THIS is a massive week for us and it got off to the perfect start with the win against Shrewsbury Town on Tuesday night.

But now we need to carry that on into the Essex derby with Colchester this weekend.

It’s a game I’m really looking forward to and I’m hoping for a crowd in excess of 10,000 at Roots Hall.

Seeing the stadium full feels me with great pride because it was a real target of mine when I first come to the football club.

I’m not too sure how many fans Colchester will bring due to the predicament they find themselves in but I’m sure it’s going to be a great atmosphere.

We want to be giving our fans plenty to be cheering about and, for that to happen, I think we will have to play much better than we did at Shrewsbury.

I watched the DVD of the game on the way back home and, although I was delighted with the win, it was an uncharacteristic display from us.

Shrewsbury’s manager Micky Mellon is an honest man and I think earlier on in the season he would have to admit his side didn’t realise deserve the victory they got at Roots Hall.

Echo:

Jamar Loza - did well after coming on at Shrewsbury Town

It was smash and grab really and I think it was the same on Tuesday, only this time it was us getting the victory.

It moved us up the table a little bit and came largely due to the fresh legs we had coming on during the second half.

Jamar Loza and Sam McQueen have pace that frightens the life out of defenders and Jamar did brilliantly for Stephen Hendrie’s winning goal.

I always felt fatigue would play a part in the game after Shrewsbury scored a 97th minute against Sheffield Wednesday at the weekend and I think we caught them at a good time.

STILL SOME DISAPPOINTMENT

DESPITE the result, there were still a couple of disappointments for us at Shrewsbury.

One of those was the red card shown to Michael Timlin and I think I’ll probably have to go back to school as far as the officials are concerned because his first yellow card was actually given by the fourth official. The referee didn’t see the incident at all but then brought play back after 15 seconds later after the fourth official had been talking into his ear piece.

Echo:

Red card - Michael Timlin was sent off against Shrewsbury Town

I’m all for the fourth official getting involved but I wasn’t aware they actually could.

It came back to bite us all in the end as well because Michael was then shown a second yellow card.

I went to ask the fourth official whether or not he could give penalties and he never came back with an answer so I’m still in the dark about it all.

The other disappointment was that Noel Hunt was forced to come off after his back went into spasm.

At this stage we’re not too sure how bad it is but we will be finding out more today.

But the good news is that Anthony Wordsworth, Stephen McLaughlin and Gary Deegan should all be back in training this morning which is great even if it does give me more selection headaches.

GREAT FOR STEPHEN TO GRAB WINNER

IT was great for Stephen Hendrie to pop up with the winner at Shrewsbury and we’ve been delighted by his displays so far.

He’s with us for an initial 32 days but we are able to extend that to 93 days if we want to do so.

We will cross that bridge when we come to it but I’ve been delighted with the impact our new loan signings have made.

Echo:

Celebration time - Stephen Hendrie shows his joy after scoring

They all have that youthful exuberance which has given the place a lift and they’ve all been brought up the right way by their clubs.

They’ve all made an impact and the only one we haven’t seen in action so far is Glen Kamara but he’s certainly in my thoughts for the game this weekend.

WHITE INJURED

JOHN White has been forced to the sidelines after suffering a calf injury in training.

But it’s nothing too serious and he should back in contention for our trip to Scunthorpe United next weekend.