Colchester v Charlton | Sat 09 Jan | 3pm KICK-OFF | Match Preview, Predictions, News & Views

Headlines
Charlton sign Defender: Roger Johnson and Midfielder: Diego Poyet as the Transfer Window opens
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Introduction
Within CharltonLife we all get to sigh a bit of relief this Saturday, we can forget looking for results, praying that teams around us in the league have lost because one of the most anticipated dates in the Football Calendar is here, the romance of the cup has arrived, and the underdogs are preparing for battle… It’s time for the FA Cup Third Round

Of course many on here will claim that defeat will be a blessing for Charlton, the cup this season is an evident distraction yet a win this Saturday could see our season turn around, we could reach the Fourth Round and face a tie against one of England’s elite (especially as last time that happened we were able to go out and purchase Bradley Wright-Phillips), of course we’ve got to beat Colchester United before we can start dreaming of the next round (which’ll probably be against Blackburn Rovers)

The Opposition
Name: Colchester United | Manager: Kevin Keen
Ground: Weston Community Stadium | Nickname: The U’s

When the draw for the Third Round was made back in December, many hoped that we’d face a big side from the off, that didn’t happen and we were left to settle with a local tie (It could have been worse when you look at Carlisle United v Yeovil Town), to reach this stage of the competition, Colchester have twice had to beat Non-League opposition, firstly coming away at Wealdstone (6-2) before narrowly beating Altrincham (3-2) in the last round thanks to a Callum Harriott goal right at the death.



Since the turn of the decade (Could only be bothered to go back that far), Colchester have been in the Third Round on four occasions, and they’ve lost on every occasion, against Cardiff (3-1), Swansea (4-0) and Preston (7-0), their last foray into the Fourth Round was 10-years ago, that season they went on to the fifth round where they eventually bowed out against Chelsea.

Last FA Cup Meeting: Colchester United 0-1 Charlton Athletic (1984)

Old Faces
Darren Ambrose … Marvin Sordell … Johnnie Jackson … Callum Harriott

Charlton Team News
Of course, the biggest name on everyone’s lips when this tie was announced was our very own Callum Harriott, he was the man who set this match up when he scored against Altrincham yet having been recalled to Charlton he is now cup-tied so can play no part in our FA Cup campaign this season.

With a relatively small squad, you’d expect Karel Fraeye to rest some players but there are times when I don’t even think he knows what he’s doing so trying to guess what he’s thinking can verge on the impossible sometimes, you’d expect though to see Nick Pope being given a run out in Goal whilst Morgan Fox should appear at Left-Back seeing that Tarieq Holmes-Dennis is now suspended (Unless Archie Edwards is being prepared for debut as he is missing for the U21s today).

One player who could make his debut (or second debut) for the club is Midfielder: Diego Poyet who has been made available by his parent club: West Ham, Cristian Ceballos is currently gaining match time for the U21s today (and scored) so he too get a start, Igor Vetokele who also returned from injury may appear on the bench yet after being out for almost 6-months, it’ll be highly unlikely (which means he’ll be there).

Pope
Solly … Williams … Lennon … Fox
Charles-Cook … Poyet … Cousins … Ceballos
Makienok … Ahearne-Grant

Substitutes Bench: Henderson … Sarr … Johnson … Jackson … Gudmundsson … Vaz Te … Vetokele

Prediction
Colchester United 1-3 Charlton Athletic