Colchester United midfielder Harry Pell's weekly column

Consistency is key

WE’VE beaten the best teams in the league this season.

But we know that we need to get some consistency back into our results because without that, you won’t get anywhere.

There are plenty of games still to go and I think when it gets to around ten to go, that’s the real business end of the season.

We can’t dwell on the Mansfield Town defeat.

To be 2-0 up and lose 3-2 was obviously very disappointing.

It was a big game for us and for 50 minutes, we were really good.

We started the second half OK but after that, it’s hard to put your finger on what happened.

It was a tough one to take but in the second half, they came back into the game and they had something to prove.

There are so many twists and turns at the moment and I’m sure that will continue between now and the end of the season.

It’s all doom and gloom one week and the next week, it can be all positive.

We’ve proved that we’re a very good team – I think everyone will agree with that.

If we can play as well as we did for the opening 50 minutes of our game against Mansfield, we can do well.

We’ve scored a lot of goals in our last few games and we do look a threat going forward but we know that we also need to get back to our clean sheets.

One look at the table shows that we’re in amongst it and challenging.

The main objective for us is to secure at least a top-seven finish and then once that is done, see where we go from there.

Something to prove

IT’S a big game for us at Crewe Alexandra on Saturday.

But every game is massive between now and the end of the season and this league has shown that anyone can beat anyone.

We had a big win over them, earlier in the season.

But I don’t think the game will go like that again, on Saturday.

It’ll be a tough match – they’ll have their tails between their legs and will want to prove a point, after our 6-0 win.

But we also have something to prove after the Mansfield defeat.

Crewe are a footballing side who like to play entertaining football and so are we, so it should be a good game.

We’ll go there feeling confident that we can get the result we want.

A lesson learned

IT must have been a bit of an awkward moment when Liverpool’s James Milner was sent off by Jon Moss at the weekend.

The Premier League referee was Milner’s PE teacher in Leeds about 20 years ago so it might have brought back a few memories when he dismissed him during his team’s 4-3 win over Crystal Palace!

I was very close with my PE teacher when I was at school.

I signed a six-year contract with Charlton Athletic when I was 12 years old – four years plus a two-year scholarship.

It was a big day for me when I went to The Valley and out on the pitch to officially sign it and I took my PE teacher with me, because he had such a big influence on me.

But I can still imagine it must have been quite an awkward moment with Milner being sent off!

In a pickle

APPARENTLY, pickle juice is the latest thing for people to be drinking in sport.

Arsenal midfielder Lucas Torreira was seen drinking it during his side’s 2-0 victory over Chelsea last weekend.

Two of the most highly-rated young tennis players have also been spotted downing some at the Australian Open this week while rugby players also swear by it.

You will use anything like that that can help you but personally, it’s not for me.

I’ve had beetroot juice before but it’s not nice at all.

Tragic news

THE news about Cardiff City footballer Emiliano Sala is tragic.

My thoughts are with his family and everyone that knows him, after he was one of two people on board a plane that lost contact off Alderney in the Channel Islands on Monday night.

Something like this really puts everything into perspective and it’s very sad.