Colchester United boss John McGreal was a happy man as his side secured a crucial three points at the death against Coventry City.
The manager praised his side for their performance against the Sky Blues and their determination to carry on and grab a late winner.
Junior Ogedi-Uzokwe and Tom Bayliss scored for their respective sides, before Mikael Mandron snatched all three points with a header in the 88th minute.
“It doesn’t happen often [that Colchester United score a late goal], but I don’t think we got our rewards last Saturday after a thoroughly good performance, so I think you can see we went out to get all three points with our performance tonight” the U’s boss told iFollow Col U.
“We got the early goal and we were always looking for the second, we deserved a two goal lead and were unfortunate not to get it and Coventry punished us. This is a tough team to play against, they’ve beaten Stoke and other good teams this year."
Coventry have embarked on a successful FA Cup run this season, beating Premier League opposition in Stoke City and League One outfit MK Dons.
And the Sky Blues had their tails up after Bayliss' leveller, but the U's stuck at it and ensured they had a chance to secure the win through Mandron's ninth of the season.
“After we conceded we didn’t drop our heads, we showed a bit of character and the bench was effective tonight too. We’ve missed Dicko’s crosses this season and the ball in was fantastic, Junior has then done terrific to shift it and get the ball back in, and then Mika’s popped up and got his reward and got us the points," he continued.
“It was a big call [to start Junior Ogedi-Uzokwe], but the boy deserved his opportunity. He’s trained terrifically well, he’s had a good first half of the season at Maldon & Tiptree and he’s been here about six weeks so I just thought the game tonight was right for him after what happened on Saturday with Kurtis."
Junior Ogedi-Uzokwe was making his full debut for the club after his move from Maldon & Tiptree in the January transfer window, after netting 34 goals in 34 games for the Jammers.
“We know Mika likes to link the play and Junior likes to switch the play, so I thought tonight was an ideal time to put him in, it was a brave call but he’s done terrific," John added.
“It was great [to score the late goal], we’ve done a lot of pushing and pressing and haven’t got the rewards for that recently, even going back to Saturday with hitting the post and having the chance cleared off the line, so it's nice for the shoe to be on the other foot.”
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