Platt double lifts his spirits

Stuart Watson

By Stuart Watson

CLIVE Platt hopes that his double strike against Exeter has shown Colchester fans that he has not lost his goal scoring touch just yet.

The U's striker - who scored a brace in the 7-1 thrashing of Norwich on the opening day of the League One season - ended a three month goal drought in the league at the weekend.

Platt has been an ever present in the U's team since Aidy Boothroyd took charge and a section of fans were beginning to question whether it was time to give Steven Gillespie a chance from the start.

But, with his FA Cup goal against non-league Bromley, the relieved Platt - who always worked tirelessly for his team mates - has now scored three goals in two games.

He said: “It had been a while since I scored in the league, but I've been playing with Kay (Odejayi) and he's been getting the goals.

“Of course not scoring plays on your mind as a striker, but as long as someone is scoring for the team then that's the main thing.”

Platt's first goal on Saturday was a trademark towering header at the back post, but his second saw him sprint clear of the last man and cooly finish.

Reflecting on the latter goal, Platt said: “I'm 32 now but my legs have not gone just yet! I'm still pretty quick and I thought, if I could just keep the ball the wrong side of the defender, then I could score.”

He added: “The conditions were awful, but they played better than us and could have been 3-0 up after five minutes.

“The gaffer wasn't happy at all at half-time, but we didn't need to be told that we hadn't played well.

“We tried to get that early goal after half-time but it just didn't seem to come. They nullified us for a bit, but it just shows the desire of the lads that we kept plugging away and found an equaliser.

“It would have been good to have won, but we'll take a point. If you don't play particularly well and can still pick up points then hopefully that's a good thing.”