A Barrow boy is all fired up for Colchester United when they host the Bluebirds in League Two this weekend.
Indeed it could be a battle of the twins with the U’s Alex Newby set to face his brother Elliot who joined home town club Barrow during the January window.
Alex managed to score a late winner enabling the U’s to take all three points back to North Essex from Hartlepool in their most recent game.
Colchester will be looking to start February in the same way that they ended January. After an incredibly busy January, with six games and eight signings, things are looking up for manager Matt Bloomfield’s side.
Bloomfield told the club website: “I need to be balanced in my opinion. It was the end of a long week, it was a long trip up to Hartlepool, we’d had a tough game on the Tuesday evening against Salford, so all of those elements do come into it.
“There’s different tactical elements as well but, I maintain that we want to keep striving for improvement, there’s absolutely no let up for us in terms of striving for excellence at all times.
“What was excellent about last week was the character and the desire of the players, the togetherness, the resilience, and the willingness to find a way to win the game and that doesn’t always come from the first eleven.
“We saw last Saturday a big impact from the bench with Alex Newby in terms of the winning goal. So, I think the squad element of modern football is actually really important, especially going to five subs, doesn’t mean you always want to use them but at the same time they can have a big impact, so that was a very pleasing element of the weekend.
“It’s worth saying that Barrow are a team we respect and the qualities that they bring in attacking areas. They’ve got some really good players, some really energetic players, some good pace in attacking areas and we know the high energy that they will bring.
“I know the manager Pete [Wild] personally, and he’s one of life’s good guys, He’s a really good man and I wish him the best at all times apart from the game on Saturday where we’re going to be the best of enemies
“They’re coming off the back of a defeat on Tuesday and they’re going to be a wounded animal. They’re going to be bounce back, but of course we want to put on a show in front of our home fans. We want a home win.”
As for the 27-year-old Newby twins – Alex came off the bench to score Colchester’s winner at Hartlepool while Elliot started and played the full 90 minutes plus in the 5-1 mauling at Carlisle on Tuesday.
