Opposing View – The Owls

1. How do you rate you chances on Wed at Layer Road?

Confidence will be high(ish) after the weekend victory over our close neighbours Barnsley but I’m still not convinced yet. I think we have the best squad we’ve had in a while at Hillsborough but they’re yet to gel together and we’re still getting key players back from injury. Given time I think we’ll improve but Wednesday night may be a bit premature! You seem a good side at home and it’s a long journey for us so I’m going for a narrow defeat, anything else will be a bonus for us in my opinion!

2. Where do you think our respective teams will finish come May?

I’m hopeful that we can finish mid-table, maybe just below but we should be good enough to avoid relegaiton. We did last year and we’ve improved since then so I see no reason why not. I haven’t seen much of Colchester to be honest but the odd games I have seen such as Ipswich and Derby showed me that you have enough to stay up. It’ll be a battle and you’ll be relying on some good home form to stay up but I think you can do it.

3. Who do you think will win the Championship and why?

It’s looking good for Cardiff at the moment but I’m still going for West Brom. They have a top-class squad and we’ll have to see how the new boss does but he has enough ammunition to mount a serious challenge for the top spot, as they showed at Ipswich on Saturday! Maybe them and Cardiff for the automatic spot. Team’s like Sunderland and Birmingham may well struggle to go up in my opinion.

4. Who do you rate as your star man, and why should we be aware of him?

The Sun would be Chris Brunt as ‘Star Man’ and I can see why. He was absolutely rubbish against Barnsley but popped up with a brilliant goal in injury time to win the game. He’s the laziest player and most frustrating player you’ll probably ever see but he has a brilliant left-foot that’s probably the best in the Football League. He can hit brilliant set pieces and when he’s on form he’s top class. Madjid Bougherra has also been impressive for us at the heart of the defence – watch out for his mazy length-of-the-field runs!

5. Out of the Colchester players, who do you think will cause you the most problems?

You’re probably the same with us – unfortunately I don’t know too much about your players. You seem like a club with a great team spirit rather than individual players which bodes well for you. Iwelumo and Cureton seem the obvius threats. They’ve been there and done it in this league so they’ll play a big part in keeping you up. I’d definately take either of them at the moment!