Colchester vs Yeovil Town Predictions

It has been a largely impressive start to the season for Colchester United, who sit in fifth place after ten matches, with 16 points accrued. However, they slipped up in their last match against Bury, which was at home and resulted in a 2-1 loss. Whilst the sides were even for most of the match, Bury took their chances better than Colchester and got their rewards to condemn Colchester to their second home defeat in three league matches. The last was against strugglers Northampton, which again finished 2-1 and should cause reasonable concern for manager John McGreal.

However, Colchester have been a significant attacking force in League Two this season so far. They have goal threats from all over the pitch, spearheaded by Luke Norris, who is the joint-second top scorer in the league, with six goals and a strike-rate of one every 77 minutes. Norris has helped drive Colchester to fantastic results, such as the 6-0 home win over Crewe Alexandra, in which the away side was blown away by a blitz of attacking football. In addition, the club are the top scorers of the division after ten matches, with 21 goals scored.

The team have also done well in other matches, beating Cambridge, Cheltenham, and Port Vale, whilst drawing away to Oldham and Mansfield. It has meant Colchester should be considered promotion contenders. However, there have been occasional lapses in concentration that are costing the team, like the home defeats to Northampton and Bury, as well as conceding two late goals at Oldham to finish the match as 3-3, when they should have held on. If they can erase those mistakes and improve consistency, they should remain in the play-offs for the rest of the season.

In the three games after their result of the season so far, Yeovil seem to have run out of steam and could be paying the price for a significant injury list. They had beaten Newport County away from home in a 6-0 win, in which they produced some truly mesmerising attacking movement, pace, and finishing. It was arguably the result of the League Two season so far, given Newport’s status as promotion contenders.

However, Yeovil have not won in the three games since to drop away from the play-off places. They were dour in a 3-0 home loss to Swindon in the West County derby, whilst rescued a point late on to draw at home to MK Dons. At the weekend, the poor run of form continued with a 3-1 away defeat to Crawley Town. It was a much closer game than the scoreline suggested, as Yeovil had a number of chances but were outdone by some clinical Crawley finishing. It has meant that Yeovil have dropped down into 12th place after being in the top six after the Newport game.

Despite this, Darren Way’s side are capable of a fantastic result now and then. They had already beaten Notts County away from home 4-0, whilst didn’t concede for five league matches during the course of the season already, which culminated with the Newport result. Even though the club does not have the largest budget, the side look to have a great spirit and mentality and this should serve them well over the course of the season.

However, we think Yeovil will carry on their poor run of form to the next game at least. Colchester may have lost two out of their last three home matches but have largely been impressive on their ground and will be looking to respond to those defeats with a win. Yeovil have a lengthy injury list and with a flurry of games, it could be one too many for them to compete. They will put up a good fight though, so backing Colchester to Win and BTTS, with a 2-1 correct score seems appropriate in a game which features two promotion contenders.