Rovers repeat is the aim
Harry Anderson reckons he can help Colchester United pull off a dramatic late charge for automatic promotion to rival the one he experienced with Bristol Rovers three seasons ago.
The 28-year-old winger was on the pitch as the Pirates memorably snatched a third-place finish in League Two from the grasp of shell-shocked Northampton Town by overturning an inferior goal difference of five with a 7-0 final-day success over Scunthorpe United.
To even give themselves that slim chance, Rovers had won eight of their previous 11 contests.
And, since the turn of the year this season, the U’s have been the division’s big movers, jumping into the play-off positions on the back of a 13-game unbeaten run prior to last weekend’s 4-1 loss at title challengers Bradford City.
POSITIVE: Harry Anderson celebrates his goal for the U’s in last week’s defeat at Bradford
PICTURE: Alamy
Impressive
That impressive sequence without a loss represented the Essex outfit’s best in all competitions since 1997.
It also included five straight victories ahead of the Valley Parade setback against a Bantams team buoyed by their biggest-ever attendance for a regular season fourth-tier fixture of 23,381.
And experience tells Anderson that the U’s can put themselves firmly in the mix for top-three contention if they can string together a similar winning streak during their remaining seven games, especially when considering the inconsistency shown by many of the division’s leading lights this term.
“At Bristol, we were quite far behind and managed to get that last third place when nobody ever thought that would happen, and there’s no reason why we can’t do that now,” he told The FLP.
“The squad is good enough and, until it’s not mathematically possible, it’s always possible.
“We just need to keep focussing on winning games and not looking too far ahead.
“We were on a really good run, and that came to an end, but it’s another new challenge now, and it’s important we get as many points as we can in the games we have left.”
Potential
Anderson argues that the U’s always had the potential to challenge this season but that it might have taken longer for key summer signings like ever-present goalkeeper Matt Macey, skipper Tom Flanagan, top-scorer Lyle Taylor, one of the division’s highest assist providers Jack Payne and ex-Brighton fullback Rob Hunt to become fully integrated.
“We’ve worked on a lot of things, as we did at the beginning of the season, but, back then, things weren’t quite coming off for us,” Anderson explained.
“Now, though, I feel that we have clicked really well as a team and have a good understanding between everyone, with certain players and individuals having good relationships, which has started to show on the pitch.”
Experiences
Anderson was part of the Lincoln City squads that current Colchester chief Danny Cowley guided to the National League and League Two titles in 2017 and 2019 respectively.
In between, he also played as the Imps won the EFL Trophy by beating Shrewsbury at Wembley.
But his experiences in the play-offs have been less fruitful.
Anderson was on the bench as Lincoln lost 2-1 to Blackpool in the 2020-21 League One final, having only played a minute of the semi-final aggregate success over Sunderland.
The ex-Peterborough man also featured as the Sincil Bank outfit went out at the semi-final stage against League Two adversaries Exeter in 2018.
He would, therefore, be happy to avoid a second opportunity to play under the world-famous arch, if possible, this term.
“When we went there for the Checkatrade Trophy final with Lincoln, it was a really good day out for us as players, our families and the fans, but I’d always prefer to go up automatically because you know for definite where you’ll be the following season,” he added.
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