Danny Cowley will take charge of his first game as Colchester boss this weekend, when the U’s travel to Swindon Town.
Danny and his brother Nicky were appointed yesterday, and will get to work quickly with just a couple of days to prepare for their first game in the dugout with this weekend’s trip to the County Ground.
The U’s will be hoping to turn their fortunes around against a Swindon side that have won just one of their last six matches, losing the other five.
Cowley will be picking from a similar pool of players as was available for the New Year’s Day game against Gillingham; Owura Edwards made his first appearance since October in that match and will be hoping for more minutes after recovering from injury.
The Opposition
Swindon Town have been in a poor run of form over the last few weeks, with just one win in their last six, seeing them drop well out of the play-off race; in late November, Swindon were eighth and a point out of the top seven, but now sit sixteenth and six points behind with a far inferior goal difference.
Robins Boss Michael Flynn will also have to face a buoyed Colchester side without his two main goal threats this season with both Dan Kemp and Jake Young recalled by their parent clubs -the prolific pair had forty-four goal involvements between them in the first half of the season.
With those two gone from the County Ground, Swindon’s next biggest threat comes from former Premier League striker Charlie Austin. The thirty-four-year-old returned to Wiltshire for the first time since 2011 last year and has hit seven goals in twenty-eight appearances this season, in addition to give assists.
Leading the way with assists for Swindon is wing-back Remeao Hutton; the twenty-five-year-old has nine to his name this campaign, making him a regular fixture in Michael Flynn’s side, featuring in every league game.
Another recent change to this weekend’s hosts has come in goal, with Lewis Ward assuming the role of starting ‘keeper. Murphy Mahoney, on loan from QPR, picked up an injury in the recent defeat to Tranmere Rovers, with Ward playing the latest three games – including saving a last-minute penalty against Forest Green to help his side to three points.
Last Time We Met
Trailing at the break, the U's fought back to pick up all three points in the last meeting with the Robins. Cam McGeehan got his side level, before Samson Tovide and Noah Chilvers added goals to hand Colchester the win.
Ticket Info
Get your tickets to cheer on the boys at Swindon Town - tickets are only available to purchase from the host's website. Click HERE for more information and to purchase.
iFollow Info
If you can't make it to the game on Saturday, you can keep up with it via iFollow. Audio Passes (£2.50) are available to supporters in the UK, with Video Passes (£10) available to fans outside the UK. Click HERE to see what options are available for you.
