I know that we've got a pretty shite ground ourselves in Blundell Park, so it takes something when I look at another ground and think 'dump'! But that's what I thought of Layer Road, sorry. I'm quite sure that Colchester fans came to Blundell Park in October and thought the exact same thing, so we're even on that at least.
The 150-200 Town fans were spread out in the terrace block allocated to them behind the goal. It was very small, very dingy but packed out it would no doubt be a great atmosphere.
Town's injury crisis had eased on the journey down to Essex. Simon Ford, Iain Anderson, Darren Barnard and Lee Thorpe recovered. Ford replaced Jason Crowe at rightback with Mike Edwards coming into the centre of defence. Barnard replaced Greg Young at leftback.
Stacy Coldicott was replaced by Des Hamilton in midfield, Lee Thorpe took Darren Mansaram's place up front.
The bench featured Greg Young, Wes Parker, Graham Hockless, Phil Jevons and Darren Mansaram. David Soames was dropped from the 16 despite his impressive 10 or so minutes on Tuesday night.
Straight away it was clear that this game would be a dull one. Colchester attacked down their left side, Ford dealt with it well. A few crosses were slung in, Davison dealt with them well.
Up front Town were winning the first ball, usually via Thorpe but failed to make anything of it. Often Thorpe won the ball but found no support and was forced to bring the ball back to defence. Rankin was looking lively with his pace but he lacked service from midfield. The quartet of Campbell, Anderson, Daws and Hamilton lacked creativity. Neither of the wide players had good games and the central two are never going to create. In effect Rankin and Thorpe were isolated from the play.
Halfway through the half Rankin had shot from a distance out, it hardly troubled Simon Brown in the Colchester goal.
Referee Mick Fletcher was determined to make the game all about his. His peep, peep, peep lets all do the samba beat antics ruined any chance the game had of flowing. He was crap, no other word can describe him better.
Just before the break former Oldham striker Wayne Andrews showed his ability when he danced past two defenders before launching a stinging shot which Aidan did well to keep out.
The break saw two balti pies, mmmm lovely. And a visit the two man urinal. I kid you not, no more than two men could use the urinal at the same time. The kids penalty shoot out at half-time brought more entertainment than the game. Bloody mascot cheated though, grrrrr.
Second half was equally as dull. Andrews started to take centre stage with his quick feet that led Crane a merry dance for most the half.
Town did put the ball in the net 15 minutes into the second half. Darren Barnard's quickly taken free-kick beat the wall and Brown but referee Fletcher ordered the kick to be retaken and booked Barnard for taking the kick before his whistle. Daws took the re-kick but hit it straight at Brown without any serious pace.
5 minutes afterwards Town hit the self destruct button. Campbell allowed the ball out of defence to run too much, giving Rowan Vine the chance to rob him off possession. The Portsmouth loanee crossed for Craig Fagan who was totally unmarked giving Davison no chance with the header.
Town responded with Barnard's long range drive from 30 yards that Brown managed to tip onto the bar. The introduction of both Jevons and Mansaram failed to change events. Mansaram proved more of a nuisance than Thorpe but was often battling against two or three defenders. Jevons sadly went onto the wing after replacing the ineffective Campbell.
Jevons started and finished Town's best move when he linked up with both Mansaram and Rankin before blazing a glorious one-on-one chance high over Brown's goal.
As Town pushed forward in search of the equaliser they was caught out at the back in the final minute. Colchester sub Scott McGleish beat both Barnard and Anderson, despite sitting on the floor. His cross found Kemi Izzet, unmarked. The brother of Leicester's Muzzy headed past Davison in a replica of the first goal.
Town didn't deserve a win with the weak performance they put out. They probably did deserve a point though, neither team was good or entertaining. Colchester took their chances and we didn't. The only other factor that set the teams apart was Colchester's central midfielders who pushed forward at every possible chance. Daws and Hamilton sat deep and proved highly ineffective.
Man of the Match - Simon Ford. Playing at right-back 'Fordy' was the stand out player, in fact only Mike Edwards came close to challenging him. He defended well, tracked back and got forward on every possible occasion.