Ifil Says Squad Owes Geraint

Phil Ifil, signed from Tottenham Hotspur in January, has told the Evening Gazette that it is time to repay manger Colchester Geraint Williams with winning performances.

Colchester`s manager has spent big in the window - bringing in four players - and so far for very little return in the grand scheme of things, as the U`s find themselves stuck to the bottom of the Championship.

But Ifil focused on the fact that Williams, who is under pressure to deliver, has shown faith in the current crop of players who, by and large, have just not put in the best displays. "The gaffer gives us all of the support we need before we go out there.

"I don't think we're necessarily doing the wrong things - I think it's just that things aren't coming off for us at the moment, whereas if we were in a higher position they probably would be."

Although that last statement sounds somewhat like a lack of confidence in disguise, Ifil added: "We have to roll our sleeves up and we'll keep going until the final game of the season.

"There are so many games left and we have three big home games coming up where there are nine points available.'

It was an own goal from the defender that stated so badly the weekend's reverse against Crystal Palace, although Kevin Lisbie did manage to get himself a goal.

"The bottom line is that we can still get out of it," added Ifil.

That is the hope that U`s fans also cling to, and the fact that Colchester must face Coventry, Scunthorpe and Sheffield Wednesday among the last ten league games before the curtain comes down on the club`s final season at Layer Road for good.