After Saturday’s comeback draw against Sutton United, Graeme Lee’s Hartlepool United side travel to Essex to take on Colchester United (7.45pm KO). Now seven games unbeaten in League Two, Pools are in good spirits after winning their last away game against Crawley Town.
The Opposition
Colchester are currently 21st in League Two, three points clear of Carlisle in the final relegation place and ten points behind Pools. In their previous five games, they’ve defeated Leyton Orient, recorded draws against Rochdale and Carlisle, and been beaten by Mansfield and Northampton.
The side is led by interim head coach Wayne Brown, a former promotion winner as a player with the U’s. He took over after Hayden Mullins’ departure, and leads a team featuring veteran ‘keeper Dean Gerken between the sticks, former Brentford midfielder Alan Judge in midfield, and former West Ham forward Freddie Sears in attack.
The History
This will be the 61st meeting between the sides, with Pools winning 19 of the previous fixtures. 15 games have ended in a draw, with Colchester have been victorious on 26 occasions. The last time the sides met, Colchester won 2-1 after goals from Kurtis Guthrie and Chris Porter.
Current Pools coaches Tony Sweeney and Michael Nelson both have a couple of goals against Colchester to their name, and it was the former that got the winner against the U’s in 2011.
Team News
Tuesday evening presents further selection headaches for Graeme Lee. Niggles for Sterry, Ferguson, and Grey presented opportunities for Ogle, Francis-Angol, and Joe White, and it’ll likely go to the wire as to who plays on Tuesday. Marcus Carver made his home debut from the bench, and the forward will be looking for minutes as he starts to be into the team.
How to Follow
If you’re not travelling to Essex on Tuesday, you can follow all the action on iFollow. Coverage starts shortly before kick-off and you can also get live updates via Facebook and Twitter. Buy your video streaming pass: