Terry Skiverton wants to serve up another memorable night under the lights for our fans, as we go in search of a first league win of the season at Colchester.
Our Assistant Manager was delighted that we were able to reward supporters with a 2-1 victory over Coventry in the Carabao Cup, in our previous midweek game last Wednesday. An evening visit to tonight’s opponents also produced the same turnaround score line in this fixture last Christmas.
“One thing I do recognise is that there has been a change in mood amongst our supporters,” said Terry. “We felt their frustration last season, but with the two league games that we’ve had so far the fans have been magnificent.”
“They’ve got right behind the players and the manager and I think we all feel that. That’s really going to drive us on. In particular, Plough Lane was special last Wednesday night and a lot of people have said it was the first time that they’ve had that really big feeling of an upset since our return.
“We want to experience that again with the supporters - going crazy behind the goal and up in the stand. We’re mindful of that and we need to make sure that we keep giving them the moments and the energy to do so.”
Our last visit to the JobServe Community Stadium yielded three points in the run up to this year, as Josh Davison and a late winner from Ethan Chislett cancelled out a John Akinde penalty in the second half.
“It was a fantastic performance,” said Terry. “Huseyin Biler was excellent on that night, we defended really well. They threw everything at us and it took quite a lot of energy out of us, I remember that afterwards. It was a great night and a great feeling.
“I think Colchester are one of the twenty clubs the gaffer played for before,” added Terry with a smile. “He always mentions he scored some really good goals for them and had a good time. We want to go back there and try and put on another good performance and come away with the three points.
“They’re a tough team and they played really well against Bradford at the weekend. They’ve got plenty of energy and pace within their team and some really good players for this level.”
There was no rest day for the Dons after the draw with Wrexham, as the squad trained on Sunday, as Terry explained:
“We had a really good day and then on Monday we did some lighter work, just to make sure we’ve got that energy about us. We also worked on our organisation, set plays, that we’re diligent in what we do and that we’re getting the details and the clarity across to the players so that we know what we’re doing in and out of possession.
“It’s frustrating for Huseyin now and Jack Currie is the same. They want to be out there training, but they can’t due to injuries. Paul Kalambayi was immense for us last season, he’s also missing, but the good thing is that we’ve got them to welcome back and hopefully soon. They’ll make the squad and the team even stronger.”
Photos: Ian Stephen and Stephen Flynn (Pro Sports Images).