Colchester vs Bury Predictions

Colchester were not fancied by many to challenge for promotion this season but have proven doubters wrong so far this campaign. Driven by a potent attacking force which has meant they are the league’s top scorers with 20, Colchester are now fourth in the table.

They showed this force in their most recent game away at Oldham Athletic, another side that has done well this year. The match finished a thrilling 3-3, with Luke Norris scoring twice and Harry Pell getting one to set Colchester 3-1 up, before Oldham scored twice in the last five minutes to snatch a point. However, whilst the team will have been disappointed to drop two points, Oldham are a strong outfit and the away side continued to show their strength in attack.

Indeed, in the league this season, they have put three goals past Oldham, Cambridge and Cheltenham, as well as six past Crewe Alexandra, in what was their performance of the season thus far. They showed a blitz of attacking movement and finishing to stun the visitors and cement themselves as a real force in the league this season Although they lost at home to Northampton, the side has done relatively well against other strong teams in the division. They have drawn away at Tranmere, Mansfield and Notts County to pick up some important points.

Colchester look like a side that will be challenging for the promotion places come the end of the season, with such a breadth of potential scorers. They have had nine different scorers this season, with Luke Norris leading the way with six. Two players are on three goals, whilst three have two. It points to a well-organised side that should be near the top of the table come the end of the season.

Bury have also made a relatively strong start to the season under Ryan Lowe, however, were beaten at home for the first time in their last match against Carlisle. In a dour game, Bury could only muster one shot on target and didn’t deserve much from the game. It was an uncharacteristic performance from them and Lowe will want a response in this game.

They had won their last three matches in the league before the Carlisle match. Bury defeated Swindon away from home 2-1, with new signing Byron Moore getting both goals in that match, whilst they thrashed Grimsby 4-0 at home and then Morecambe in a thrilling 3-2 win. It propelled them up the table and also showed that they can do more than compete in this league.

Before this upturn in form, Bury had looked rather weak in the league, losing three out of four matches after beating Yeovil on the opening weekend of the season. Although they drew with Forest Green Rovers, they lost to MK Dons, Lincoln and Crawley. However, all of these games were away from home and lost by one goal. Given all of these teams’ strong start to the seasons, Bury performed reasonably well, they just didn’t get the points.

Thus, Bury look capable of challenging for the play-off places but will need to take their chances against the better sides in the division, with a mediocre 14 goals scored from 9 game, yet hold the joint-most shots on goal statistics. They have to improve on this.

Indeed, we think they will do so against Colchester, however the result may not go their way. Colchester seem to be the best attacking team in the division, whilst Bury should put in a good performance to respond to the loss against Carlisle and have seen a number of goals in most of their recent games. Thus, we could be in for an exciting match, so an Over 3.5 Goals could be a winner. For a correct-score, we think Colchester might just edge it for a 3-2 win that will continue their march on the automatic promotion places.