REPORT BY BRIAN WALLER, PIC BY KEVIN DRURY
After a goalless opening half, the U's held off the Diamonds late surge to clinch a narrow victory in an action packed second half.

The home side started well, with new winger Reece Harris showing some good early signs. He took on the full back to deliver in a great low cross, then when Perry Sansford went down in the box in the next attack, the referee waved away the first of several home penalty shouts.

A clever lay off by Sam Corcoran was into the path of Harris and he was away down the left, but as the ball just ran away from him a bit, his hurried shot went over the bar.

An underhit back pass by Shane Stamp gave his side some problems as keeper Andrew Dickey saw his attempt to clear blocked by Lewis Halford, but fortunately the ricochet ran to safety.

Centre back Jon Glowacki was then in the thick of the action twice in quick time.

First he headed away a dangerous cross from the right by Halford, and when Daniel Easlea got onto the loose ball, he was first to the ball to block the attempt this time.

Harris was enjoying a good start to his debut, and he got away on the left, taking on and beating the full back, but when Russell Malton tried to turn on the ball to put away a shot, this was blocked.

It was not all one way traffic and from a cross from the right, Ainsley McDonald from Rushden headed the ball towards goal, but keeper Dickey was down low to his right to make a smart save.

A corner by Corcoran again caused home dismay, as once more penalty shouts were ignored, as a possible handball was not spotted by the referee.

Five minutes before the break, and the home team probably should have scored as Stamp got away down the left.

Unfortunately his cross in was missed by players in the centre, and Malton on the back post could not get his foot around the defender to get his effort on target.

Although there was plenty of action to date, it was the second forty five minutes that had all the goals, and it was not long before the first was netted.

When Sansford was fouled on the edge of the box, Corcoran put away the resulting free kick on 47 minutes.

There was to be a second U's goal on the hour mark, as Sansford pushed the ball through before outpacing the visitors' defence to slot home a fine individual goal.

The game was back in the balance with twenty minutes to go, as Diamonds central defender Aynsley McDonald got up at the back post to head in Daniel Easlea`s left wing corner.

There was breathing space again for the home side as Bender started to launch in some long throws into the area, and from the one of these, Lartey headed with precision to make it 3-1.

There was to be a late twist as a sublime chip caught by the wind saw keeper Dickey backtracking, but the effort by Lewis Halford was judged to perfection, and at 3-2, the game was not over yet.

Once more, the U's had to be watchful and started to concede too many unnecessary free kicks.

With Rushden keeper Emery venturing into home territory, the hosts were having to fight hard to hold on, and thankfully the referee's whistle sounded to spare any lingering home worries.

Colchester: Andrew Dickey, Ben Griffiths, Jon Glowacki, Adam Bailey-Dennis, Shane Stamp, Russell Malton, Louis O'Sullivan, Conor McCloskey, Sam Corcoran, Perry Sansford and Reece Harris

Used subs: Tom Bender, Jordan Lartey and Jordan Pavett and unused subs: Shane Cusack and Alex O'Leary