No goals in gritty encounter on Tuesday night.
Colchester United shared the points in 0-0 draw with Oldham Athletic at the Weston Homes Community Stadium in their latest home game.
It was all square in the first half with no team having a real clear cut chance and the game being a compact midfield battle.
The U’s best effort came in the 8th minute when Gavin Massey trickled a shot narrowly past the post of the Oldham goal.
But chances were hard to come by in an attritional first forty-five minutes.
The U's won a series of set pieces during that opening half but, as was to become the story of the game, the ball wouldn't run or drop in the home side's favour.
But whilst the U's didn't see much of Coleman's goal, Parish was equally well protected.
In fact, it wasn't until the 39th minute that Parish was tested, as a long range Kelly effort was tipped over the bar by the U's goalkeeper.
The U's came under pressure from the resulting corner, but managed to clear their lines and retain parity going into the interval.
A livelier start to the second half saw Edwards hit the roof of the net with a dipping volley that had Coleman scrambling and it set the tone for a better start to the second period.
Ambrose was set up in a decent position on the edge of the box, but his straight legged effort flew past the far post, with Coleman looking beaten.
Next, Sammie Szmodics hit the post for the U’s, following some good link up play with fellow youth team graduate Macauley Bonne.
Still rueing that misfortune, the U's were thankful to summer signing Parish at the other end.
Szmodics was inches from beating Joel Coleman to a stray back pass as the U's continued their pressing game, and another Lee Croft effort went just wide for Oldham.
The U's were strong defensively, though, and ensured they got their first clean sheet of the season and another point to add to their tally.