In the battle of the East Anglian CUFC’s, Colchester United and Cambridge United will be looking to continue their decent starts to the campaign by picking up the three points.
Cambridge United will be backed by around 1,500 away fans for their short trip to North Essex, who are off the back of a 1-1 draw against Harrogate Town, a game that they may feel they should have won, dominating the game with 16 shots to Harrogate’s four, as well as retaining 62% of possession throughout, with Louis Appere scoring the only goal as he tapped in from close range after a scramble in the box.
Prior to this, Cambridge beat freshly relegated Bristol Rovers 2-0 in the Carabao Cup thanks to goals from Louis Appere and Ryan Loft but lost their fixture against Swindon, in a high intensity 3-2 loss to Ian Holloway’s new look Swindon side.
Colchester United, on the other hand, remain unbeaten in League Two thus far, drawing 1-1 on two occasions against Tranmere Rovers and Oldham Athletic, but winning their most recent fixture against a struggling Shrewsbury Town side 2-0, with young striker Samson Tovide opening his account for the season and Kyreece Lisbie bagging his second of the campaign.
Danny Cowley’s Colchester side will be looking to extend this unbeaten spell further with another win against a fellow local League Two side.
Team News
Colchester will undoubtably be without young CDM Ben Perry, who hobbled off in the 12th minute against Shrewsbury, and was spotted leaving the stadium in a knee brace, signifying a serious injury concern.
There are also doubts about fellow CDMs Dominic Gape and Milton Oni, who are yet to feature this season, but are in training currently and could return to action this Tuesday. Harry Anderson didn’t feature on Saturday, but was featuring duing the warm-up, alluding to a return to action quite soon.
On loan striker Will Goodwin is also out of action following yet another injury problem for the Oxford loanee, but is set to return in the coming weeks, which could be key to Colchester’s future successes. Left-Back Ellis Iandolo was a regular during Colchester’s playoff push, but remains out of action for the foreseeable future.
Cambridge are set to be without veteran Central defender Michael Morrison, who ended up in hospital following a collision in the 39th minute with goalkeeper Jake Eastwood, in which he suffered a bruised lung, but manager Neil Harris has confirmed he is out of Addenbrookes hospital, stating “He’s had scans and X-rays on his torso and organs and it looks like he is in a good position. I can’t share too much medically because he’s having further tests”.
They are also likely to be without attacker Shayne Lavery, who is yet to feature this season due to hamstring problems, however new signing Kylian Kouassi who joined on Friday on a loan deal from Blackpool will likely feature on the bench, adding competition to current strikers Louis Appere and Ryan Loft.
Long term absentee Korey Smith is also set to miss out on action once again, with Ryan Loft returning back to training following an illness that caused him to miss last weekend’s fixture; however, winger Sulley Kaikai did not train due to a toe injury and is a doubt to start tomorrow.
Predicted Lineups
Colchester United:
Macey, Powell, Tucker, Flanagan, Hunt, Read, Bishop, Edwards, Payne, Akande, Tovide
Subs: Smith, Baldwin, Vincent-Young, Thorn, Gordon, Lisbie, Anderson
Cambridge:
Eastwood, Purrington, Watts, Jobe, Bennett, Ball, Mpanzu, Kachunga, Knight, Brophy, Appere
Subs: Hughes, Gibbons, Ibsen Rossi, McLoughlin, Hoddle, Loft, Kouassi
Recent Head To Head
- Colchester United Wins – 4
- Draws – 4
- Cambridge United Wins – 5
Recent Meetings
- Cambridge United 1-2 Colchester United – 17th October 2023 – EFL Trophy
- Colchester United 1-1 Cambridge United – 16th January 2021 – League Two
- Cambridge United 2-1 Colchester United – 15th December 2020 – League Two
- Cambridge United 2-1 Colchester United – 1st February 2020 – League Two
- Colchester United 1-2 Cambridge United – 17th August 2019 – League Two
Managers Preview
Neil Harris – “They’re (Colchester) a good side. You look at them on paper and their starting XI from the weekend, for me, is a top 10 or top seven side in this division.
They’ve got some really, really good players in the front six and experience in the backline. I think it will be our toughest challenge so far.
They’re a really experienced side in some elements and have some real athleticism in other areas. It will be a real tough ask for us against a difficult team to play against because they’re very resilient in what they do. They drew more games than anybody last season and they’ve started this season with a couple of draws before a good win away at Shrewsbury.”
