Steve Whitton was still celebrating only Colchester United's third League clean sheet of the season today.

U's hero - goalkeeper Steve Brown

But the U's boss remained defiantly adamant that his buoyant Layer Road squad were good enough to have turned Saturday's goalless draw at high-flying, ten-man Tranmere into a win.

Whitton said: "On paper a point at Tranmere looks a good result, but we were the better team on the day and I felt we should have won.

"Tranmere are a team still packed with First Division players following their relegation last season.

"The fact that we should have won, especially when they went down to ten men, shows everyone how far our standards have risen."

The point still elevated the U's two places up the Division Two table into tenth spot on the fringes of the race for promotion play-off places.

And much of the U's success on the day was not only due to a good all-round team performance, but especially to the heroics of goalkeeper Simon Brown who was making his first League appearance for well over 50 matches in place of Andy Woodman.

Whitton said: "I'm really pleased for Simon. He was outstanding on the day and I couldn't have asked any more of him than to keep a clean sheet.

"His kicking was excellent throughout the match as well and he got us out of trouble on a few occasions.

"We have conceded far too many goals this season and, while I'm not saying that any of those goals were Andy Woodman's fault, I felt the time was right for a change."

The 25-year-old former Spurs keeper pulled off a string of fantastic saves as Tranmere piled on the pressure towards the end of the game.

The match was soured by the sending-off of Rovers defender Graham Allen.

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Published Monday January 14, 2002