Colchester United notched their first three points of the season on Saturday, as a solid display earned them a 1-0 win over Northampton Town.

Luke Norris was the man on the mark once again, slotting home from the penalty spot to make it four for the season for the U's number nine.

And although Northampton had a degree of late pressure, the U's were able to ride that out and get their first league win of the campaign.

The first chance of the game came after ten minutes, as Hoskins let fly from distance and Gerken fended the ball away.

The U's were the ones to look stronger in the first half, though, as they dominated possession.

But at the other end, the U's were grateful to Clampin, who headed an Oliver effort off the line.

For all of the ball, they were not often able to get through to Cornell, but when they did, the Cobblers keeper pulled off some impressive stops.

After Norris had headed just over, Brown forced a good save out of the keeper with a low bending effort.

Senior was causing trouble for the U's, but they went into the break level.

They started the second half on the front foot, and created a series of positive chances after the interval.

Cornell showed sharp reactions to tip Nouble's deflected shot around the post, before substitute Gambin forced a fine save out of the keeper not once, but twice as the pressure grew.

And it eventually told as some intricate play around the box saw Stevenson tripped as he made it into the area.

Norris made no mistake from the spot, going the other way to his Cambridge penalty to give the U's the lead.

With the introduction of the giant Smith off the bench, Northampton reverted to their direct play of the first half in the last fifteen minutes and it required a strong effort from the U's to resist the balls into the area.

Hoskins' volley was deflected over by Eastman as the ball kept coming back into the danger area.

And any Cobblers efforts were largely from shots from outside of the box, with thwe U's standing strong to preserve their clean sheet and take all three points.