COLCHESTER United midfielder Neil Danns was cursing his luck after striking the bar with a first-half rocket in Saturday's 1-0 reverse at Oldham.That 26th-minute firecracker from Danns, which beat Latics keeper Lee Grant all ends up before thudding off the woodwork, summed up the U's afternoon, and in fact summed up their last month.

By Carl Marston

COLCHESTER United midfielder Neil Danns was cursing his luck after striking the bar with a first-half rocket in Saturday's 1-0 reverse at Oldham.

That 26th-minute firecracker from Danns, which beat Latics keeper Lee Grant all ends up before thudding off the woodwork, summed up the U's afternoon, and in fact summed up their last month.

“It's just not happening for us at the moment. I thought Oldham's late winner was very harsh on us,” rued Danns. The U's have now failed to win in seven matches.

“Unfortunately, that's football. It's a very up-and-down game. We had a great run of 18 wins from 20 games, which means that we've had an excellent season already.

“I thought that I was going to score in the first half. If anything, I hit my shot too well. The ball was going up and up, and it ended up hitting the bar rather than going into the roof of the net.

“The lads are feeling a bit down at the moment. I thought we played well in the first half, and we certainly deserved a point. Luck is just not on our side, but we will keep plugging away,” added Danns.

Former Blackburn midfielder Danns has bagged 13 goals this season, but the 23-year-old did not score during February and has now failed to find the net in the last nine matches.

Danns played in an attacking midfield role at Oldham, just behind centre-forward Chris Iwelumo, and he enjoyed a good deal of possession. However, he was not on the pitch when Richard Butcher grabbed the dramatic injury-time winner, having been substituted a few minutes earlier.

The Liverpudlian is adamant that the U's can turn their fortunes around again during the run-in.

He continued: “We have a massive game against Swansea on Tuesday night. We have a great chance to reach the Millennium Stadium (in the LDV Vans Trophy).

“They're all big games now. Whatever happens, we've already had an excellent season, and we are still in a good position, despite our recent poor run.

“Our build-up to the Oldham match was not helped by a stomach upset, which went through the whole squad. About eight of us were really suffering from food poisoning, after the evening meal at the hotel, and that's why several of us kept leaving the pitch during the warm-up!

“This certainly didn't help. Kem (Izzet) getting sent off late on also counted against us. It gave Oldham a lift, and it's a pity that we couldn't hang on.

“It was a good goal from their lad (Butcher), but it was hard on us,” added Danns.