Matthew Etherington: Colchester United boss says Crawley Town experience is 'in the past'
- Published
Matthew Etherington was confirmed as Colchester head coach on 16 November
Colchester boss Matthew Etherington insists his feelings about Crawley Town are all "in the past" as the two sides prepare to meet on Saturday.
The former Stoke and West Ham winger left his role as Crawley manager last year after just 32 days in charge.
The U's are eight places below the Sussex club in League Two.
"It's a game of football, over three points. It's probably a bit of a cliche but that's the way I feel," Etherington told BBC Essex Sport.
"After the last couple of results, all I'm focusing on is how we get three points against Crawley on Saturday. What's gone on is in the past and genuinely I'm not wasting my energy on it."
Etherington did, however, praise the work done by his successor at Crawley, Scott Lindsey, since his appointment in January.
"To be fair to Scott Lindsey, he's done a brilliant job since he's been in there to save them from relegation last season in difficult circumstances - and they've kicked on this season.
"He's got a definite way of playing, they want to dominate the ball - they dominated it against Notts County and not many teams have done that."
Colchester took 10 points out of 12 when Etherington was first put in charge following the sacking of Ben Garner - although he could not sit on the bench for one of the matches after Crawley claimed he was still under contract to them.
Results, though, have taken a downturn since he was confirmed in the role and they go into the game against Crawley having lost the past two in the league - and past three in all competitions.
"You can bog yourself down in this role by concentrating too much on what the opposition are going to do to you. I think we've got to focus on how we're going to hurt the opposition on Saturday," said Etherington.
"A win would do everybody some good. It's seems a long while away now when we were seconds away from getting four wins out of four when I first took over.
"Three points on Saturday will go a long way to (us) moving on."
Striker John Akinde could return to league action for the first time since September following a 30-minute run out in the 4-0 midweek Bristol Street Motors Trophy defeat by West Ham's under-21 side.
He has been out of action because of a foot injury and Etherington said: "John would give us something completely different.
"It's a decision for me to make as head coach as to whether I think he's ready to start, or does he need some more little cameos before he'll be ready to start 90 minutes - I need to make the right call on that.
"Those are the situations that I've got to try and get right, I'm not always going to do that, I haven't done recently, but I'll do my best to make the right decision."