McGreal hails resilient Colchester display

Posted Sunday, October 21, 2018 by PA

Colchester boss John McGreal praised his side’s resilience as they secured a battling 1-0 win at Morecambe.

A 45th-minute goal from Courtney Senior was enough to give the U’s back-to-back wins, but McGreal admitted his side had to show great spirit to overcome Morecambe’s second-half showing.

McGreal said: “I thought we were much the better team in the first half, we passed the ball well and got into good positions and we scored a great goal with a lovely bit of combination play with Harry Pell and Courtney Senior.

“The second half was a totally different affair, though, as Morecambe were a different animal after the break and put us under all sorts of pressure.

“It was backs-to-the-wall stuff for us and we were hanging on, but I have to give the lads credit for the way they defended.

“They really put their bodies on the line and when it got hot in there we had a few cool heads to see the game out.

“We haven’t had the best of results away from home of late so it was great to get the points and a clean sheet. It’s the first time we’ve won up here so there are a lot of positives from the performance and we will look to build on that this week.”

Morecambe manager Jim Bentley was frustrated that his side left empty-handed from a game they dominated for so long.

He said: “Like a lot of games this season we have played some great football but not got anything from the game.

“There wasn’t much in the first half but we gave a goal away late in the half and that is something that is killing us this season.

“We need to do better in those periods without a doubt, but apart from that it is really hard for me to be critical of my team.

“I thought we gave it a right good go in the second half and we couldn’t do much more than we did. We created some good chances against a very good side and could have had a penalty and if we keep on playing like this then we will be OK.”