John McGreal has plenty to celebrate after Colchester beat Carlisle - 7M sport

John McGreal has plenty to celebrate after Colchester beat Carlisle



Posted Sunday, March 08, 2020 by PA

John McGreal has plenty to celebrate after Colchester beat Carlisle

Colchester manager John McGreal celebrated his 200th game in charge and his daughter’s 18th birthday with an impressive 3-0 win against Carlisle.

But it was 18-year-old Kwame Poku who caught the eye with a two goal performance that had McGreal saying: “He’s a great talent.”

The U’s boss admitted: “We have to be careful how we talk about the boy. He is only 18 and we need to keep him out of the media spotlight a bit.

“The older pros keep him level headed because he has a big future in the game. Their trust in this young player is there to see and with the ball at his feet something seems to happen.”

Poku opened the scoring with a low left foot shot in the 41st minute and Colchester promptly added a second through Luke Norris’ header.

There was no pinning Poku down and he clinched the win for Colchester in the 59th minute with another low shot from the edge of the area which spun off Carlisle defender Aaron Hayden’s foot and left goalkeeper Adam Collin stranded as it fizzed inside the right hand post.

McGreal said: “It’s worked out fantastically today with my 200th game and daughter’s 18th. It was a brilliant performance, but it’s not about me, it’s about the boys having a point to prove.”

Colchester never looked like a side with just one win from the previous four games. They played with confidence and McGreal said: “We looked a real threat today.

“I felt 0-0 would have been a travesty. The front boys led the line well for us. This is a tough place to come and Chris Beech has turned over a lot of bodies and developed a new identity. Our second goal gave us a bit of a cushion.”

Carlisle started brightly and Harry McKirdy was inches off making contact with Gethin Jones’ cross from the right.

But the visitors looked the more likely to score and Collin in the Carlisle goal had to produce a fine saves to deny Frank Nouble and Norris.

The two goal burst before the break seemed to shake the Cumbrians and it could have been worse when Cohen Bramall’s free-kick clipped the bar.

Poku’s second goal enabled Colchester to cruise the last half hour of the game and although Carlisle keep battling, with Lewis Alessandra and Jon Mellish testing Dean Gerken in the closing minutes, the visitors were never in danger.

Carlisle head coach Chris Beech had no criticism of his side’s effort, but he said: “It looks worse when a game drifts away from you.”

Beech added: “They were good at drawing the life out of the game. You can’t say the players didn’t try, it’s where those efforts are directed.”

He admitted: “The players showed frustration and the support of each other was not quite right. There was no one making things happen for us.”

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