Colchester United were beaten 2-0 by Oldham Athletic, on Saturday afternoon.

Early goals from Alex Iacovitti and Callum Lang secured the Latics all three points at the JobServe Community Stadium, inflicting upon the U's a fourth defeat in five matches.

The result leaves John McGreal's side two points off the League Two play-off places, with five games remaining.

A fear factor

COLCHESTER United attracted their fourth highest home crowd of the season against Oldham Athletic.

But after 13 minutes of the contest, some of those who were at the JobServe Community Stadium on Saturday may have wished they had not bothered.

The U’s contrived to concede two early goals to leave themselves with a mountain to climb and ultimately, were unable to recover from their dreadful start.

They have now lost their last three home games without scoring and have registered just nine points out of a possible 30 there since Christmas.

U’s boss John McGreal said his players suffered from a ‘feeling of fear’ in the first half against Oldham and despite a much-improved second-half display, the damage was already done.

Goal shortage

AT the turn of the calendar year, Colchester United were one of the most prolific teams in League Two – which perhaps makes their struggles in front of goal over recent weeks even more frustrating.

One goal scored in their last five games is a miserly return for a side who were hitting the net with clinical regularity, in the first half of the season.

The U’s decision making in both boxes is letting them down at present and despite having 17 corners against Oldham Athletic, they were unable to find the net.

The fact that Colchester’s only goal in their last five games has come from a defender is a reflection of their current predicament.

Making an impact

ONE of the biggest positives to come from Colchester United’s defeat to Oldham Athletic was the impact of their second-half substitutes.

Frank Nouble, Mikael Mandron and particularly Brennan Dickenson all impressed after half-time, as they tried desperately to get their side back in the game.

Some U’s supporters felt they should have started the match but it is also understandable that boss John McGreal should be reluctant to change a winning side.

Nevertheless, all three players have certainly played their way into contention for Colchester’s vital trip to fellow promotion hopefuls Bury, next weekend.

Wild celebration

‘HE’S one of our own’ is a chant commonly heard at many football grounds these days, up and down the country.

But in Pete Wild’s case, the sentiment is particularly apt.

At 34 years old, the Oldham Athletic manager is the youngest boss in the Football League, having taken over from Paul Scholes last month.

Wild has been supporting the Latics for nearly 30 years and had been working at the club for more than a decade, prior to his initial appointment as their interim manager last December.

His side’s victory at Colchester United was their third in a row and their performance against the U’s showed why they are an outside bet for the play-offs.

Community care

THE result did not go Colchester United’s way, against Oldham Athletic.

But the thriving Football in the Community day held at the club demonstrated that they are doing positive things, off the pitch.

In 2018, the U’s charity partner racked up an impressive 19,050 hours of engagement with the local community and embarked on 29 different projects.

Its youngest participant was just two years old; its eldest was 90.

Corin Haines and his staff do a cracking job every year reaching out to people of all ages within the Colchester and North Essex area.

It was positive to see so many youngsters getting involved on the pitch both before and after the game and was a reminder of all of the good work the FITC team do.