Matt Bloomfield issues positive Colchester United message after poor league form | OneFootball

The U’s currently sit bottom of the League Two table and are without a win in their last five games. They were beaten 3-1 at high-flying Barrow on Tuesday night, a hat-trick from Billy Waters put the Bluebirds firmly in control before Freddie Sears netted a late consolation in stoppage time, but Colchester made the long trip back to Essex empty handed.

The 38-year-old, who was handed his first managerial job at the JobServe Community Stadium when he replaced Wayne Brown at the end of September, only has one league win to his name since taking charge.

He spent 19 years as a player at Wycombe Wanderers, making 488 appearances in that time before retiring earlier this year. Bloomfield combined playing duties with becoming a first team coach in his final few years at Adams Park, making him well prepared for his move into management with the League Two strugglers.

But although he has not yet been able to inspire the much needed change of fortunes, Bloomfield insists that progress has been made in the performances and that results will soon follow.

“I’ve loved every minute of it and I’m working as hard as I possibly can,” Bloomfield told the Daily Gazette. “There’s not a minute that goes by when I’m not thinking about Colchester United and I won’t stop until we get success.

“I think we played really, really well in our last two home games.

“I think we’re moving forward already and I think we’re turning things around.

“We were disappointed to concede three from set-pieces on Tuesday evening.

“I’ve watched the game back and apart from the three goals from corners, I don’t think there was too much in the game.

“We scored a good goal at the end so we’re happy with the direction we’re heading.

“Of course we want to improve but we’re looking forward to Saturday and another opportunity to win a football match.

“We’re working as hard as we possibly can to move things forward.

“We’re happy with a little bit of the progress we’ve made but we certainly know there’s a lot more to come.”

It is perhaps a welcome break from league action this weekend as the U’s travel to Wales to face Newport County at Rodney Parade on Saturday and Bloomfield says his side will be going there to win and try to build momentum.

“It’s not a distraction at all,” Bloomfield said. “I want to win every game I take part in.

“My whole life has been built around trying to win and this will be no different.

“Of course we want to progress; we respect Newport but any game we play we want to win and we’ve shown that with the EFL Trophy where we’ve got two positive results since I’ve been here.

“We obviously had a long trip to Barrow on Tuesday night but that’s not a problem.

“The chairman backed us by putting us up in a hotel which I thank him for.

“We’re doing everything as professionally and as diligently as we possibly can and we’ll be prepared and ready for the game.”

The verdict

It is good that Bloomfield is trying to remain positive despite the situation his side find themselves in at the bottom of the table.

With a squad that is likely to be low on confidence, Bloomfield sending out such an optimistic message should hopefully make his players feel that he believes in them and create a sense of togetherness.

It was an incredibly difficult job that Bloomfield took on in September, inheriting a side who had won just one game all season and heading in the wrong direction down the table. Colchester are club who have been perennial strugglers at the bottom of the fourth tier for a few seasons now and had a number of managers who have been unable to turn the situation around. This would be tough for even the most experienced of managers, especially for Bloomfield in his first managerial post.

But if the former Wycombe man believes he has seen improvements in the performances, it gives his side a platform upon which to build moving forward.

There is no doubt that Bloomfield needs time as he learns more about management and finds his feet at the club and judging by his latest comments, his commitment and determination to lead the U’s to survival certainly cannot be questioned.