Lapslie and Szmodics’ blend of youth and optimism fuels Colchester’s plans for the future

Sam Stringer speaks to two Colchester stars…

A brief scan of the League One table doesn’t favour Colchester United and in truth it hasn’t for the last three seasons now. But amidst the relegation scraps, one of which the Essex side find themselves in now, there is little pessimism around the relatively young squad. 19-year-old attacking midfielder Sammie Szmodics is quick to get across this feeling: “We’re not talking of relegation down here; no one’s talking about it.”

Simple denial? No. Rather, a mix of youthful optimism and a good squad harmony, which has been influenced by the home-grown-philosophy of Colchester.

This philosophy is embodied by the eight academy products who have made appearances for the Colchester first team this season, and it’s Szmodics who leads the way, taking to the pitch 23 times. For a lad of only 19 who was playing largely youth football last season he comes across as extremely level-headed when talking about his squad.

“Everyone knows you’ve got a job on the pitch, whether you’re 19 years old or 31, everyone knows their responsibility. We’ve got a tight changing room and we’ve got a young team but there’s some older boys in there, we’re as tight on the pitch as we are off it, the boys make the young boys welcome. The best thing is belief, the older pros like David Fox and Sean Clohessy believe in the likes of me and (Tom) Lapslie that come in, they trust us with the ball and it gives us confidence, it’s a good group of boys.”

Szmodics is sitting alongside the fellow graduate that he mentioned: Tom Lapslie, who also plays in midfield, and the turn of the year has seen him follow in his teammate’s footsteps and secure a place in the starting eleven. The pair bounce off each other answering questions and are eager to praise their education at Colchester,

Szmodics has his say on the style of play that has allowed him to flourish: “I’ve been at the club since I was 7 so the philosophy was; play it out from the back, play on the floor, you get it drilled straight into you, this is the team, we play, we pass on the floor, if you don’t like it don’t play.”

Lapslie adds: “All the boys that come in are good on the ball, when you’ve got another 10 players around you who are good on the ball and want the ball as well it’s a lot easier, because they all want it and there’s always an option for you.”

The pair come across self-assured, not arrogant but extremely confident, and this confidence that has been building and building since the climax of last season when their u18s side won the South Eastern Youth Alliance League, followed by the Youth Alliance Cup.

“Playing in the game we already knew we’d been given our professional contracts so obviously the belief and confidence was high anyway and we’d already won the league so there’s another confidence boost. So we went into the Bradford game heads held high thinking we can do a double here. I think by winning that it spurred us on thinking about this season, thinking we can push on here and get in this first team.”

Lapslie recalls the hat-trick that Szmodics scored in that final, and adds: “It was the biggest game a lot of us had ever played in, but none of us feared it really, we just enjoyed it. We just knew we weren’t going to go all the way to Bradford and lose that game, we had to win and all the boys played out of their skin that day.”

Fast-forward to September 2014 and head of youth development Tony Humes was lined up to fill the vacant manager position following Joe Dunne’s departure. The internal move was little surprise considering the club’s focus on youth. Lapslie and Szmodics now found themselves having to impress the man who had overseen their development over the past five years.

“Me and Lap in our scholar years, we grew up knowing he was the boss of us, so when he got appointed it was a bonus for the young boys because we knew he’d play us,” said Szmodics.

Lapslie agreed. “He’s watched us all play, me since I was 16 and I imagine he’s seen a lot of Sammie over the years as well. He knows what we’re about and I think that’s why he can trust us, he’s seen us do it.”

The situation is unusual but with Humes’ move from the youth department to the managerial position his knowledge of the development squads is second to none; however, it’s the results business that has marred his and Colchester’s promising project.

The duo are open about the shortcomings of their team this season and Szmodics comes to an honest conclusion: ”There’s no doubt that every single one of the boys in the changing rooms gives their all, I understand that the fans will be annoyed with the position we’re in but I’m a fan of Colchester, I’ve been here since I was 7 so I’m frustrated like they are, but at this time we have to stick together, it’s an equally hard time for fans, players and staff.”

For two young players at the start of their career, Szmodics and Lapslie certainly appear to have an excellent base to work from and flourish and regardless of league position the club has a long term version that should set all of their youth players well. It’s the strong mentality created by the positive atmosphere around the first team that is just as striking as their on-field ability; Szmodics the tenacious attacker playing just off the striker and Lapslie the pivot of Colchester’s midfield three. Their sense of responsibility in the team is refreshing and their exposure to first-team football after a glorious youth campaign has put them in excellent stead to turn Colchester’s fortunes, something which Lapslie fully believes they will do: “I genuinely don’t think come the last few games of the season we will be anywhere near it. And next season the sky’s the limit, we’re a young team so we can only get better.”

In typical fashion the following Saturday saw Colchester turn their League fortunes, grabbing a crucial and unexpected victory at Oldham with Lapslie playing the full 90 minutes and Szmodics scoring the only and game-winning goal. Youthful optimism, eh?

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