and lose one, than to draw two. As we have lost so many games, we are now due for a winning streak like when JD first took over.
Up the U's.

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irememberwhen says...
1:02pm Wed 9 Jan 13

You are correct Boris, it is better to win 1 lose 1. Well done.

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