Colchester United pulled off the most eye-catching result on the opening days of the season at the weekend – a remarkable 7-1 demolition of Norwich City at Carrow Road.
It was a disastrous day for the
Canaries, who were playing their first season in the third tier for almost 50 years, and the result was their heaviest ever home defeat, surpassing a 6-1 loss at the hands of Bournemouth in 1946.
However, as far as
Colchester boss Paul Lambert was concerned, it was the perfect 40th birthday present for the former Celtic and Scotland midfielder.
Q: You must have been delighted with the result?
A: I was delighted from a team point of view and also from a personal point of view. It is certainly something I could not have predicted.
The lads were absolutely brilliant. When we looked at the fixture list we thought we’d been handed a really difficult opening game, against a side with huge support, and great facilities, who had just come down from the Championship.
Q: And yet you were 5-0 up at half-time?
A: We took the game to them from the word go and some of the football we played was superb. I have been involved in football for a long time, both as a player and a manager and I can’t remember anything like that before. For a while every time we attacked we seemed to score.
Q: It could have been more, couldn't it?
A: Yes it could have been, and if
Kevin Lisbie had been fully fit I think it would have been. But the whole team were tremendous from start to finish. I know we scored seven goals but it should be remembered that we defended very well also.
Q: It looked to be a great atmosphere at Carrow Road?
A: To get 25,000 for a League One game is fantastic and our fans played their part as well – I know it is only down the road but we still took a couple of thousand there.
But we won’t be getting carried away with the result. We now have to focus on the Carling Cup game against
Leyton Orient tomorrow night, and they had a good result at the weekend as well.
Q: You must be looking forward to seeing former club Celtic going head-to-head with Arsenal in the Champions League?
A: They are going to be two great games and Celtic have a phenomenal record at Parkhead in Europe. I know they lost at home to Moscow recently but before then the only team that had beaten them at home in recent years was Barcelona.
It’s going to be one hell of a tie and, although
Arsenal are favourites, don’t rule Celtic out, especially at home.
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