I FEEL guilty about putting my name at the top of this column this week. Why?, I hear you ask. Simply because after four wins on the trot the words more or less write themselves. It’s so much easier than it was just a month ago when the balance between realism, optimism, and blind loyalty was not an easy path to tread. Now it is just a question of committing to print a selection of the thoughts that have been swirling around all of our fevered little minds during this great run of results. Where better to start than Swindon away from home, last weekend?

Compared to some of our repetitive treks to the North West, Swindon is a doddle, M25 and all. Easy parking near the stadium (says he, who picked up a £35 parking ticket because he didn’t notice a sign the size of a bus), and more or less floating on air all the way home after the win. Before the game we definitely expected to win, fans and players alike. Although it was never plain sailing, we knew that offensively we had the beating of Swindon, and soon they knew it too. They struggled to keep tabs on Sordell, Massey and Harriott, never quite effectively enough to get any reward from the game.

Our three front runners are loving their football and brimming with visible confidence. The enjoyment puts a spring in their step and gives them an extra yard of pace, sparking off each other and making us a team that sets its stall out by what the front three can achieve.

Sordell and Harriott are playing as if all the weight has been lifted from their shoulders after frustrating spells at Burnley and Charlton respectively. Harriott is hitting the goal trail, and could have done even better with the number of times he had defenders back-tracking at Swindon.

Marvin Sordell looks like a pedigree player who could easily challenge the individual scoring record for the club, which I think is currently four goals in a single game. If things roll his way, then Sordell has it in him to set his own line in the sand. Defenders know it, as they battle to contain him. Even if Sordell is not scoring, he is making life easier for the other attacking players, which is almost as valuable.

Bradford City rolled into town on Tuesday night, but were not the confident, brash outfit that has terrified Cup opponents for the last few years.

In fact they were quite subdued and horribly erratic, at times going through the motions without a huge amount of belief.

Phil Parkinson looked as if he has lost his mojo, and his team didn’t play with the aggression and power we expected. It was strange, and it’s never good to see people struggling.

Parky was without Morais and Anderson to injury, and deprived of their wing play, James Hanson was frankly an uninvited guest who had stumbled into the wrong party. The U’s back four, with an average age just pushing 22, got what they needed most; a clean sheet. Goalkeeper Jamie Jones seem to relish being the daddy of the defence, cajoling and adjusting the shape.

Ahead of them they have Owen Garvan controlling operations, in a masterly fashion. I love the way he imparts instructions, and boy, do Moncur and co. listen to it.

Currently, Garvan is worth two players, and I am tempted to add ‘at least’, as he still finds time to play his own game, between the penalty boxes.

Final mention, of course, to Garvan’s pass for the second goal on Tuesday. He broke forward from midfield, poorly closed down by Bradford and by the time he made the penalty box we were all speculating about the shot which he was about to unleash. When I say all, I mean absolutely all – 3,336 spectators, the officials, and most significantly, the Bradford defence, to a man.

But that was never Owen’s plan. He knew where the ball was going when the moment came. With total disguise, the ball was slipped obliquely into the path of Sordell, and he finished the job expertly. It was a wonderful passage of play from two irrepressible players.

My definition of a sensational pass has always been one which no one other than the passer sees. Garvan’s pass was that definition made flesh, and as a valuable bonus it means that Sordell will always be making the runs for him waiting for the next touch of genius.

These are the good times; the feast after so much famine. The town of Colchester needs to do itself a favour and get on the merry bandwagon.