Colchester United host Salford City at the Community Stadium this weekend, going into the busy Christmas period very much under the cosh at the bottom of the table.

Their visitors sit in ninth place in League Two, and are the favourites of this chilly Football League clash, with their hosts sitting in 23rd place.

Match preview

Having suffered defeat in their last match, Colchester find themselves joint-bottom in the league - a miserable statement of a campaign marked by an unproductive attack and an inconsistent defensive system.

Head Coach Matt Bloomfield, who was appointed at the start of the season, has overseen a sharp downturn in form - taking the U's from a teetering mid-table position to a relegation battle.

Bloomfield's appointment has come under sharp criticism by sections of the Colchester fanbase, with the blame being directed towards chairman Robbie Cowling and technical director Steve Ball.

Sceptics of the management team will have been strengthened in their doubt after Colchester's defeat away to Sutton United last time out.

Having set up the team with just one outright attacker in Kwesi Appiah, Bloomfield's side failed to register a shot on target in the entire match, bringing on attackers Samson Tovide and John Akinde only after going a goal down on the stroke of half time.

Attacking impotency has been a running theme for United this season - their wins this season largely coming from moments of magic from the likes of Alex Newby, low probability chances and set pieces that fail to translate across a season into challenging performances.

Bloomfield will have felt vindicated of his ongoing criticism of refereeing decisions that have seen his side suffer defeat on the basis of tight margins; the head coach received his second letter from the referees apologising for decisions this week, a clear statement of his dissatisfaction with officiating in the league.

However, as Bloomfield alluded to himself, the U's cannot take responsibility away from himself or his team for his side's results, and his players must look to find progress and strength in their ability to prevent the Essex club from crashing out of the Football League altogether in May.

Colchester's visitors this weekend, Salford City, have enjoyed a two-week break from matches after two of their fixtures had been postponed due to frozen pitches, and will travel to the East of England refreshed from the break in schedule.

The Ammies will hope for similar fortunes away from home as they experienced at Priestfield against bottom-side Gillingham; the Lancastrians took all three points with a comfortable 3-0 victory in Kent.

After a competitive first half that saw the Gills force Salford keeper Tom King into a string of low saves, a second-half treble courtesy of Theo Vassell, Ryan Watson and Callum Hendry saw the Ammies pick up their first league win since October.

Manager Neil Wood will have breathed a sigh of relief at the full-time whistle, with his side coming off of disappointing results to Carlisle United and AFC Wimbledon in November. Wood will hope to see his side regain the form that saw fans begin to hope for a promotion battle at the start of this season.

Having begun their season with five clean sheets in their opening eight matches, Wood has spoken of his determination to regain the defensive solidity his team displayed at the start of the campaign in upcoming matches.

Should they regain this solid foundation at the weekend, and with his opponents floundering so consistently in front of goal this season, Wood will go into the fixture against Colchester confident of his chances of picking up a second consecutive away win on Saturday.

Team News

For Colchester, attacking midfielder Alan Judge has this week been ruled out for the rest of the season after sustaining a major knee injury against Sutton United last week.

Head physio Hayden Clifton announced on Wednesday that Judge suffered damage to both his anterior and posterior cruciate ligaments, as well as a tear to his medial collateral ligament - an injury that could see the 34-year-old out of action for a year.

To add to Colchester's woes, midfielder Ossama Ashley will be suspended from the Salford fixture after being sent off for a second bookable offence on Saturday. A high boot saw Ashley concede a penalty in the first half alongside his first yellow, with his second coming after preventing the advancing Omar Bugiel's counter-attack in the second half.

Bloomfield may look to replace Ashley with Emyr Huws; the Welshman may have only featured three times this season in the league for Colchester, but did come on in the second half to reinforce the midfield last week.

As for Judge's replacement, Bloomfield has two options - moving Alex Newby inside from the left wing and putting exciting forward Samson Tovide in his place or, alternatively, changing like for like, and putting Noah Chilvers into the CAM role on Saturday.

Meanwhile, having been absent since July, right-back Liam Shephard will remain out of the reckoning for Salford with an ongoing knee injury he sustained in the Ammies' opening fixture to Mansfield.

Having been absent from playing for a lengthy period, midfielder Jason Lowe may make a return to the starting lineup after featuring on the bench for Salford against Gillingham. Stevie Mallan, however, is unlikely to have the same luck, and may remain out for the foreseeable future.

Colchester United possible starting lineup:
O'Hara; Tchamadeu, Chambers, Eastman, Dallison; Skuse, Huws; Chesters, Newby, Tovide; Appiah

Salford City possible starting lineup:
King; Bolton, Vassell, Leak, Touray; Watson, Lowe; Tolay, Hendry, Bailey; Smith

We say: Colchester United 0-2 Salford City

Despite home advantage and Bloomfield's hope of progress from the training field, it is hard to get away from the obvious attacking deficiencies that Colchester have shown this season.

The U's will find it very hard to break down a Salford back line full of their manager's confidence to withstand a disjointed and injury-stricken lineup. They will likely be punished by the skill of Callum Hendry and Odin Bailey, both of whom are more-than-capable attackers to unpick Colchester at the weekend.

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