Colchester United will welcome Forest Green Rovers to the JobServe Community Stadium on Saturday, 3rd February (KO 3pm) in their thirtieth Sky Bet League Two clash of the season.
The U’s will be aiming to remain unbeaten under the stewardship of Danny and Nicky Cowley who have managed to secure five points in their first three games in charge of the U’s.
Last time out, the North Essex side held on to a vital three points against Morecambe at the Mazuma Stadium that saw them move up the table to the twenty-first position.
The Opposition
Forest Green Rovers sit nine points behind the U’s at the very bottom of the league table. After getting relegated from League One last season, the Gloucestershire-based side have so far struggled in the fourth tier of English football only managing nineteen points from twenty-eight matches.
Rovers have only managed to win four games this season succumbing to the most defeats in League Two (seventeen) on par with the U’s.
Forest Green also have the second-worst goal difference in the league (-23) with only Sutton United overtaking them in the unfavourable standings.
Having dismissed Troy Deeney from his managerial duties earlier this month, Rovers appointed Steve Cotterill [pictured below] as their Head Coach on 25th January.
In his first game last weekend, the fifty-nine-year-old led Forest Green to a 1-0 home loss against Accrington Stanley.
Speaking after the clash Cotterill said: “I am not a magician; I can’t turn it around by myself.
"I can only turn it around with their consent, I can make them better as a team, but I can’t make them better as a team if they don’t want to be better as a team, so I can only do what I can do with their consent.”
He added: “We certainly did not deserve to lose the game. We had more of the ball and more effort on goal. I suppose if there is a slight criticism of us, we could have perhaps hit the target a little bit more, but I am proud of the boys.”
The U’s will have to look out for a couple of players that could pose threats. One of them will be Mathew Stevens [pictured below] who is enjoying his fifth season with Forest Green Rovers and has eight goals and one assist to his name in twenty-three league outings so far.
Last season was a bit rocky for the forward with Stevens struggling for game time in Gloucestershire before eventually being loaned out to Walsall where he managed just four goal contributions (one goal and three assists) in seventeen league appearances.
Nonetheless, the twenty-five-year-old knows how to find the back of the net as was proven in his last full season with Rovers. During the 2021/22 campaign, Stevens was in impressive form, scoring twenty-three times and assisting thrice in thirty-seven league outings.
Last Time We Met
It was a tough afternoon for the U’s at The New Lawn on 14th October 2023, with Colchester succumbing to a 5-0 defeat. After replacing Troy Deeney on seventy-five minutes, Mathew Stevens managed a brace against ten-man U’s following Jay Mingi’s sending off early in the second half.
Ticket Info
Tickets are on sale from Col U Tickets - click HERE to get yours. Tickets are currently on sale at the ADVANCE rate.
iFollow
If you can’t make it to the JobServe Community Stadium on Saturday afternoon, you can listen to all the action live with a £2.50 Audio Pass available to supporters in the UK. Click HERE to see what options are available to you.
