Danny Cowley declared he was “so proud” of his Colchester players after they beat leaders Walsall 2-1 at the JobServe Community Stadium.
The Saddlers had gone ahead in the 65th minute when Charlie Lakin rifled home, but Colchester levelled four minutes later through Teddy Bishop.
Owura Edwards scored a superb 75th-minute winner for the U’s as the hosts sealed a third straight win, and boss Cowley said: “It was a really good performance and a really good win.
“It was so harsh for us to go 1-0 down but we stayed really true to ourselves and I’m so proud of the boys, because they really committed to how we wanted to play.
“We played against the league leaders in Walsall – they play in quite a direct way and get the ball forward really early.
“They play with two big nines to go over the pitch and we knew that they would be a real handful, but we took the ball off them and used it really well.
“We played with a really good purpose and got the outcome that we wanted.
“We looked a really good threat on the counter-attack and played with a good control and a good rhythm.
“I thought Teddy Bishop ran the game from the middle of the pitch – he was exceptional.”
Walsall’s misery was compounded in the 78th minute when Taylor Allen was shown a second yellow card for tangling off the ball with Bishop as their winless run stretched to four matches.
Head coach Mat Sadler said: “It was frustrating.
“It was a game where once we got our noses in front, we fancied ourselves to go on and win it, on a tough pitch.
“We’re disappointed not to have won it and disappointed to have lost it as well.
“Even with 10 men at the end, we’ve pushed them and could have scored an equaliser but it wasn’t to be.
“It felt like a game we were going to go on and win and we’ve seen it umpteen times this season where we’ve gone on and done that.
“Unfortunately, we didn’t today and it went the other way.
“If Taylor has apologised he doesn’t need to do that – he’s a person I’ve got unbelievable admiration for, an incredible person and he is one of the backbones and rocks of the team.
“To miss him on Tuesday is the disappointing thing, but he has no need to apologise.”
