“It wasn’t good for the heart – I don’t know how Joe Royle dealt with it, but I’m beginning to find out quickly,” was Frankie Bunn’s post-match verdict after the rip-roaring 3-3 draw with Colchester – a game which brought memories flooding back to exciting days of plastic pitches and pretending you’re Andy Ritchie in the playground on Monday morning.

“Do you know something, it takes me back 30-odd years from when I used to play here,” smiled Bunn.

“I’m not one to harp on about the past but that was reminiscent of the old days. I’m emotionally wrecked.

“Goals galore – and yes we conceded but what spirit and determination from the players. I commend them on that and overall, I’m grateful for a point, even though I thought we might have had all three.”

Breathless doesn’t even begin to cover it. At 3-1 down with five minutes to play, Athletic looked dead and buried. Even the greatest optimists around a solemn Boundary Park were eyeing the exits.

Anyone who left early – shame on you.

This is a side that won’t give up. A side built with a wonderful mix of raw talent and experienced knowhow . . . a side that will not be pushed aside. They believe.

Bunn added: “We’ll keep finding solutions to problems. We’re still in our infancy with only four players in that starting line-up from last season – it will take time. But this could be something growing.

“This club has had to start again and we’re in the process of getting back on our feet.

“I’ve been through so many emotions – ups and downs throughout that 96 minutes. To come back like we did, I thought the boys were terrific.

“The team spirit we’ve got shows you what we’re trying to build here. They’ve worked their socks off and OK, maybe a little bit of quality was missing but the determination was fantastic.

“We’ve got to ally that now with improvements with the ball.”

Despite Colchester’s three goals, Bunn knows teams will try to stifle his men – especially at Boundary Park – and remarked upon the U’s mindset early on.

“No disrespect to Colchester but they were using delaying tactics five minutes into the game,” he said.

“It was much the same against Newport – I’ve said to the lads it’s something we’ll have to get used to, we could face that week-in, week-out at home.

“We can’t legislate for the way the goals came against us. We haven’t defended properly.

“Strangely though, other than the goals, I didn’t see anything else from them – I know we’ve conceded three goals but it was freakish. Having said that, we have to deal with it better.”

Bunn never likes to pick out individuals, but even he was finding it difficult not to champion the work of two-goal Sam Surridge, who now has seven to his name in only the six games he’s started.

“It’s not just about Sam – he did well but had support from everybody around him. I don’t like to single anybody out but hopefully he keeps finding the net. He’s first class.”