John McGreal delighted with 10-man Colchester after Exeter stalemate

John McGreal was “proud as punch” of his Colchester players following their entertaining 2-2 draw with fellow promotion-hopefuls Exeter.

The Grecians went ahead in the eighth minute through Jake Taylor, who collected Matt Jay’s pass in the area and thumped home an unstoppable right-footed shot.

Harry Pell headed in a 16th-minute equaliser at the near post for Colchester from Callum Harriott’s corner and they went ahead in the 58th minute through Theo Robinson, who fired in from close range after Pell’s shot had been blocked.

But Exeter claimed a point in the 77th minute when Colchester’s Tom Lapslie was dismissed for denying a goalscoring opportunity after a foul in the penalty area on substitute Ryan Bowman, who converted from the spot.

Colchester boss McGreal was pleased with the way his 10 men battled until the end.

He said: “It was a bit of a ding-dong contest.

“The pitch wasn’t conducive to be playing the ball, after what happened last week against Carlisle.

“But we still tried to play against a Exeter team who have been in really good form as well as ourselves.

“The onus was on us to go and win the game and they made a few changes and it was a contest that went right down to the wire.

“There were goals and sending offs in it – there was everything in it.

“The boys are out on their feet, carrying injuries, and for them to keep going again with 15 minutes left (after the red card) and then have the two best chances, I am proud as punch.

“I’m absolutely proud of the boys – every one of them.

“We’ll need new bodies on Wednesday because we’ve got quite a checklist shall we say in there.”

Exeter stay second with the draw, and boss Matt Taylor said: “At times, I thought it was two teams lacking in real quality on a difficult pitch.

“It probably looked like we had a busy schedule and another busy pitch probably didn’t help.

“There were four goals and I was disappointed with the goals we conceded to be honest.

“There’s lessons there in terms of our set-piece marking and young players standing up and being counted.

“It was a bit unlike us but the first goal was a very good goal and then we deserved to get back in the game.

“It was a shame, because we got back into the game at 2-2 and we thought we were going to go on and put real pressure on the opposition but we didn’t quite do the right things when they had 10 men.

“Had we played a simpler game we might have created more chances but I’m content with a point.”