The two teams come into today’s game with Crewe still sitting in the bottom 6 having put 10 points between themselves and the bottom 2, Newport County who won in midweek and Leyton Orient, who replaced them at the bottom after a 5-0 defeat in midweek. Colchester sit 3 points outside the final play-off spot, currently held by Exeter City, in 9th place with 9 games remaining of the season.
Crewe Alexandra will still be missing captain Danny Hollands, Jon Guthrie and Dave Richards whilst stand-in captain George Ray is a doubt after leaving the field on Tuesday night 20 minutes in with a groin injury.
Home Record: W5 D6 L7 F22 A21 Pts 21
Top League Scorer: George Cooper, Chris Dagnall, Alex Kiwomya 7
Colchester United are unlikely to make any changes to their line-up due to missing 13 players and although Cameron James was replaced late on Tuesday night, in the U’s 2-0 home win against Mansfield, he is expected to start this afternoon.
Away Record: W4 D7 L8 F19 A23 Pts 19
Top League Scorer: Kurtis Guthrie 12
Previous meetings:
In the history of the fixture, there have been 18 Crewe wins, 27 Colchester wins and 8 draws.
Colchester United 4-0 Crewe Alexandra (26th November 2016)
The U’s won their first meeting with Crewe at home in 20 years thanks to goals from Kurtis Guthrie in the 20th minute before a late collapse saw goals from Owen Garvan, Drey Wright and Brennan Dickenson in the final 20 minutes.
Colchester: Walker; Eastman, Kent, Elokobi; Brindley (Vincent-Young), Lapslie, Slater, Garvan (Bonne); Dickenson, Guthrie, Johnstone (Wright)
Crewe: Garratt; Turton, Davis, Guthrie, Ng (Nugent); Kiwomya, Jones (Ainley), Hollands, Cooper; Dagnall (Udoh), Lowe
Played for both:
Colchester’s goalkeeping coach Ademola Bankole made 59 league appearances in 2 spells between 1996 and 2004 before ending his career with the U’s in 2008. Andy Bond, Sagi Burton, David Fox, Alan Maybury, Jamie Moralee, Dominic Smith, Efe Sodje, Paul Tierney and David Wright have also all played for the club.
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