BLACKPOOL hit-man Scott Vernon believes that his old club Colchester United will beat the drop, despite destroying them with a first-half brace on Saturday.

By Carl Marston

BLACKPOOL hit-man Scott Vernon believes that his old club Colchester United will beat the drop, despite destroying them with a first-half brace on Saturday.

The U's are hopelessly marooned at the foot of the Championship table, after goals from Vernon on 26 and 36 minutes stretched their dismal run to just one win in 14 games.

Geraint Williams' men were awful, especially in the first-half, but Vernon had some surprise words of encouragement for his old club - he had a spell on loan with the U's at the end of their successful promotion campaign of 2005-06.

“I honestly believe that Colchester will not be relegated,” insisted Vernon.

“I have a lot of respect for the manager [Williams] and the lads at Colchester, and I want them to stay up. I think they will as well.

“I was surprised to be in the team, because I haven't had many chances this season. It was just a coincidence that my return was against my old club.

“We outplayed Colchester in the first-half and then didn't give much away in the second-half.

“They are understandably down in the dumps, but I can see them bouncing back,” added Vernon. U's boss Williams admitted that he was very angry with his players at half-time, believing that they had folded under the pressure of being at the bottom of the table.

The Welshman also revealed that defender Matthew Connolly will return to his parent club Arsenal on January 2, following his loan stay at Layer Road.