Marc just loving the stability

HANDS OFF our manager!

Colchester United defender, Marc Tierney, has already played under three managers since his move to the Weston Homes Community Stadium from Shrewsbury Town a year ago.

It was Paul Lambert who originally signed him, since when he has also played for caretaker boss Joe Dunne and current manager Aidy Boothroyd.

Tierney believes that the U's can achieve great things under Boothroyd, so is hoping that the former Watford manager is at the helm for many years to come.

The U's left-back was referring to Darren Ferguson's recent shock dismissal from Peterborough this week, and the subsequent claim from Posh director of football, Barry Fry, that Ferguson had already been “tapped up” by another club.

Ferguson has since vehemently denied such a claim.

“The news coming out of Peterborough brings it home to you, about keep-off-managers stuff,” explained Tierney.

“I've played under three managers already, so it's nice to have a settled period.

“To me, the structure feels really good here (at Colchester). We are all working hard together as a group. We want to keep hold of players.

“We feel we can do great things this season. We want the squad to stick together with the management team,” added Tierney.

The U's have only suffered one defeat since Boothroyd took over the managerial reins, and that was to an injury-time goal at Millwall in their last league game, a 2-1 defeat.

In fact, if they had held out for a draw at the New Den, then Boothroyd's boys would actually have been in the automatic promotion zone, in second spot, going into tomorrow's home match against Exeter City.

“We've been hard to beat, because we've been putting the work in. It's good to see it coming to fruition,” explained Tierney.

“Last weekend (4-0 win at Bromley in the FA Cup) was a good test of our concentration, because it was a potential banana skin. But we put in a good professional job.

“Players came in who had not played for a while, like Phil Ifil, and they did well. We are very together as a squad.

“If there's one thing that riles me, it's that we often do not get enough credit as a club. When we beat a top team, it's often seen as them playing poorly. I sometimes think that we don't get the credit that we deserve.

“That gets my back up a bit. But the best way to respond is to still be up there at the end of the season,” added Tierney.

The U's will be without midfielder John-Joe O'Toole for tomorrow's test against Exeter. The Watford loanee serves a one-match suspension. Kem Izzet and Kevin Lisbie will also miss out due to illness.

But midfielder Anthony Wordsworth is available again after serving a suspension at Bromley last weekend, as is West Ham loanee Josh Payne, who was cup-tied for the Kent trip.