Miracle-working manager Steve Whitton insisted today Colchester United's Second Division status is still far from safe.

The U's boss said: "I've been very confident all along that we'll survive the drop, but I won't admit we are safe until it's mathematically impossible for us to go down.

"I might think about it when we have gained more points than the 52 we achieved when finishing seventh from bottom last season. But my goal is to do much better than that."

Saturday's morale-boosting 2-1 home win over in-form promotion play-off hopefuls Gillingham hoisted the U's back up into 14th place on 47 points with seven games and 21 points still at stake.

They boast a healthy ten-point cushion between themselves and the five clubs - Chesterfield, Blackpool, Scunthorpe, Oxford and Cardiff - currently hovering on the relegation trapdoor.

But Whitton insisted: "No-one here will be relaxing yet. There's still a lot to play for and it's important that we carry on picking up points."

Saturday's remarkable success over Gillingham was a perfect example, coming as it did on the back of three straight defeats against lowly opposition.

"I can't begin to explain our topsy-turvy sequence of results," said Whitton.

"We prepare exactly the same for every match, but we have certainly made a habit of upsetting the form-book. In Gillingham we saw off another top six club, and convincingly so.

"They didn't cause us too many problems and I thought we could have won by a greater margin. The win was even better because on Tuesday I only had nine men in my squad. That's a lot of injuries when you're preparing to play a team as strong as Gillingham.

"The lads did a great job in the end and I know we can still do much better if everyone believes in themselves.

"If we all up our performance by another ten per cent we are capable of beating the best."

Whitton was pleased with his two scorers, Tony Lock and Steve McGavin and, in new boy Efetobore Sodje, he firmly believes the club have unearthed another matchwinner.

The U's boss said: "We knew Sodje was a good defender and playing for us is a new challenge.

"He knows he's got to prove himself, as has Tony Lock. They're both playing for contracts next season. I've said all along that Locky has pace and if he runs at defenders they won't be able to cope with him.

"His goal was a perfect example of that, while McGavin's goal was a great example of being in the six-yard box, at the right time, in the right place."

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.