DO YOU make your own luck or does it just come to you?

It’s an age old question and one Saints might well be asking themselves after a six-game winless start to the League One season.

Thus far they really haven’t had much luck at all.

Whether it be refereeing decisions such as the one at Stockport, or balls failing to bounce in the right place as in other games.

Against Colchester the bad luck came before the game even began.

Saints are desperately short of attacking options and so really needed Marek Saganowski and Papa Waigo.

Saganowski had been spirited away on international duty and then Waigo, who looked odds on to start the game as late as Friday morning, failed to get clearance from the Italian FA in time.

Suddenly so much quality was lost from the squad, so much potential pace as well from Waigo.

It proved very costly – well, probably about two points costly – as Saints failed to beat Colchester.

On that evidence alone, before you add in the previous games, you would say Saints are due a change in fortune.

But if you believe that your luck is not dealt by the fates, the stars, the moon and the tides or whatever, then you could argue that we are being kind.

Perhaps that is the case but then it is the start of a new season, with a team that needs to gel.

That takes time.

There is no doubt, though, that even without Saganowski and Waigo, Saints should have beaten Colchester.

They aren’t a bad side but they looked beatable with 11, let alone the fact they played almost two thirds of the game at with ten men.

The most disappointing aspect about the start of the season has not so much been the results.

Most realists expected it to take time for things to come together – when you start on minus ten staying up is priority number one and anything further is a bonus.

No, the disappointing part has been the same old problems which we all thought would be eradicated coming back to bite Saints.

You somehow knew that Colchester getting a man sent off was about the worst thing that could happen for Saints.

That was all the talk at half time.

Around the stadium people were saying ‘we have to beat this lot with ten.’ They were also surmising that should Saints fail to break them down in the first 20 minutes after the break they’d panic.

Suddenly, rather than keeping the ball down and stretching the play out wide, as you simply must when you play against ten men who will defend deep and doggedly, they’d start pumping the ball long.

The players must have felt that pressure, it must be in the corridors of St Mary’s somewhere.

Sure enough, just like over so many of the last seasons, it was another frailty that came back to haunt them.

Hopefully it will soon be eradicated – thus far Alan Pardew has managed to wipe out the set-piece horrors which almost reduced Saints fans to tears last season.

But fragility remains in other areas and, while it does, who knows whether the luck will change.

Before Colchester went down to ten Saints had their chances to take the lead.

Rickie Lambert was the first to threaten with a flicked header from Wayne Thomas’ cross that went just wide of the far post.

Matt Paterson thought he had scored on 18 minutes when he beat the keeper to the ball and lofted it past him from an acute angle.

Somehow, though, Magnus Okuonghae got back and managed to hook the ball off the line.

What looked like being the decisive moment came on 36 minutes when Kem Izzet got himself sent off.

Adam Lallana was going nowhere with the ball at his feet deep inside the Colchester half on the right touchline.

Izzet had him held up but just seemed to lose his temper and jumped in at the ball.

It wasn’t a malicious challenge, and to Lallana’s credit he didn’t try and make too much of it, but it was wreckless.

It appeared the linesman who was stood right on top of the incident saw nothing wrong but the referee produced a quick red card, and probably a deserved one.

Paterson fired a half volley over as Colchester tried to regroup, a cause not helped by captain Pat Baldwin being stretchered off.

But incredibly it was Colchester who came closest to a lead just before half time.

Ashley Vincent tussled with Dan Harding and forced the left back to slash at a ball which then looped up into Vincent’s path.

He lifted it over Kelvin Davis but it hit the bar and bounced out.

Vincent was away past Harding moments later but Kevin Lisbie’s diving header just two yards from goal couldn’t find the target.

The second half saw a regrouped Colchester get men behind the ball and defend deep.

Okuonghae was a beast in the air and Saints played too often down the middle, particularly as panic set in as the pressure rose for them to get the breakthrough.

Dean Hammond came close twice from distance while Neal Trotman could only pick out the arms of Ben Williams with a header from six yards.

Probably the best opening fell to Jake Thomson as the keeper came and missed a Lallana corner, the ball was headed back across goal and from close range and with the goal at his mercy Thomson headed off target.

Saints are due some luck, but with chances like that they could still make their own.