I'M really not enjoying these barren Saturdays without any U’s football.

Thank goodness we have two home games next week to comfort us back to health.

There are very good admission prices for the Stevenage cup tie on Tuesday, so I hope that adds additional bottoms on seats to support the players.

Then we have the much-publicised Salford City match the following weekend and I'm looking forward to seeing what they are all about.

The U’s head into their enforced winter break on the back of a point at Cheltenham.

As predicted, it was a tough one and the stats prove how tough it was.

After a lovely goal from Luke Norris, Courtney Senior should have really taken us further clear but sadly failed and that opened the door for a sucker-punch courtesy of a poor penalty decision.

We really can’t do much about it now but, with hindsight, I hope the well-positioned referee and Cheltenham player who hit the deck are equally disappointed with the part they played.

Player diving has no place in the game in my opinion, even if the culprit is wearing blue and white.

The soon to be terror of the Man United frontline, otherwise known as Tom Eastman, was by far the big winner of the man-of-the-match voting on the supporters' coach and I'm looking forward to watching him play at Old Trafford.

So with Bradford choosing to play at Macclesfield tomorrow, rather than heading to Colchester, I hope you can fill the void with some local non-league footy.

Among others, I think Karl Duguid’s Heybridge Swifts and Kem Izzet’s Brightlingsea Regent are at home, so there are a couple of U’s legends who would welcome your support for starters.

Back to the current U’s and the approaching evacuation of Colchester on the week before Christmas.

The general sale of tickets have seen many more fly out of the door, but don’t panic if they haven’t arrived yet because

I understand that posting is about a week away.

Close to 1,000 fans will be heading north on the CUSA coaches and thank you to all who have come to see us up at the U’s stadium this week to pay for their coach tickets.

We cannot take any money on the day we travel so please keep an eye on our website for other ways of settling up.

It’s a once in a lifetime chance to see our team play at one of the historic stadiums in England and I, for one, am really looking forward to it.

Thanks for your continued support of the U’s and also good luck to Maldon and Tiptree in their big FA Cup tie against Newport County tonight.

I hope you can get some football inside you tomorrow and don’t forget to snap up your tickets for next week’s games if you haven’t already.

Up the U’s!

John Burns, CUSA chairman