Colchester United defender Mandela Egbo has vowed that his side will fight until the final whistle, as the League Two season comes to a nail-biting close.
The U’s face Barrow at the JobServe Community Stadium this Saturday, knowing only a win and favourable results elsewhere will keep their play-off hopes alive.
Determined to Finish on a High
It has been a campaign of visible progress for Danny Cowley’s men, but Egbo believes there is still a final chapter to write. Despite the daunting odds, the defender insists the squad are fully committed to ending their season with a performance that fans can be proud of.
“It’s still possible – stranger things have happened. We’ve got another game to prepare for and we don’t want to go out with a whimper. At the very least, we do our job on Saturday and see what happens.
“I think the supporters see in the main that it’s been a season better than the last few and I think they’ve got something to be proud of. It’s been fantastic progress but I think it’s even bittersweet, because we’re so close,”
Colchester’s recent 4-1 defeat at Salford City came with key players such as Lyle Taylor, Jamie McDonnell, and Owura Edwards unavailable. However, Egbo refused to use absences as an excuse, underlining the reality of adversity in football.
“The injuries are not an excuse – nobody is going to look back in the summer and think that we lost someone here or we lost someone there.
“We’ve had adversity and we’re going to have adversity – nobody expected for us to win every game every season and go up with goodness knows how many points. No team in this league has had it easy,”
While Colchester have demonstrated strong defensive performances at times this season, their Achilles heel has been heavy defeats on the road. Egbo admitted that the tendency to concede heavily away from home has been a costly flaw.
The 27-year-old defender pointed to defeats at Bradford City, Walsall, and Doncaster Rovers, alongside the recent loss at Salford, as examples where the team fell short of their usual resilience.
“Unfortunately, that’s been a bit of a downfall for us, this season. We shipped four at Salford, four at Bradford, four at Walsall, three at Doncaster last week so it’s obviously something we have to look at.
“It’s very disappointing because we are usually very resilient and have kept a huge number of clean sheets,”
Writer’s View
Mandela Egbo’s honest and passionate assessment of Colchester United’s season captures the reality of life in League Two – progress often comes hand-in-hand with frustration. With one final opportunity left, the U’s are determined not to bow out quietly. Whether they sneak into the play-offs or not, there is a clear sense that the foundations for a better future are now firmly in place at the JobServe Community Stadium.
