Saturday’s home match with Colchester sees Mark Robins take his place in the home dugout at Glanford Park for the first time.
The new manager has linked up with the club on a long-term deal and he will be assisted by Ned Kelly, who has previously worked with Billy Davies at Nottingham Forest and Derby County in recent years.The Iron will be looking to make it two wins in two when the Essex side visit North Lincolnshire, full of confidence after they saw off Gillingham at the MEMS Priestfield 3-0, watched by then-prospective manager Robins in the stands.
Deon Burton could be more heavily involved in the match, following his comeback to action last week in the final minutes of the win. He had been out since August and the forward provides extra competition along with top scorer Paddy Madden, Rory Fallon and Billy Kee.
Jennison Myrie-Williams will be hoping to keep his place following an impressive display out wide against the Gills. Meanwhile Shaun Brisley and Andrew Boyce could continue their relatively new defensive partnership against Tony Humes’ side.
Colchester also arrive on the back of a win, following their 2-1 victory over Fleetwood at the Weston Homes Community Stadium.
They sit in 17th in Sky Bet League One and are managed by 48-year-old Humes. Humes was promoted to the managerial hot seat just one month into the campaign, after Joe Dunne’s departure. He was previously the club’s academy manager and it seems the U’s have made an easy transition between the managers, who share similar styles of play.
Top scorer Freddie Sears, who has six goals in 14 games (all competitions) this season, makes his return to the club where he spent two months on loan in 2010.
Buy Saturday’s official matchday programme to see our short interview with the former West Ham forward, who talks fondly of his nine-game spell at Glanford Park.
It will be the 59th meeting between the two clubs, with the Iron coming out on top, winning 24 of those. Colchester have won on 16 occasions, drawing 18.
The last clash was in January 2013, in a season where we did the double over the U’s, and we beat them 2-1 on the road. Sears scored for the home side after a quick double from Jimmy Ryan and Karl Hawley proved enough to earn the win.
Four months earlier, a Leon Clarke penalty settled the tie as we won 1-0 at Glanford Park.
In the two previous meetings before that, in the 2011/12 season, we drew 1-1 on both occasions. Josh Walker and Rob Grant were the scorers for the Claret and Blue in those games.
If you cannot make it to Glanford Park for the first game of the Mark Robins era, stay tuned to the action via the club’s official social media channels or keep an eye on events on the website, with live updates available from kick-off.