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What A Payne
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By:
Max Bygraves
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22/02/2026
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This article has been viewed 158 times.
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I said after Tuesday’s game, I’d let you know what camp I was in, in terms of our playoff chances for the rest of the season after this one. So, who’s looking forward to August?
At pure face value, it’s hard to dress this up too positively. However, let’s not rush to the bad bit. The post-Crewe article the other week was overly moany so we’ll go for a bit of balance here. This wasn’t all doom and gloom.
Colchester was one of the away fixtures at the beginning of the season that felt one to do. Close proximity and not a team we’ve had too many league encounters with this century.
For Barnet fans of a certain age, the name sends a shudder down the spine with minds cast back to the 1998 Division 3 playoff semi-final heartbreak. We’d only been back in league action twice (to the new ground, not scene of that crime their old Layer Road) since in 2017 and 2018. I didn’t do either of these but had visited the ground before during my quest to do the 92. I went here for Colchester v Leyton Orient in January 2015 for a League One game. It’s funny when you look back on how much time you had when you were younger and less weighed down with responsibilities. You can be the judge of how wisely I chose to spend it. That was a long way from being the most absurd random fixture attended, too.
Talking of responsibilities, this was one with the kids in tow. As seems to be the case every half term holiday, we’ve battled a bit of illness this week and attendance was in doubt until the very last minute. My son was particularly excited about the prospect of an away match however and enthusiasm resolved to pull them through. I did take a moment to explain to them on the way out that this is what you have to accept can happen. Learning and character building aplenty.
Attending a game with two small kids, awareness of every detail and in this instance, vantage point were both not at their best. Never claim to have these match reviews as completely accurate anyway but well and truly asterisking myself before we start this time.
The first half wasn’t a bad spectacle. We asked a few questions but didn’t really bang on the door with any force. You could argue we’d shaded it, however, on 39 minutes found ourselves a goal down. In the moment, it felt like a bit of a soft goal to concede. The Colchester players enjoyed rubbing our noses in it. I’m not sure what that Lisbie’s beef is with us, given his similar antics when playing for Braintree last year. Leave us alone and stop being so good.
Following a prolonged stoppage a little earlier in the half for a clash between Slicker and their number nine, we had seven additional first half minutes. I’d be lying if I said that when the board went up I hoped for much but within the first of these, we were given something to shout about. Some great work from Kabongo Tshimanga out wide, a low pass and a lovely composed finish from Nnamdi Ofoborh put us on terms. Having seen it back, he massively gave it to the home end too, so we were just as bad as them. An unexpected moment of cheer and for some very excitable flag waving for my two. Apologies to those around us who may have got flagged in the moment. It was made very clear to me at departure time these were an away day non-negotiable item to bring along.
The explosive ending to the half left it feeling very much anyone’s game. Winterburn, something of a surprise starter, was replaced by Hawkins during the break in what appeared an attacking change of shape. I did note Winterburn complete a pass in the first half but that didn’t prove enough to keep him on.
Hawkins was in the thick of the action almost immediately in the second half but couldn’t control the ball wide in the box to lay off for Tshimanga. A moment he would be made to somewhat pay for.
Now although it didn’t end well, I have to say that I found the majority of the second half pretty entertaining. A decent watch. Colchester looked the more dangerous but we showed some adventure too and it was end to end-ish. After losing Tavares on the hour mark to an injury, it is fair to say the balance began to tip.
A mention at this point on our away support yesterday. Almost exactly eight years ago, on our last visit, we took 235 there. A healthy 536 made that away end feel pretty full and got right behind the team. The extended black and amber army chant in the second half produced some decent volume. Credit to all involved. Probably a new ground for a good chunk of our fans attending but very respectable numbers all the same. Another illustration of where we were and where we are as a club.
With a quarter of an hour to go, after about their fifth appeal of the half, the hosts were awarded a penalty. Hard to properly see down the other end but it looked like a pretty clear trip by former Colchester man, Danny Collinge. No mistake was made from the spot and we found ourselves behind again.
What happened next was a bit like the capitulation against Shrewsbury earlier this season. We were in the game and then we weren’t. Just two minutes later, we were carved open and Jack Payne scored his second goal in a matter of moments. With thirteen minutes still to play, there was some naive hope we could still get something but it quickly became apparent that would be that.
After it went 3-1, Hawkins was booked and then a few minutes later his afternoon of misery was really compounded when he was sub-subbed. His appearance had lasted less than 40 minutes. On being hooked, he didn’t acknowledge the bench and went straight down the tunnel. It is a humiliating thing to happen to any player but perhaps even more so for someone with that level of experience.
Brennan said in his post-match he felt Hawkins had ‘made us worse.’ And that he had no impact on the game. He was particularly angry that he’d worn the wrong boots which he cited as the reason he slipped in the situation early in the second half. His impact had been minimal but I’m not sure it was greatly different to anything we’ve seen from him recently. It’ll be interesting to see how it plays out from here and whether or not we see Hawkins again.
On that note, there was also a mention in the post-match interview that Rhys Browne is currently not involved due to a ‘private matter.’ Obviously quite some intrigue around this. Before all else, it’s a shame that there’s a non-injury related reason why he’s not playing. Given how toothless we have looked in attack in several games of late, Browne and Stead being fit but not available for selection is not a helpful situation.
Dean Brennan has justifiably achieved legendary status at the club but cannot be immune from some critique, despite the massive amount of credit in the bank. Lambasting changes making us worse is one thing but then in the same breath, admitting it was his call, yet putting everything solely on the players. A little bit of reflection, responsibility and humility in certain scenarios like this would not go amiss. There is no reasonably minded Barnet fan that doesn’t think he should have time to make mistakes and learn at this level. I hope behind the interview front there is consideration as to what hasn’t worked so well this year and where mistakes can be learned from. No doubt he has the capacity to do just that, but it won’t be a particularly enjoyable ending to this campaign if we have much more on a similar tone. Not the togetherness our recent success has been built upon.
Colchester added a fourth goal in stoppage time with Jack Payne completing his hat trick. Several of our fans were already on the A12 home by that point. My kids had wanted to stay to see if we could score again but a collective decision was made at 4-1 that it was a good idea to make our way back to the car. What a miserable final quarter of an hour.
I was braced for a lengthy wait getting out of the stadium car park. It was apparent the queue would take some time. What I hadn’t accounted for, to really cap a 4-1 away loss, was some aptly timed car trouble. We were going absolutely nowhere just yet.
Having spent four figures this week on a new clutch, I found myself unable to shift gears as I tried to crawl along the standstill traffic. Managing to roll back into a parking space, it was time to put the AA membership to use. You couldn’t make it up.
At 6:15pm, in the rain, in a now much emptier Colchester United car park, the friendly AA man thankfully was able to spot a relatively simple issue and get us sorted.
During the wait for breakdown assistance, on a walk back to the car from using the toilets in the main reception at the ground, my 4-year-old surmised things pretty well: “The car’s broken down, it’s raining and Barnet lost… it’s just one of those days.”
I’m not sure we’ll do Colchester away again next year.
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