Danny Cowley anticipates having to make some difficult choices prior to Colchester United’s match against Barrow today.
After missing their 1-1 draw at Salford City last week, the U’s are hoping to welcome back wingers Harry Anderson, Jayden Fevrier, Owura Edwards, and Conor Wilkinson for their match at Holker Street.
Colchester’s home game against Stockport County was postponed last Saturday, and they will play again this weekend after a ten-day fixture break.
Salford was a difficult game for us in terms of the personnel that was available, according to U’s manager Cowley.
“We had to make adjustments because four of our wingers were unavailable, which is never ideal, but it gave them all time to return to the pitch. Now that they’re all raising their hands, the situation has flipped, and we are faced with a difficult selection!
“I have some hard choices to make and would much rather have it that way.
We’ve managed to achieve a genuinely high degree of performance consistency.
Before we arrived, there were several losses; as of right now, we have just one loss out of eight.
We’re a competitive team in this division now, in my opinion.
According to the underlying statistics, our team has likely been among the top eight in the league for the past eight games.
“We probably ought to have won some games, like the ones against Accrington Stanley and Forest Green, and we most definitely ought not to have lost at Harrogate.”
We’re doing well statistically, and we’re doing a good job on a consistent basis, but we do want to be compensated for our efforts.
“I believe that we have extremely low expected goals against, but we have still given up 10 goals in eight games, so that is something we can continue to improve on.
Although our defence has been strong, there have been occasional slip-ups that have resulted in opportunities and goals.
“We need to make sure we play well for ninety minutes when the ball is in our hands, and we also need to keep improving to be a greater threat on goal when we have the ball.”
“In training, these are the areas we’re putting in the most effort.”
Colchester takes on Barrow, who are currently seven points outside of the automatic promotion spots in League Two and sit sixth in the standings.
The Bluebirds’ victory over Gillingham in midweek snapped a three-match losing streak.
Cowley remarked, “Barrow are a really good team – there’s a lot to admire.”
They did an excellent job of transitioning from non-league football to the Football League, first establishing themselves as a League Two team, and now they are leading the division.
I believe there are many positive aspects.
They have three extremely hard-working midfield players, plenty of forward options, and are a really well-organized team when it comes to ball possession.
“You just have to look at the team, the players they have available, their experience, and the forwards they have in Dom Telford, Emile Acquah, who we watched a lot at Maidenhead, and Cole Stockton, who I believe made them the envy of many League One clubs when they signed him in January—many were fighting for his services.”
“Barrow is having a fantastic time, and the team is performing incredibly well.
They are undoubtedly glad for the break, and their performance against Gillingham on Tuesday night was excellent as well.
“We’ll find a team that is genuinely interested in moving up; they’ll be working hard to qualify for the automatic spots.
They’re right on the verge of making it, and if they don’t, they have a great chance of earning a play-off spot.
We hold them in high regard for both their organisational skills and the calibre of players they field.
“They’ve managed to maintain a high level of consistency in a highly competitive division.”
