A WEEK, as always, is a long time in the life of a football fan. And last week proved the same.

After the disappointing result against Forest Green we did not have long to wait to put things right.

On a foggy midweek night under the lights against Carlisle United, we picked ourselves up and bounced back with a long overdue win.

It was a good performance coming from behind to secure a 2-1 victory and finally find the winning formula.

At the final whistle the relief was there for all to see and I am sure a few fans, myself included, were hoping this was the green shoots of a long awaited awakening.

A new chapter with a new system, revitalised players and a plan going forward.

But fast forward to this past weekend and planet Earth was hit with a bang as the U’s came crashing down to reality against Newport County.

The old ways were back, a system that has shown itself counter productive, players out of position and no matter how you look at it, one shot on target over the whole 90 minutes is not good enough.

It is all well and good saying we have four so-called number nines on the pitch and that we were not playing one up top, but if that is the case, two questions spring to mind.

Firstly three of them have to be out of position and secondly this means one shot on target is even worse with that much attacking threat on display.

My biggest bugbear is that we keep focusing on the 4-2-3-1 formations, and instead of changing it to suit players we have, we seem intent on shoehorning round pegs into square holes to play it.

Against Carlisle, we mixed it up and got the win, so why revert back to our old ways?

Now if this is being forced on to the manager from above as is believed in some quarters, then why not instruct the players to be more dynamic in how they play?

A 4-2-3-1 formation can easily be changed into 4-3-3 without any issues or major tactical implementation.

This keeps the powers that be happy in that we are playing pretty much the ‘required’ formations while at the same time we are making use of our strengths in the players that we have.

If this instance of one up top carries on, then we will carry on struggling for goals.

The only highlight of the recent games has been Shamal George in goal; he has taken his opportunity to start games and has shown he has the talent to pull off good saves that have keep us in the game.

Another thing that is starting to affect our game is our disciplinary record.

While frustration and on Saturday an amount of play actions from Newport did sway the officials, we can not put ourselves in the position where there is a decision to be made.

All we are doing is compounding our issues and now have Frank Nouble suspended for one match due to his quick fire double yellows.

Ryan Clampin was also a victim of frustration with a foul in an area of the pitch where there was no need to make the tackle, leading to a free-kick and Newport’s second goal.

These are things we need to stamp out very quickly and have no bearing on what formation or system is in use, but rather personal professionalism.

We need to stick together, fight as one and at all times keep a clear head no matter how much red mist might be descending.

Where do we go from here? Well up the table is a must. But doing so will be a big ask and the key match this week will be away at Grimsby.

With them below us and bottom of the table we can not afford come away from Blundell Park with anything other than three points.

We are running out of time and a lot of fans, even the most positive, are running out of patience.

Let's get this together as a squad and start picking up these all important points, so we at least have league football to look forward to come next season when fans are back. Up the U’s.