FanZone correspondent Sean Conway believes it's time Colchester fans backed the team...
Home fans are the bad guys at Colchester
Sparkling at Norwich one week, lame at home in the Cup the next,
FanZone correspondent Sean Conway believes it's time Colchester fans turned their stadium into a fortress...
Well the patrons of the Weston Community Stadium have come back down to earth with a bump, after the 10 out 10 performance at Carrow Road we lose at home in the cup!
You can't really judge a team on one game but when you are watching that kind of performance (against Norwich) you do daydream until the next goal goes in, scenes of Dean Hammond lifting the League One championship trophy to the applause of the booming Weston crowd.
Unfortunately we lost our first game at home; hopefully this does not mean a repeat of last year's home form. I'm also hoping the home atmosphere is better this year and that some people get behind the team instead of moaning.
Need for fans' backing
Some of this can be contributed to the fact that it is a new stadium and there is no roof to hold in the sound like Layer Road, but I also blame the telly, in modern times we have our entertainment put on a plate, and so do not have to give anything back, being in a stadium crowd is like a pantomime, there's your villains (away team) and good guys (home team).
With a pantomime the atmosphere is created with crowd participation and the more you invest the more you enjoy, in a football crowd the same is true thus creating the mythical 12th man. The players seem to enjoy playing, making more of an effort; you wouldn't like it if your boss stood over your shoulder moaning at you all the time. So those that just sit there and moan, you are not helping. Invest a little and you will be rewarded, hopefully.
OK it's not a cup we probably would have won but it would be nice to keep the momentum going and a decent run in the cup gives you more publicity and money. However, on the bright side we avoid a backlog of fixtures later in the season, when we're hopefully chasing promotion - so better to go out and concentrate on the league!
The Holy Grail
The cup I do want is the Johnstone's Paint Trophy because we have a realistic chance of winning it and we haven't been to Wembley since the 1997 Play-off final. The joy that will be Dean Hammond (again) lifting the trophy in May, with the sun shining, lots of cheering.
Next up we have two home games on the bounce, so anyone attending start practising your "He's behind you" and "O no he's not".
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