The Third Round Draw

The FA Cup Third Round draw is one of football's annual highlights. I remember watching the draw as a child around my grandads house willing Birmingham to be drawn against a Villa or United.

For me it's not the Coca Cola advert or the first play of Christmas songs that signals the start of the festive season - it's the FA Cup Third Round draw. And, unlike Christmas itself, the draw hasn't lost any excitement since my childhood.

So as Chappers welcomed us the start of the draw I couldn't wait to see who Colchester United would face.

We all fancied an away trip to a club that we hadn't been to before to make the road trip more exciting but as John Hartson pulled out ball number 59 he sealed our fate and we were heading back to Essex - to Colchester.

Mark Sampson then rounded off our tie pulling out Championship side Charlton Athletic.

#ColU will face Charlton Athletic at home in the Third Round of the #FACup after the draw was made this evening!

— Colchester United FC (@ColU_Official) December 7, 2015

Although it's not a 'sexy' tie and the match won't be shown on BBC it's certainly an interesting one. Both clubs have been struggling in their respective leagues and Colchester will fancy an upset.

However our man-of-the-match, Callum Harriott, who played a blinder against Altrincham will be ruled out of the game as he is on loan from Charlton. He will be a big blow to Colchester's chances.

More importantly though we are back to our comfortable position of supporting the underdog in our FA Cup story. It will make victory more sweet as the U's 'giant-kill' Charlton.

Up the U's!

Colchester Calling...

Well, well, well... this FA Cup is the gift that keeps on giving. Another incredible game between two sides giving it absolutely everything in the best competition in the world. This time Colchester out-fought Altrincham 3-2 with a last minute winner by Callum Harriott. A brilliant advert for the FA Cup.

For the first time since the 2nd Qualifying Round, all three of the lads were back together, this time for the 121 mile journey to the Weston Homes Community Stadium (another catchy stadium name). After watching the FA Cup games on Friday night and Saturday afternoon we were ready to watch some classic cup football.

We rocked up at the ground early enough to investigate what Colchester had to offer. The 'Legends Lounge' seemed awfully quiet and for a bit we pondered what a Colchester United legend actually was.

But soon enough we found the club shop which gave Liam a perfect excuse to look like a prat as he modelled the Colchester United away kit.

Who ate all the pies?

They have invented seats since our last game!

2pm seemed an odd time for kick-off and without a chance to grab some lunch at home we walked all the way around the stadium to try and find a burger van. After walking around two-thirds of the ground we stumbled across some of the weirdest pre-match entertainment. On a sleepy Sunday afternoon Colchester had decided to book a heavy-metal band who were playing from the inside of a container. The locals looked bemused by the whole thing whilst we quickly moved on in search of some lunch.

Nearing kick-off there was a sense of quiet confidence by the U's fans but there was nothing much quiet about the travelling support who were enjoying a bit of a FA Cup party in Essex.

The game itself was a belter and started off in lightning pace with a wonder goal from Jake Moult who put the underdogs ahead in three minutes with a 30 yard lob. I seriously doubt we will see a better goal in our FA Cup story.

Colchester levelled ten minutes later in an incredibly open first half which saw both teams go close to taking the lead again.

The second-half had barely even begun when Michael Rankine (former York City forward) put Alty ahead once more. Were Altricham going on a giant-killing once again, surely not?

But again Colchester were quick to level when Tom Lapslie headed in from short-range.

The second-half continued to produce chances for both teams but neither could grab a winner. Heading into injury-time the lads were debating whether they could make it to Altrincham for the Tuesday night replay.

Just as I had decided that I was going to take an extra day off work to make it up to Altrincham, Callum Harriott (who had been excellent all game) fired in a winner from for Colchester. It was so cruel on Altricham who deserved at least a draw out of the game but the lads didn't mind as they cheered with the rest of the home support chanting "We don't have to go to a replay!"

As I said Altrincham played superbly and it seemed really harsh to cheer the favourites as the dumped out a minnow (46 places below them). The Alty players had given it their all and were left sitting down on the pitch with the heads in their hands.

The lads with Eddie the Eagle

The journey back was filled with dreams of who Colchester will face in the Third Round. Whilst an away trip to either Birmingham or Middlesbrough (our own teams) would be fun, we couldn't help hope for a tie at Old Trafford or Anfield.

Up the U's!