Colchester United head coach Danny Cowley has issued a rallying call to his players ahead of Tuesday night’s clash at home to Doncaster Rovers as the League Two campaign draws to a close.
The U’s are on a dreadful run of form in England’s fourth tier, having failed to win a game in six league matches. Furthermore, the side have been victorious in only one game in 2024 so far which came in a 1-0 win away at promotion hopefuls Morecambe. In fact, this was Cowley’s only victory in charge of the club in nine games.
The ex-Lincoln City and Portsmouth manager returned to his native Essex at the start of the year after former boss Matthew Etherington was relieved of his duties on New Year’s Day. At that point, Colchester United had lost eight of their previous nine league outings and were sitting in 22nd place, five points above the relegation zone.
Nine matches later, Colchester are still in the same position in League Two as before the Cowleys took over at the helm but are now only two points above the drop zone after Forest Green Rovers defeated Walsall on Saturday afternoon at The New Lawn.
With 11 games remaining, including a visit from Doncaster tomorrow night, Cowley has called for the players and supporters to give it their all amid an attempt to stave off relegation [quotes via Doncaster Free Press]:
“We just have to keep going.
“Of course, the result is disappointing and of course for the supporters, particularly the ones that travelled, you come this far, you so desperately want your team to do well.
“Our lives depend on this. We’re proud people and any relegation lives with you forever, forever.
“If you get a team relegated out of the Football League, that’s with you forever,” he continued.
“That will be with you on your dying day, so we have 11 games and a wonderful, wonderful opportunity to make sure that that doesn’t happen.
“We have to attack those games, we have to attack with them with energy, we have to attack them with enthusiasm and we have to attack them with determination. We will need the people of Colchester with us but we’re going to do it – I have absolutely no doubt at all that we will achieve what we set out to when we first arrived.”
Writer’s View
Forest Green knew when they appointed Steve Cotterill that they were going to give it a real ago to try and stay in the division. So far, Cotterill has managed to guide his team to more wins than Cowley since taking over, having managed the same number of games.
With some tough games on the horizon against Walsall and Mansfield Town, Tuesday’s fixture at home to Doncaster is now a very important game for the U’s since Forest Green Rovers face bottom-of-the-table Sutton United at the weekend. Colchester United simply can’t lose tomorrow.
Deputy Head of Writing
