Colchester United fan Si Collinson gives his U's views

Throughout the game from minute one, the visitors seemed to be intent on time wasting at every opportunity.

The main culprit was ex-Colchester man Sam Walker, now between the sticks for the Bantams.

READ MORE: Five observations from Colchester's draw with Bradford City

It was frustrating for the home fans but poetic justice when the referee added on ten minutes, at the end of the 90.

It was in the ninth minute of added on time that we equalised, to grab a share of the spoils.

It just goes to show that sometimes, frustrating your opponent in this way can have a very adverse effect.

Of course, it was nice to celebrate the late drama but it can't paper over the fact that although we are becoming hard to beat, we are also not turning draws into wins.

This is mainly due to the fact we seem to find diverse ways each week to concede the first goal.

(Image: STEVE BRADING)

It's rarely a 35-yard screamer that you can hold your hands up to and say 'ok, that was a decent strike'.

Rather, we allow the opposition gilt-edged chances to score sloppy goals that we can, should and must do better against.

Once we go a goal down, however, we do have a never-say-die attitude that gives hope that we will rescue something from a game, and this has been the case for two weeks in a row.

But the fact remains that we are giving ourselves more to do, though our own shortcomings and mistakes.

READ MORE: Colchester midfielder makes League Two Team of the Week

Against Bradford we were, in fairness, a much better side than we have been in previous games.

It was not a case of not playing well, we just didn’t have that clinical edge and this is something I've gone on about a number of times this season and a topic I keep coming back to.

We can dominate a game and this is all well and good but unless we score when we are on top, we always run the risk of getting caught out.

Take the last two games; up at Barrow, we conceded from our own attacking corner when we were napping on their quick counter attack and against Bradford, their goal came due to failing to clear the ball in the box despite a number of opportunities to do just that.

(Image: STEVE BRADING)

While these things happen, we must capitalise when we have our moments.

Against Bradford, we had 14 shots but only three on target, while limiting them to six, with only one on target.

This shows that taking opportunities is clearly not our strong point.

Bradford had theirs and hit the back of the net, while we laboured to cause any real moments of note.

While that paints a pretty bleak picture, it is one that can be changed. The mechanics are there and key players are starting to hit form.

READ MORE: Dragons are left to rue fine margins after home defeat

Harry Anderson has improved massively; he now looks fit and hungry.

While in earlier games he was lacking pace and did not seem to want the ball, now he is beating his man, looking to play forward and has been popping up with goals, a player who has clearly worked hard and proven what he is capable of.

With the return of Owura Edwards to the bench and Oscar Thorn showing that he is ready to step up, it does give us stronger options on the wings than we have had of late.

Only one player should be singled out from the Bradford game though and that's Jamie McDonnell.

He has shown glimpses of what he offers in earlier games but on Saturday, he was the complete example of a midfielder for 90 minutes.

(Image: STEVE BRADING)

Even before his well-deserved goal, he was by far the best player on the pitch.

His work rate was non-stop, he battled for every ball, tracked back and was dangerous going forward.

His willingness to win second balls was key to us being able to dominate the centre of the park and force the visitors to play more long balls rather than giving them much time to control the game.

He is a young player who will go far in the game.

READ MORE: 'I think the ten going up maybe lifted their crowd'

While I have no doubt that his parent club Nottingham Forest will be monitoring his progress and already looking towards his next step on his development ladder, if the chance arises to bring him to North Essex permanently then we should be willing to move heaven and earth to secure his signature.

We now look towards the joys of an early start this Saturday for our trip to Grimsby Town, which kicks off at the earlier time of 12.30pm.

Let's hope that in front of the TV cameras, we can finally turn a draw into a win and return home with three points.

Up the U’s.