Kane Vincent-Young is one of the few Town players heading north for Saturday’s clash with Fleetwood to have made the journey before and he is praying history will not repeat itself at Highbury Stadium.
It was on August 22nd 2015 that Vincent-Young and his Colchester colleagues, including former Town pair Tom Eastman and Darren Ambrose, were on the wrong end of a 4-0 scoreline in a League One fixture.
Town and Fleetwood are meeting for the first time, of course, and Vincent-Young acknowledged: "It won’t be easy because they are having a good season and they are not too far behind us in the league.
"It was a tough one when I played there four years ago and thanks for reminding me about that.
"I think I had just broken into the team back then so hopefully there are better memories to come. I remember it as a tough place to go and I’m sure it won’t be easy on Saturday. It’s the only time I’ve played there.”
Town are trying to limit the possibility of the 282-mile journey to the Lancashire coast taking its toll on the players.
The team bus pulled out of the training ground at 1pm this afternoon and manager Paul Lambert and his players have booked Manchester United’s former training ground — The Cliff — for a morning session tomorrow.
Vincent-Young said he and his team-mates are behind the plan to travel 48 hours ahead of the kick-off, adding: "The way we’re playing at the moment, it’s great to be able to do these things to try and make sure our level of performance stays as it is.
"It’s a long journey and the thought behind our travel plans is obviously to break it up and give ourselves the best chance of playing well and getting a good result.
"It’s big-time thinking and it’s come from the manager. Obviously it is essential that we prepare right to give ourselves the best chance.
"It’s not going to be easy. We have to go there and earn the right to play and try to carry on what we’ve been doing. We just have to focus on being positive and trying to get the right type of result.
"We are at the top of League One and we want to stay there, just as any club in our situation would be. Our job is to find a way to keep on winning.”
Vincent-Young has been a roaring success since his arrival in August. Having netted just four times in his 126 senior appearances for Colchester, he has added two more to his career tally in his six outings to date for Town, both of them coming in the back-to-back wins at Gillingham and at home to Tranmere Rovers last weekend.
He added: "I didn’t score many for Colchester, that’s true, but they all seemed to be good ones to be fair and I don’t recall ever having scored a tap-in.
"The one at Gillingham was probably the most straightforward of them all, although it was a great move with 25 passes and everybody involved. I was just there at the back post to finish it off really.
"I know I’ve set the bar high but I’ll take tap-ins all day long. They all count and help to win games. I’m not short of belief and it comes from playing games at a first team level.
"It’s not always easy because there are no guarantees but you have to have the belief. Otherwise, what’s the point?
"Playing right-back or as a wing-back, both roles suit me fine. I played as a wing-back a few times before at Colchester but back then I was playing on the left side as opposed to the right, so it’s a bit different now. I’m playing on my stronger side but I can still come in and hit the ball with my left foot.
"There’s a way that the gaffer wants to do things and at the same time he has given me the licence to run at opponents, which I enjoy doing.
"The manager’s emphasis has been everything on the front foot. We have to try and take the game to teams, which has been great because it suits the way we want to play as a team and it suits the players we have, myself included.”
Vincent-Young was regarded as a striker when he joined up with first club Tottenham at the age of 11. But when it was put to him that boss Paul Lambert might yet call on him to reprise the role in a Town shirt, he laughed and said: "I’m not sure about that!”