Colchester United have a few bogey teams, and today’s visitors Crawley Town are certainly one of them.

Up until five years ago, Crawley and Colchester had never met in a competitive match, the West Sussex club having spent most of their life in non-league.

But since the Red Devils were promoted to the Football League in 2010, the U’s have crossed swords with them nine times, but with very little success.

In fact, the U’s have yet to taste victory in nine encounters, with five defeats and four draws, a miserable record, and one that needs to be rectified!

The first ever-meeting, a little short of five years ago, on September 18, 2012, ended in a 1-1 draw at the Weston Homes Community Stadium, when midfielder Anthony Wordsworth salvaged a point with an 87th minute penalty.

The return match at Broadfield Stadium, on New Year’s Day, 2013, ended in a thumping 3-0 home win when the U’s never really recovered from falling behind to an early goal from Mark Connolly

Later that year, Freddie Sears netted after just six minutes, but again the U’s were denied a win as Emile Sinclair bagged an equaliser in a 1-1 draw at the Community Stadium. The U’s lost 1-0 on the road. The following season, in 2014-15, a drab 0-0 draw in Sussex was followed by a 3-2 home defeat when ex-U’s left-back Ryan Dickson was among the scorers.

Last season, the U’s suffered two defeats at the hands of Crawley, in the league (another 3-2 home reverse) and Checkatrade Trophy (away), while drawing 1-1 away in the league thanks to target man Chris Porter’s late equaliser.