COLCHESTER U 1
Simpson 44
NO TTS COUNTY 0
STAR MAN
FIACRE KELLEHER Colchester
DELIGHTED Danny Cowley claimed this to be one of the best wins of his managerial career after seeing his ravaged Colchester maintain their play-off push.
With the majority of his U’s team struck down with a virus in midweek, Cowley admitted that many of his team were little more than 70 per cent fit as they took to the field against visitors Notts County.
The Colchester manager hailed the effort and resilience from his players as they clung on to Tyreece Simpson’s first-half goal for all three points.
“It was a brilliant win for us,” he said. “I’ve been fortunate enough to have a lot of good groups in my managerial career and a lot of good wins, but I can’t remember a better win than that when you consider how much was going against us in the lead up and how many boys who started were probably just 70 or 75 per cent fit.
“For them to put that amount of effort in I thought was remarkable. We knew it was going to be tough and that we had a few playing who weren’t at full tilt and Notts County are a very, very good team for sure – just look at their attacking prowess.
“They finished the game with Jatta, Mc-Goldrick and Jodi Jones who are all really high-quality players, but to restrict them to so few chances was testament to our discipline and organisation against the ball.”
Simpson struck the U’s winner in the 43rd minute when he converted from close range, after Oscar Thorn had robbed Notts County’s Will Jarvis of possession near the edge of the area and squared the ball across goal. ictory keeps United in the hunt for a play-off place, County missed an opportunity to close the gap on the top three, as they lost a game of few chances.
Magpies manager Stuart Maynard said: “It was a really frustrating day at the office.
“I haven’t watched it back but I think for the goal, it looks like there’s a push in the back on Will Jarvis, which ends up in a goal. But we should address it, get on it and clear the ball.
“We know we’re playing on a difficult pitch where the ball’s going to bounce up high and change direction in different ways, so we have to address it and deal with it.
“In the first half, they only really got around our box maybe three or four times. We were e around their box loads but probably didn’t show enough end product and that t was the trend of the whole game.
“We want to dominate the ball and control the game – we did that enough but I just don’t think we penetrated enough, in the final third and we’ve come away with a 1-0loss.”
County’s best opportunity came when Jarvis fired a good chance straight at Matt Macey late on but they struggled to penetrate a solid Colchester defence.
Midfielder Nick Tsaroulla tried his luck with a shot from 25 yards that flew wide of the target and veteran David Mc-Goldrick curled a shot over as they searched in vain for an equaliser.
Thorn sidefooted over for Colchester who just about had enough in the tank to hold on.
COLCHESTER: Macey 7, Egbo 7, Kelleher 8, Flanagan 7, Iandolo 7, McDonnell 7, Read 7, Thorn 7, Taylor 7, Owura Edwards 7 (Hunt 74, 6), Simpson 7 (Tovide 61, 6). Subs not used: Aboh, Connelly, Jollife, Scully, Smith.
NOTTS COUNTY: Slocombe 6, Macari 7, Platt 6, Bedeau 7, Tsaroulla 6 (Jones 72, 6), Hinchy 7, Palmer 7, Whitaker 7 (Traore 73, 6), Jarvis 8 (Grant 86), McGoldrick 7, Jatta 6. Subs not used: Edwards, Gordon, Johnson, Miller.
Cardiff City
Omer Riza is proud of his Cardiff City troops
Championship
OLIVER’S SET FOR BIG STEP
