ESSEX COUNTY STANDARD U's REPORTER SIMON SPURGEON DELIVERS HIS THOUGHTS ON Colchester United IN HIS WEEKLY COLUMN: The Wizard of Oz remains a cinematic favourite among the younger generation of the Spurgeon household.

My daughter loves it and we’ve spent more than a few afternoons enjoying this timeless classic together.

I know the songs word for word and I’ve lost count of the times I’ve had to play the Scarecrow to my little girl’s Dorothy in her ‘let’s pretend’ games afterwards.

In essence, it is a very simple story.

It is about home – knowing where you are from and appreciating what you have.

Dorothy comes to see the folly of her desire to run away by the end and I’m sure Colchester United’s players are feeling the same way at the moment.

They seem to be a team with a split personality.

Home has become a haven and their 2-1 win against Swindon means they are now unbeaten at the Weston Homes Community Stadium in ten of their last 11 games.

Their play may not have been at its best against the Robins, but there have been some very entertaining games on home turf recently.

The ones against Bournemouth and Charlton particularly stick out.

However, the flip side of their dual personality is a quite woeful away form.

Their home form is keeping them within touching distance of the play-offs, but the season will be over by the middle of March if they can’t improve their form on the road.

Eight defeats on the bounce, following Tuesday’s demise at Notts County, isn’t pretty reading for John Ward or his team.

What’s the reason behind their woeful run on the road?

Is it simply that Lady Luck hasn’t been looking their way?

No-one could deny that they were unfortunate to have a good goal wiped out at Charlton, but it’s too simplistic to say that it’s only down to luck.

For me, it’s that they just aren’t finding the clinical edge in front of goal that the top sides need to have.

One statistic that is of more concern than the eight defeats on the bounce is that there have been no goals from the last six travelling shows.

Chances are being created and that was the same at Meadow Lane with David Mooney hitting the post early on and Kayode Odejayi crafting a couple of good chances.

But they aren’t much good if you don’t convert them into goals.

Only Hartlepool have been less prolific on the road in League One this season Ward would be more worried if chances weren’t being created, but I’m sure they have been working on putting the ball in the back of the net in training.

There was a spell earlier in the season when goals dried up and hard work broke them out of that so it’s not some kind of terminal decline.

A poor spell doesn’t make you a bad side, but a confidence-boosting win wouldn’t go amiss. Hopefully that will come at Peterborough on Tuesday.

Maybe kit man Brian Pugh can source out some ruby football boots for the players to wear.

If things aren’t going well, just click the heels together three times and say: “There’s no place like home, there’s no place like home, there’s no place like home........”