Colchester boss Ward wants a United front (From Essex County Standard)

Colchester boss Ward wants a United front

4:00pm Friday 14th September 2012 in Sport By Jonathan Waldron

John Ward has called for a United front tomorrow.

The Colchester United manager wants supporters to cheer his stuttering side on to what he hopes will be their first league victory.

The U’s host Doncaster Rovers at the Weston Homes Community Stadium , hoping to get off the mark in League One.

Ward and his players have been the subject of criticism from some supporters, in the wake of back-to-back defeats.

However, the Colchester manager has urged fans to get behind his team this weekend.

Ward said: “Hopefully, the supporters will come and support.

“If they can come and help us to try and win the game tomorrow, it’ll be really good.

“Then we’ll have a lot of people behind that team out on the pitch - me included - to try and win the game that we want.

“The supporters will come and support us.

“It’s only if we talk about negativity that people will consider it.

“Supporters are like players - they look forward to the next game they can watch.

“We need the win - there’s no question about that.

“I’m not shirking from that and we didn’t last week (at Brentford).

“We’ve had a difficult and disappointing start but in football, it’s about how we deal with it.

“I want to win games, the players want to win games and the supporters want to win games.

“The only people that can do something about it is myself and the players.

“At the moment, we’ve hit a spell when it’s difficult to put your finger on what we need to do to get better.

“We’ve got goalscorers in the team but at the moment, they’re not able to score a goal.

“I’m not blaming them - it’s just a situation that we have to come through.”

See Friday's Gazette for more on this story and a full preview of the U's game with Doncaster Rovers.