Cowley delighted by U's reaction

Colchester United head coach Danny Cowley was delighted by how his players handled more adversity in their 2-0 win at Newport County on Saturday. After a bright start at Rodney Parade, U's saw Lyle Taylor stretchered off with a serious-looking injury and Matt Macey make two important saves before the break. But they regained control in the second half and snatched the points thanks to late goals from Fiacre Kelleher and substitute Anthony Scully to keep their League Two play-off dream very much alive.

Cowley said: "We were playing so well for the first 10 minutes, I could feel we had good control and rhythm. "And then with Lyle, it's no disrespect to Tyreece [Simpson], it's just such a different profile. "All of a sudden we've got two nines [Simpson and Samson Tovide] up there and no connection.



"We did well to get to half-time and resolve that and credit to the players for taking that information on board." Tovide made way for Scully midway through the second half, before Simpson was replaced by John-Kymani Gordon. And both moves paid off, as Cowley added: "Tyreece had picked up a booking and had to do a lot of work.

"JK came on and I thought was brilliant. I know he only came on for a short period but the energy he gave us, the pressure he got on the ball, was so important, I thought he had a big impact on the game. "We defended really well all day.

I thought we were really good, two centre-halves, the full-backs, Jamie McDonnell and Arthur Read in front. "That always gives you a platform in any game, sometimes away from home, you have to defend really well to give yourself attacking moments. "We thought when they went to 4-4-2 and brought [Kyle] Hudlin on, they would go quicker and we would be able to hurt them on the counter.

" Kyreece Lisbie made his Football League debut off the bench as a replacement for Oscar Thorn, who had impressed in a wide role along with Owura Edwards. Cowley said: "Their athleticism and pace, really direct, both boys ran over 10 metres a second, then we get Kyreece on who can run 10 metres a second. "I want to shout out for Kyreece Lisbie, because billions of people play football, only a very small few play professional football and Kyreece has made his Football League debut and that was a great achievement for him and his family.

"We're blessed with pace and athleticism in those areas and we got them good ball, some good one-v-one moments and I thought they looked a real threat.".