Colchester United midfielder Harry Pell's weekly Gazette column

Smells like team spirit

WE make the long trip up to Carlisle United this weekend, looking to get another three points.

I’ve played up at Brunton Park before – I scored an own goal there last season when I was playing for Cheltenham!

But it’s a massive pitch up there, which I think will benefit us as a footballing team.

There’s a lot of space for our individual players to cause problems and it’s another massive game for us.

It’s a long way to go but it’s important that you switch off at times and take your mind off the game as much as you can.

The great thing is that the boys thoroughly enjoy spending time with each other.

That kind of team spirit is something that we’ve had here from minute one, this season.

We all genuinely love spending time with each other, away from the training ground as well as on it.

We were chuffed to beat Sol's side

WE were chuffed with our 1-0 win over Macclesfield Town, last weekend.

I don’t think people quite understand how important a game it was for us.

In the circumstances, we knew that it would be a very difficult game, especially with Sol Campbell going in there.

Macclesfield were always going to up their game by 20 per cent and it’s clear to see he’s got them a bit more organised.

I think they’ll pick up points under him and his philosophy is coming through.

It was a banana skin game for us and in a way, we played them at the wrong time so it was a very good three points for us.

I feel we came flying out of the blocks in the first half

I don’t think our second-half performance was great to be honest but the main thing was getting the three points and winning the game.

It was great that Mika scored our winner – I was really pleased for him and he’s a lovely kid.

It was a relief for him to get the goal and all of the boys were very happy for him.

He does so much work especially outside of the box but I’ve said to him before that he needs to be more selfish.

We’re very fortunate to have three strikers who are totally different and that’s certainly another thing in our armoury.

Raheem is a role model

WHAT happened to Raheem Sterling last weekend was bang out of order.

I’m a Chelsea fan and like anyone related to the club, I was embarrassed by what happened.

In modern day football, there’s absolutely no place for that kind of thing.

Fair play to Raheem – he’s had so much negativity towards him but I think that now, everyone will get right behind him because of the way that he’s handled things.

He’s a role model and he’s reacted brilliantly to what happened with the alleged racist abuse.

I’m all up for banter with opposition fans with my personality the way it is – I love all of that.

But I think there’s a danger that it could go out of the game because a small minority of people are ruining it.

I’ll have a laugh but that’s just personal abuse and what does it achieve?

I like to see a positive in everything and hopefully what happened at Chelsea has given the issue the publicity to help change things for the better.

Staying under the radar

I WAS gutted that my team-mate Sammie Szmodics missed out on the League Two Player of the Month award for November.

That’s three times now that we’ve had a Col U person nominated and not won.

Hopefully it’ll happen next time but in a way, it’s a good thing that we’re not so much in the limelight.

We like to stay under the radar and go about our business quietly and efficiently.

Harry came up trumps!

I TIPPED Harry Redknapp to win ‘I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here!’ from the very start – and it turns out I was right!

I’m so happy he won and as soon as it came out 8-1, I was on it.

With his personality, there was no way that he wasn’t going to win it and I was absolutely ecstatic when he did.

I actually cashed out on him winning when there were still four people left in after they offered me five and a bit times my stake.

But I’m Mr Popular at the moment, after I told friends and family to do the same and back him!

I’d love to go into the jungle – in fact, I’d pay to go in there!