Colwill wore the armband with Reece James named on the bench and Ben Chilwell and Conor Gallagher unavailable. It was a proud moment for the Academy graduate.

Disappointingly for him and the team, the winning goal scored by Scott McTominay was not disallowed for a foul on Colwill despite the defender believing he had been impeded as he prepared to clear a cross.

‘VAR has something against me right now, I don’t know what I’ve done to them,’ he said.

‘Against Brighton they tried to give a pen, and then when I got pulled [by McTominay] they didn’t give anything. If I had pulled him like that they would have given a penalty. It is what it is.

‘It was a frustrating night. We had chances that if we’d taken would have made the game quite different, but it’s part of the game and we’ll move on from it come the weekend against Everton.’

The up and down nature of our results this season shows little sign of abating. Colwill is determined for that to change as the games keep coming thick and fast during the busy festive period.

‘We are trying to improve as quickly as possible. We need to be more consistent. Inconsistency can happen to any team, however long you’ve been together or had your manager.

‘It is a transitional phase, but we can’t keep saying that. We have to improve quickly, start winning games and playing our football every single game instead of just every now and then.

‘We can do anything we want. If we start putting in the performances we can put in, we will start picking up points and moving up the table.’