Colchester United midfielder Harry Pell's weekly Gazette column

Raring to go

WE get back to action against Macclesfield Town this weekend - it’s one of the most important games of our season so far and it’s one we can’t afford to take lightly.

We went into the game against Lincoln City recently thinking it was a massive game and we’ll go into the Macclesfield match with the same feeling.

We’re in a healthy position at the moment and it’s an important time for us.

It’s been nice to have a break but now I’m raring to go again.

We’re now coming up to the halfway point of the season and as much as we wanted to still be in the FA Cup, I think it came at the right time, going into what will be a hectic programme.

We need to be thoroughly professional in front of our own fans, who I think can play a massive part on Saturday.

We night have to wait ten minutes or we might have to wait 90 minutes to break Macclesfield down and if the fans can get behind us, it plays a massive part.

We need to get the place rocking and the fans should demand high standards from the boys.

It’s shaping up to be a good game and I think the atmosphere will be very important.

I’m sure there’ll be a lot of hype surrounding Sol Campbell taking charge of his first league game as Macclesfield boss but I’m hoping it makes the headlines for the wrong reasons, because it’s us that have won the game.

They’ve had a couple of good results in the league but it’s up to us to deal with their strengths and exploit their weaknesses.

Doing Sammie's dirty work!

I’M over the moon for my team-mate Sammie Szmodics being nominated for the League Two Player of the Month award for November.

His goals have helped us to pick up some valuable points but I think his nomination is a reflection of how well the whole team have been doing.

Sammie’s a vital clog in our chain and what we’re trying to do.

He’s a player who I definitely think can play at a higher level but to achieve this, he knows he has to be consistent in his scoring and his performances.

He’s very deserving of the award nomination and I’m hoping that he wins it but if he does, I’ll be reminding him that it’s because me and Tom Lapslie have being doing all of his dirty work!

We’ll need earplugs if Sammie wins!

Window is a payne

IT’S coming up to that time of year where players start getting linked with moves, with the transfer window reopening next month.

I speak from experience when I say that as a professional footballer, being linked with other clubs can be frustrating.

I’ll quite enjoy going through January not having any of that.

It’s very often out of the hands of the player concerned until you get to speak to the club involved – if that happens at all.

There will also be players who will want to leave their club but can’t get out.

You have to think about families, schools and houses and it’s an absolute headache.

As soon as you sign for a club after all that, it’s a relief.

What I can say that if we do sign anyone new next month, any player that comes in will be so lucky to join our group and what we’re doing here at the moment – they’ll come into a fantastic changing room and it’s exciting times at Colchester.

Courtney's our Tyson!

I DIDN’T stay up and watch the Tyson Fury-Deontay Wilder fight on Sunday morning – but it sounds like it was a cracker.

I’m a big Fury fan and it sounds like he was robbed and that he deserved to win.

Tyson is like the boxing version of our very own Courtney Senior.

He’s technically very good and what he does, he looks good doing it.

He’s so hard to hit and I’m just hoping that they manage to arrange a fight between Fury and Anthony Joshua.