Form an orderly queue

THERE was a bit of queue at half-time to shake Frank Nouble’s hand after he scored his first Colchester goal against Cambridge United.

He had got a bit of grief from us for not scoring before that but it was all good natured!

He’s played a massive part for us so far and has been a very big player.

Noubs brings so much more than just goals to the team and he’s a really good character to have around.

Hopefully his goal will be the first of many but we’ve shown already this season that there are goals all through the team.

It was a really good win for us against Cambridge and it’s up there with one of our best yet, this season.

We knew that we needed to back up our really good point at Tranmere Rovers with a win – we knew that draw we got at Prenton Park wouldn’t have been as good had we not done that.

We knew that Cambridge would be up for the game, especially with an ex-Colchester manager and player coming back – I know what it’s like, going back to your old club and wanting to prove a bit of a point.

We know that teams might come to us now and try and stop us playing when we’re at home and we’ve done a lot of work on that.

Everyone at the moment is positive and if someone had offered me at the start of the season the points total we have at this stage, I think I’d have snapped their arm off!

We’re not getting carried away but we’ll look to try and continue that at Oldham Athletic this weekend.

We’ve shown we can roll our sleeves up and get results away from home and that we have different ways of playing.

The next two games against Oldham and Bury will really say a lot about our squad.

They’re two really tough games but if we can get through them unscathed, I think a few more people will be talking about us.

Clocking up the miles

IT’S another long journey for us up to Oldham on Saturday but it’s something I look forward to.

Some players don’t like staying away from home for matches but I adore it and the whole focus is on football, the minute you step on the coach.

We’re a great group and I actually really enjoy that time.

Luke Norris’s brother in law is Lewis Young, the brother of Manchester United and England’s Ashley Young who tells him that the boys at the top level are in every day and stay overnight for every home game.

Ball bursting

MY Colchester team-mate Luke Norris managed to burst the ball in our game against Cambridge.

It’s something I’ve never seen happen before but it didn’t surprise me that it was Noz who did it.

He has legs like an elephant and I think he has the hardest shot in football.

We see it day in, day out in training and I honestly think I’d rather be in a wall trying to defend a shot from John Arne Riise than Noz.

Come on feel the noise

OUR changing room was a noisy place after our win over Cambridge.

The boom box was blaring out and the gaffer likes to have noise around the place.

With the characters we have it’s always going to be noisy and if you can hear music from our changing room after a game it’s a good sign, because it means we’ve done well.

Nothing like the real thing

MANCHESTER United played on an artificial pitch last night against Young Boys, in the Champions League.

We played on a couple when we got promoted from the Conference with Cheltenham Town but I don’t like playing on them.

You’re really sore after the game and the ball holds up a bit and doesn’t bounce in the same way as it does on normal grass.

There are good artificial surfaces out there and it’s all according to the standard of the 3G pitch that’s being used.

But I do think that the home team that has one is at an advantage, because they train on it every day.

Thankfully our pitch at Colchester is the real thing and is looking fantastic at the moment.

Humble N'Golo

APPARENTLY, N’Golo Kante spent the night playing Fifa, eating chicken and watching Match of the Day with fans last Saturday night, after missing his last Eurostar train back to Paris.

For me, that sums up the character of the Chelsea midfielder.

There’s a video doing the rounds of the France squad with the World Cup serenading Kante with his very own song.

Apparently, the central midfielder still drives his Smart Car to training at Chelsea and he just strikes me as such a humble guy, despite all of his success in the game.

It’s great when you see players interacting with fans and I’ve always managed to gain friends from every club I’ve been at and I still speak to a lot of people from the likes of Hereford and Cheltenham.

It’s just my character and that sort of stuff is so important, because they’re paying to come and watch us play.