Our boss should get award - Brown

By Carl Marston

COLCHESTER United defender Wayne Brown is in no doubt as to who should be named the manager of the month for September - his boss Geraint Williams!

The U's dented the chances of Ipswich manager Jim Magilton scooping the award with Friday evening's 1-0 success over Town at a jam-packed Layer Road.

It was a special night, in particular, for both centre-half Brown and manager Williams, who used to ply their trade at Portman Road. Karl Duguid's first league goal in nearly three years sealed a victory in the first league meeting between the two clubs in 49 years.

“I think I speak for the whole team when I say that the gaffer (Williams) deserves to win the manager of the month award,” insisted Brown, who played 50 senior games for Town at the start of his career.

“The lads have always had respect for him as a coach, and now we have every respect for him as a manager. This is his first managerial job and a lot of our success is down to him.

“We are thriving under George (Geraint) at the moment, both home and away. He was up against one of his good friends (Magilton) on Friday night, someone he has stayed in touch with. Like us, Ipswich have been bang-in-form,” added Brown.

The U's have collected 11 points out of a possible 15 during September, thanks to wins over Burnley, QPR and Ipswich, and draws against Luton and Leicester.

That's the joint best record in the Championship. Williams' chief rival for the September award is Preston manager Paul Simpson, who has also masterminded a haul of 11 points over the last month. The fact that Preston have moved up to fourth in the table might work in Simpson's favour.

Even runaway leaders Cardiff City, who have cruised to big wins over Wolves (4-0), Southend (3-0) and Luton (4-1) in their last three fixtures, cannot compete with the U's.

They began the month with a defeat at the hands of Preston and a 3-3 draw with Plymouth, so Dave Jones' men have only amassed 10 points from their five games.

Three other clubs have also accrued 10 points in September. In addition to Magilton at Ipswich, both Sunderland's new boss Roy Keane and Derby manager Billy Davies have also won three, drawn one and lost one over the last month.

The defeat at Layer Road has probably scuppered Magilton's chances of winning the accolade for September.

In fact, Brown was disappointed with the showing of his former team on Friday night. He felt the U's deserved to win, despite Town's understandable grievance at having Jon Macken's 48th minute effort wiped out for a foul on keeper Aidan Davison. It looked the wrong decision.

“To me, it was a good goal on the night. And having seen it on the TV, I haven't changed my mind. We certainly enjoyed the rub of green for that incident,” admitted Brown.

“Pat (Baldwin) and I went in for a challenge. The ball broke to Alan Lee and although Aidan pulled off a great save, he didn't have the ball in his hands when their striker (Macken) put it in. I must confess that I didn't see a lot wrong with it.

“But I'm not complaining, because we didn't have any luck during our first four games. We didn't deserve to lose all of them.

“I was disappointed with Ipswich, especially in the first-half. We got on the front foot and managed to turn them around. They seemed to give the ball away too often, and in unnecessary positions in our final third of the pitch.

“Ipswich are a good footballing side, especially now that Jim (Magilton) is in charge. They like to play football but I think they tried to play in the wrong areas. They must have had a frustrating evening.

“I thought that Jamie Cureton looked very sharp and Karl Duguid really enjoyed the experience. He's been at Colchester all his career, so this local derby really meant something to him.

“He gave Sito some big problems. Sito is a decent defender but Karl managed some decent runs against him,” added Brown.