L1: Yeovil 0 Colchester Utd 1

I so nearly didn't bother going. It was raining hard at 7-o-clock, there was an interesting-looking Champions League match on the box and after humming and hahing for a while I decided to stay home and watch that instead. Then, at quarter-past 7 I checked the weather one last time - the rain had stopped! Hat, coat, scarf on, out the door. Why do we do these things? What is this strange compulsion that sends us out from our warm, comfortable homes into a cold and damp night to watch a product that is - let's be honest - not very good and in less than salubrious surroundings? I knew before I went what it was going to be like. I knew that the pitch would cut up badly making any attempt at a passing game impossible, and it did. I knew that the opposition would be bigger, fitter and faster than us, and they were. I knew that we would make at least one stupid mistake at the back giving them a gilt-edged chance to score, and we did. I knew that several times during the game people moving to and from the tea-bars would stop right in front of me while watching a particularly dangerous passage of play stopping me from seeing what they were looking at, and they did. Most of all I knew before I went that I would in all likelyhood come home disappointed, and so it came to pass.

To be fair it was better than last Saturday. Skivo made one change in the team, an injured Ryan Mason making way for Arron Davies's second coming. We started quite well, with Arron in particular getting on the ball and providing a couple of decent crosses. However it only took about 10 minutes for the pitch to cut up badly enough to nullify our passing game almost completely and we began to resort to hitting it long, meat and drink to the taller opposition side. Colchester should have scored a couple before they actually did, Alex McCarthy making one good save before another effort crashed off the bar when it looked easier to score. Then the inevitable balls-up, passing to each other in our own penalty area, each pass putting the recipient in more and more trouble before the final attempted clearance rebounded off one of our own defenders and dropping to an attacker, a quick pass and shot, goal. Much too easy for Colchester and so easily avoidable.

And that, basically, was that. We huffed and puffed, tried the occasional shot or cross but never really threatened overmuch. And you always had the feeling that had we somehow sneaked an equaliser then Colchester would have slipped into second gear, gone up the other end and scored again. Since the January break (the Wycombe came apart) we seem to have lost our mojo, lost the knack of scoring goals and lost confidence collectively, both the crowd and the team. Last night we were crying out for a way to change the game, to be able to compete with Colchester, but looking at our options on the bench there wasn't a great deal that Skivo could have done to change things for the better. He perhaps should have tried however. Arron Davies unsurprisingly faded badly in the second half, wouldn't it have been worth giving Scott Murray or Aidan Downes a go instead? I think the gaffer was right to push Owain Tudur-Jones up front, but why wait until the 80th minute had gone by to do it? Why not take off a defender, go to 3 at the back and put on Kieran Murtagh, or Downes, as an attacking midfielder and go for broke? Okay, we might well have been too exposed at the back then and conceded another, but at least the crowd would have seen we were going for it and at least trying to frighten the opposition. It's all if's and but's I know, but something needs to change about the way we are playing at home otherwise it won't be long before we see our first sub-3000 crowd at Huish Park in the football league.

Individual merit marks:

1. Alex McCarthy: 8/10 - Made at least 2 excellent saves and generally commanded his box well. Left high and dry for their goal by some poor defending.

6. Terrell Forbes: 5/10 - started as right back but took over in the centre of defence when Stam went off injured. Not his best game in either position. Struggled in the air against the big Colchester forwards and struggled on the ground against that bloody awful pitch. Struggled, basically.

4. Stefan Stam: 7/10 - We looked a lot more solid at the back with Stam present. Unfortunately he wasn't present for very long.

5. Steven Caulker: 6/10 - Not one of Steven's better games either. Did okay defensively but must take partial responsibility for their goal. Added nothing going forward the few times he did venture over the halfway line.

28. Nathan Smith: 8/10 - One of his best performances of the season, certainly defensively, but he's still to catch fire going forwards. Again, his natural game of running with the ball is effectively neutered by the bloody awful pitch. Made one superb tackle in the second half to save an almost certain goal. Encouraging.

7. Arron Davies: 6/10 - Pretty good for the first 10 minutes and gradually faded out of the game until I eventually forgot he was on the pitch. Hopefully increased match-fitness will increase his effectiveness.

20. Owain Tudur Jones and 25. Shaun MacDonald: 5/10 for both - Another ineffective display from our Welsh international pairing in the centre of midfield. No lack of effort from either, but at the same time no real attacking threat from them either. Both grew increasingly peripheral (apart from set-pieces) as the game went on. They were there and they were working hard, but they weren't influential.

11. Andy Welsh: 6/10 - Flitted in and out of the game sporadically, flattering to deceive most of the time. Unlucky not to score from one first half effort. Otherwise not quite on his game and not quite linking up well with Nathan Smith. Again, the pitch doesn't do anything to help his game.

9. Sam Williams: 5/10 - I'm sorry to say it beause I am a bit of a fan, but this was another disappointing display from Big Sam. Ineffective in the air and on the ground and more often than not much too far away from his fellow striker. Just didn't look like he was going to score, not once.

14. Dean Bowditch: 6/10 - At least he had a couple of efforts on goal and forced their keeper to make some saves. But he and Williams were too often too far from each other to profit from any knock-downs or flicks.

Subs:
2. Craig Alcock (23 mins for Stefan Stam): 5/10 - Started badly again giving the ball away time after time and didn't really improve much thereafter.

As I said at the top it was a better performance than last Saturday's effort. We at least looked as if we were trying to score from the start rather than sitting back in defense. The worrying thing is that we have no Plan B. Colchester showed us how to play on a bad pitch. They put three up front with plenty of movement and got the ball forward to them as quickly as they could. We, on the other hand, kept on trying to pass the ball around nicely and trying to use the flanks even though the state of the pitch made such efforts unlikely to succeed. It's all very well playing passing football, but if all you're doing is passing it amongst yourselves 40-50 yards from goal while the opposition have all the time in the world to get in position defensively then what's the point? Eventually we had no choice but to start hitting the ball long, but the lack of movement throughout the side meant that whoever received the ball was isolated and easily picked off by the defence. As in the Gillingham game last Saturday, we managed to put on some sustained pressure in the last 10 minutes but it was too little, too late. And even then the only real threat was coming from set-pieces, our open play was predictable and easily nullified.

Two tough away games coming up now, at Charlton this coming Saturday and Walsall next Tuesday night. At present we're still looking over our shoulders, 5 points away from the relegation zone. If we're still at least 5 points away from the relegation zone by this time next week I'll be pleased, but frankly amazed. Fifteen games to go to the end of the season, 15 points away from a total of 50 points and probable safety. A point a game. We can't mess this up, can we?