John McGreal thrilled with quality of goals as Colchester ease past Cheltenham

Posted Sunday, February 10, 2019 by PA

John McGreal praised his clinical Colchester side after they beat Cheltenham 3-0 to go fourth in Sky Bet League Two.

The U’s have now scored seven goals in their last two games after securing a comfortable home victory over the Robins.

Kane Vincent-Young gave Colchester the lead on the half hour and Frank Nouble doubled the advantage two minutes before half-time.

Colchester effectively wrapped up their win 11 minutes into the second half when Abo Eisa scored from close range after Courtney Senior’s breathtaking run.

McGreal said: “It was a terrific performance. I thought our three goals were excellent and it’s tough to pick one out.

“Kane took it in his own half and he’s hit it terrifically well. Nouble has done a stepover and put it in the top corner and then Courtney has danced past about three or four and has shown maturity to pass it to another player to pop it in.

“I’m just delighted to get the three goals.

“The last two performances have improved on what we have done and the boys we’ve brought in have made the players we had here up their game.

“It’s started from training. I’m a big believer that if you put that in in training you’ll get your rewards and the boys have been able to do that.

“It was good to get that home win, because it’s been a long time coming, but that’s results-wise not because of performances.”

Cheltenham boss Michael Duff, whose side’s advantage over the bottom two has been cut to seven points, was left disappointed with his side’s lacklustre display.

“It was our worst performance since I’ve been here,” he said.

“It was insipid. We didn’t head it, we didn’t pass it, we didn’t do anything we asked them to do, so it was disappointing.

“Goals change games. The first goal is always important coming away from home against a team trying to get into the play-offs.

“They will look at the goals as great goals but they were really poor goals from our point of view – no-one made a tackle and no-one has blocked anyone off.

“There’s no qualms there because they could have scored two or three more.

“We need to realise where we’re at. We’ve not all of a sudden arrived or become a good team and I keep telling people that.

“Yes, we’ve gone eight points clear (of the relegation zone) but not by delivering performances like that.

“We were dogged in the first 15-20 minutes but we have to be dogged over 90 minutes.”