1. Tell us a bit about yourself; Name, age, how long a fan of your club etc…

Steve Tovey, I’m approaching the wise-old-man status of 28, and have been a fan of Colchester since I was 8, and a season ticket holder since I was about 15, on and off…and I’ve recently started to add news pieces to the Col U rivals site www.coluonline.com  

I missed a few seasons here and there, but for the last 5 years have been a near “ever-present”, and have been to most of our away matches over the last couple of years.

2. What was the first football match you went to and what was the score?

I can still remember it (which is sad, really, when you think about it…) well. I was 8, and it was at the Shed that is Layer Road. The details? 3 January 1986, Colchester United 1 (Tony Adcock) Scunthorpe United 0

3. What is the best and worst match you have attended?

I think it depends what you’re looking for. In terms of enjoyment, atmosphere and “what a night!” it has to be the league match away at Old Rivals Wycombe last season. Traveling down on a Tuesday night, it was one of those games that had everything, spectacular goals, red cards, injuries, crunching tackles, a penalty, the lot. That’s only just ahead of the LDV Area Semi’s against Northampton last season, when 2 down, we came back to win 3-2 in a truly exciting match, with the now-Northampton striker Scott McGleish grabbing a hat-trick off the bench. Closely followed by a 5-4 home win vs. Bristol Rovers a few years ago with Lomana Lua Lua scoring the winner in the dying minutes.

Worst matches? Both games vs. MK Dons this year, and our last 3 home games v Chesterfield. Two very boring and negative teams who favor the “defend in numbers and hoof to the big/quick guy” approach.

4. Where do you expect to finish this season?

Mid-table to be honest. We began the season hopeful of a strong play-off push, had a brief flirt with the relegation zone, and are now ticking along OK, and moving into obscurity in the middle of the pack.

5. Where do you think Doncaster will finish?

Above us! Haha! Um, being honest, with 6 games to go, it’s possible you could make the play-offs, and I think it will come down to who is playing who in the run in. That said, I think there’s just too many teams involved for Rovers to nick a space.

6. How did you do last season?

Better than this year! Haha! We had a club record high finish since they brought in the Premiership, finishing 11^th, and every year since being promoted to Division 2/League 1, we have progressed. We reached the 5^th round of the FA Cup, the Area Final of the LDV and were in and around the play-offs until the final months of the season.

7. Who is the player Doncaster should watch out for when we play you?

Manager Phil Parkinson has shown a good eye for young talent (and not in a Jonathan King kinda way…) and at the back we have Pat “Rio” Baldwin, a former team-mate of John Terry at Chelsea Youth, who is as composed a centre-back as you get at this level. In midfield we have the dynamic Neil Danns, signed from Blackburn, who is a skilful, but competitive box-to-box midfielder, while new loan-signing Ryan Jarvis, who says his idol is Dennis Bergkamp, has arrived fresh from duty with England Under19’s, with glowing recommendations from his parent club, Norwich. Jarvis is set to debut at Doncaster.

8. Whose the Doncaster player you think you should watch out for?

McSporran, if he’s not injured. I think we were in for him when you signed him, and he was a constant problem when he played against us for Wycombe. You’ve got someone else who impressed me at Layer Road (McIndoe, or something similar, sorry, I don’t know all that much about you guys!)

9. What's your team like? Strong areas/players, weak areas/players, manager + backroom staff etc…..

Consistently inconsistent. We beat Sheff Weds 3-0 away, then lost 1-0 to MK Dons at home. Things like that. We have a lot of young players with a helluva lot of potential. Unfortunately, the flip side can be confidence, which tends to fluctuate. We have an excellent away record this year, but have struggled at home as teams have tended to come to Layer Road to set up shop and we’ve failed to break them down. Playing incisive counter attacking football suits us best, but we’ve shown we’re pretty adept at playing possession football on the road.

10. Make a prediction for when Doncaster play you

Unfortunately I don’t think we’ll score 4 in the first half like we did at Layer Road this year, when everything we touched turned to goal that first 45 minutes (and when Doncaster-target Craig Fagan, now at Hull, was flying). We’re hopeful of upsetting your play off push, but I’d take an entertaining 2-2 if you’re offering it now. Be prepared though, we don’t concede many away from home (hope I haven’t jinxed things now!!).

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