We spoke to Mike Williamson ahead of our trip to Colchester.
We began by asking him how he now reflects on Tuesday night’s defeat to Notts County: “I look at how we responded in the second-half, we look at the metrics, the stats, the incredible amount of box entries and our xG was double theirs.
“In any average game, we take the three points in that, so we take away the fact that our concentration levels have to be spot on for 95, 100 minutes.
“The fact that when we play teams like that, they're going to have periods of the game where they might control elements of it and we've got to be patient with what we do and then when we press, we press together with the aggression that we did in the second-half and I thought that really stopped their flow and broke it up and then we were in the ascendancy and we take a lot of heart from that because essentially, we dominated the majority of the second-half and we’re unfortunate not to come out with anything.”
Mike then discussed what has been worked on in training this week, saying: “I mean, the main things have been to just keep to those levels and make sure we don't switch off.
“Obviously, being in this period and position we're in, things will go against us but we've got to stack everything in our favour for that not to happen and they showed such spirit and personality in the second-half. We've got to make sure that we start with that front-foot desire and that intensity to press, win the ball back and play forward and affect their back line.”
Mike has already faced Colchester twice this season, whilst managing MK Dons. We asked him what he expected from them, he said: “They're very organised, hard-working. They've got threats all over the pitch.
“I know Jack Payne well, he's got a lot of quality so we've got to make sure we keep him quiet. Tovide, the big man up top, he's a real handful on his day. But they're just really organised, really hard-working, they're really honest and we've got to make sure that we win that battle and we earn the right to play but we just look to hurt their backline and make sure that we're locked on and we're relentless with our distances, our organisation and our communication and we allow the boys to play their football.”
Colchester grabbed a late goal to snatch a point at Port Vale in midweek, so we put it to Mike that they’ll be confident coming in to this one, he said: “They certainly will and I don't really expect anything different. The manager has got a lot of experience so regardless of the past result, we're going to have them at it and again, they're very honest and hard-working so we know what to expect and we've just got to make sure that we focus on ourselves.
“It's a long trip, I think we're going to break the journey up by training halfway down.
“Obviously, it is a long, long way. It's going to be six, seven hours on the coach. Early start, get down there and then get the boys out, get stretched, get a bit of detail in them and then back on the bus.
“Get to the hotel, get our recovery in and get our minds on Saturday.”
Finally, on the fans, and giving them a good show after two home defeats, Mike said: "I'd argue that the performance at Swindon wasn’t quite there either. I thought we defended incredibly well against Swindon.
“We want to give the fans the points and the result of Swindon, but we'd like to give them the first-half of Grimsby and the second-half of Notts County, if possible, but we're going to give everything and I think that when confidence is low, it's hard and it was difficult for the lads on the pitch against Notts County but they showed their character and their personality and it came out so we've just got to make sure we start like that and we're relentless in that.”
