U's assistant boss Joe Dunne spoke to his club's official website and the East Anglian Daily Post ahead of his side's League One game against Carlisle at Brunton Park tomorrow afternoon, Dunne praising the long trip the Colchester fans will have to make :
"The supporters are great for us and it's fantastic to see them at away games like this. They make the sacrifice, both financially and in terms of their time and it's something that definitely doesn't go unnoticed. I remember playing at Carlisle on a Tuesday night and running out to see over a hundred of our fans there. I used to think it was amazing then and when we come out to sit on the bench now, I think it's still amazing that so many come along. Hopefully, we can make the trip worthwhile for them and get a positive result, it might make the journey home at least seem shorter.
“For next season we know the positions we want to fill and the areas we want to improve. People have said to me, why aren’t we looking at more Premier League reserve team players? When we got promoted in 2006 we had (Neil) Danns and (Richard) Garcia but back then it was a different market. In our league at that time the champions were Southend and we were second. Now you’ve got Huddersfield, Charlton, MK Dons, lots of teams that can attract the top players quicker than we can.
“There’s also the financial side of things. Some of these guys are probably already on more money than our current guys are on. Do you take a chance on them or do you go for experience? If you’re bringing them in you’ve got to play them because otherwise they’re just taking up your resources. We’ve tried to lay down the way we want to do things this season and next season we know the areas we want to improve and tweak. We’re looking at who’s playing and who’s not playing at various clubs. You’re going through the Sunday papers highlighting benches really. It takes up a lot of your time but it helps you understand who might potentially be available.”
In team news for the visitors tomorrow, who remarkably travelled up on Thursday in order to train in the north west today, they will be missing four players from their squad, the quartet being Pat Baldwin, Simon Hackney, Magnus Okuonghae and David Perkins. Firstly at the back central defensive pairing Baldwin and Okuonghae are sidelined with long-term injuries, Baldwin out with a troublesome Achilles problem and Okuonghae absent for the rest of the season after undergoing ankle surgery in late February.
Into central midfield and David Perkins could also miss the last few weeks of the current campaign after picking up a hamstring injury in a 2-1 defeat at Sheffield Wednesday two weeks ago, while former Carlisle left-winger Simon Hackney is sidelined after recently returning from a loan spell at Oxford United with a hamstring injury. So, with those four players out that leaves the Colchester squad for tomorrow as follows :
Goalkeepers - Mark Cousins, Ben Williams.
Defenders - Lee Beevers, Nathan Clarke, Matt Heath, Conor Powell, Tommy Smith, John White, Brian Wilson.
Midfielders - Andy Bond, Ben Coker, Ian Henderson, Kemal Izzet (c), Lloyd James, John-Joe O'Toole, Ashley Vincent, Anthony Wordsworth.
Forwards - Dave Mooney, Kayode Odejayi, Steven Gillespie.
The referee for tomorrow's match is Peter Quinn from Middlesbrough and he will be assisted down the lines by Simeon Lucas from Darwen in Lancashire and Dave McCallum from Wallsend. Meanwhile the fourth official is Danny Markham from Sunderland.