Colchester United 2022-23 season review - highs and lows for U's

And in Ben Garner, they have someone in charge who has had two months to thoroughly assess his squad, ahead of what promises to be a busy summer for the U’s.

It has been an eventful season, with a high turnover of players featuring over the past nine months.

Tellingly, only three players who started Colchester’s season opener at Northampton Town were in their starting line-up on the final day of the season against Mansfield Town – Luke Chambers, Noah Chilvers and John Akinde.

After a third successive season battling relegation and a 20th-place finish, Colchester are clearly striving to compete at the top end of League Two, rather than striving to avoid the drop again.

But how will the U’s 2022-23 season be remembered? The Gazette’s sports writer Jon Waldron looks back at what was at times a turbulent campaign for the club.

HIGHS

FINDING HOPE

ONLY a few weeks ago, Colchester United’s EFL status was looking decidedly precarious.

So for the club to now be planning for another season in League Two is something that should not be sniffed at, given the position they had found themselves in.

After the recruitment that took place last summer, the expectation for Colchester and their fans at the start of the campaign stretched a lot further than merely surviving in the division.

Despite losing their final two games of the campaign, the U’s finished with plenty to feel optimistic about.

A fine eight-game unbeaten run prior to those losses has given fans hope for the future and encouragement that they might avoid a fourth successive season of struggle.

GARNER’S GAINS

COLCHESTER found themselves at a bit of a crossroads in February when Matt Bloomfield surprisingly quit after less than five months in charge to return to former club Wycombe Wanderers.

Bloomfield took charge of a Colchester side who were one point above the League Two relegation zone after ten matches of the season and left them nine points above the drop zone.

Appointing the right successor to Bloomfield was crucial for the U’s and their decision to bring in former Swindon Town and Charlton Athletic boss Ben Garner has so far proved to be the right one.

After assessing the squad, he guided the U’s on an eight-match unbeaten run, a sequence of form that ultimately helped secure the club’s EFL status and also earned Garner a Manager of the Month nomination for April.

Garner will now attempt to stamp his own mark on the squad in this summer’s transfer window, as he looks to build on the good work he has done over the last couple of months.

A CASE FOR THE DEFENCE

DESPITE finding themselves in the lower reaches of League Two for much of the season, Colchester’s defensive record has actually been pretty good.

They conceded 51 goals in the campaign just gone, the best defensive record of League Two’s bottom seven clubs and superior to the likes of Salford City, Mansfield Town and Barrow.

Colchester were beaten 21 times over the course of the 2022-23 campaign but they were beaten by more than one goal in the league on only six occasions.

In many of the U’s games this season, they have competed well only to fall to a narrow defeat.

It was often their impressive defensive shape that helped them stay in matches particularly in the second half of the season, boosted by the arrival of Connor Hall and Fiacre Kelleher in the January transfer window and a switch to a three-man defence with wing-backs.

TALENT FACTORY

IT’S been another productive season for Colchester’s home-grown players.

Junior Tchamadeu has been their standout performer, with the academy product scooping a plethora of end-of-season awards, including the League Two Young Player of the Year accolade and being named in the League Two Team of the Year.

The 19-year-old’s progression has been there for all to see and the wing-back has shown a maturity beyond his years, in what has been another challenging season for the club.

Noah Chilvers’ progress has continued apace, with the attacking midfielder finishing as the U’s top goalscorer with nine goals and playing his part in helping to keep them up.

Samson Tovide has enjoyed a breakthrough campaign with 31 senior appearances - and two goals – under his belt, while the likes of Marley Marshall Miranda and Al-Amin Kazeem have also enjoyed plenty of first-team involvement, this season.

DERBY DELIGHT

THE two clubs might have had contrasting league seasons, but one of Colchester’s standout results in the 2022-23 campaign was their memorable 1-0 win at neighbours Ipswich Town in the Carabao Cup first round.

Luke Hannant’s first-half strike proved enough for the U’s to claim victory at Portman Road in front of nearly 1,500 fans who had made the short trip from North Essex.

It was Colchester’s first win at Ipswich since 1951, securing them a place in the second-round draw for the first time since 2019.

The U’s bowed out to Premier League side Brentford in the next round but the win in Suffolk will be etched into the memory of Colchester fans for some time to come.

LOWS

HOT SEAT

AFTER the plethora of managerial changes that have taken place at the JobServe Community Stadium over the last few years, the last thing Colchester really needed was more changes in the hot seat.

After he had guided them to safety in style last season, earning him the job on a permanent basis, it was a shame that things did not work out for Wayne Brown.

He was dismissed following a 1-0 home defeat to Grimsby Town on September 17, a result that left Colchester fourth from bottom in the League Two table after they have managed just two points from a possible 15.

An extensive recruitment process, led by the club's sporting director Dmitri Halajko, followed and the U’s received more than 100 applicants for the role and shortlisted ten candidates, interviewing five of them.

The appointment of Matt Bloomfield was unexpected and after initially taking time to turn the U’s form, he won nine, drew six and lost 12 of the 27 matches he took charge of, in all competitions.

With Colchester nine points above the drop zone, his departure to return to former club Wycombe Wanderers in February was unexpected and unwelcome, bringing more disruption and change.

But Garner has led the U’s to safety and away from danger, delivering hope for a better season next time around – and some much-needed stability.

GOAL SHY

COLCHESTER scored 44 goals this season, the second lowest total in League Two.

Only Gillingham hit the net fewer times and it is in front of goal where the U’s have generally struggled most, in the 2022-23 campaign.

Remarkably, the eight goals they scored in their two thumping home wins against Crewe Alexandra and Doncaster Rovers last month provided 18 per cent of their total goal tally for the season.

None of the U’s strikers have hit the net with enough regularity and that is something Garner will need to address, this summer.

As a footnote, League Two was a relatively low scoring division, in general.

Champions Leyton Orient and runners-up Stevenage both hit the net 61 times, while third-placed Northampton Town only managed one additional goal, so the U’s were not the only ones to experience frustration in front of goal.

SLUGGISH START

AFTER THE momentum experienced at the back end of last season, where Colchester finished with a flourish and claimed an impressive 16 points from their final eight games of the season under Wayne Brown, the start to the 2022-23 campaign was a disappointing one.

The U’s managed only one win in their opening 11 league games, a run that left them up against it from the very beginning.

Ben Garner has already put plans in place to make sure he is doing everything to prevent a similar scenario occurring next season and what happens over the summer months will clearly be crucial in determining how the U’s fare, in the next campaign.

INJURY WOE

SADLY, every club experiences their fair share of injuries over the course of any season and Colchester have been no exception.

Last season, Ryan Clampin was sidelined for much of the season with a serious knee injury.

This time around, Alan Judge was the unfortunate player to be out of action for the longest period, after suffering a similarly serious knee injury in the U’s 1-0 defeat at Sutton United, last December.

The U’s have also been without the likes of Tom Dallison, Kwesi Appiah, Matty Longstaff and Tommy Smith for long periods, which has hardly helped their cause.

FAN BEHAVIOUR

THE vast majority of Colchester United supporters are able to support their team – win, lose or draw – without overstepping the mark.

However, like any other fanbase, the club have a very small minority of fans whose anti-social behaviour spoils the experience for everyone else.

The regrettable actions of a few individuals that took place in the away games at Leyton Orient and Ipswich Town this season brought shame on the club and were condemned by the club and supporters associations alike.

We all want to see our team win but there is no place for such behaviour, either in a football stadium or in society as a whole.