Jamie can do U's a favour

By Carl Marston

JAMIE Cureton may have left Colchester United at the turn of the year, but he could still do the U's a terrific favour this evening.

Front-runner Cureton is set to start for Swindon Town at Southend United tonight. The Shrimpers will regain top spot off Essex rivals Colchester, if they can avoid defeat.

Cureton had a productive 10-week loan spell at Layer Road, helping the U's to rise from mid-table to the League One play-off zone with a haul of seven goals in 10 appearances. But the former Norwich City, Bristol Rovers and Reading goal-poacher then returned to Swindon, following the 2-0 win at Brentford on New Year's Eve.

Since then, 30-year-old Cureton has been concentrating on reviving his career at the County Ground.

He hadn't scored for the Robins before his loan move to Layer Road, but he broke that duck by netting in the 4-2 victory over Bournemouth last weekend.

Furthermore, fellow striker Rory Fallon's transfer to Swansea this week, for a fee of £300,000, has put even more responsibility on Cureton's shoulders.

Southend need only a draw at Roots Hall this evening, to dislodge league leaders Colchester. But Cureton feels that he can now go on a scoring run.

“I'm on eight goals for the season, and if I can mirror what I did at Colchester, then I'll be delighted,” insisted Cureton.

“There's a lot of relief. I'm delighted that I've finally got my first goal for the club, to get that off my back. We can stop talking about it and I feel my game will improve.

“You only have to look at Colchester to see what is possible.

“You go on a run and you think you're invincible,” added Cureton.

Swindon boss Iffy Onuora believes that his side can cause an upset this evening.

“We can go to Southend in good heart,” said Onuora.

“Jamie has come back from Colchester refreshed, knuckled down and senses that he's part of a good squad of players. Let's hope it's the start for him.”