JOHN McGreal felt Colchester United’s hard-fought pre-season friendly at Dagenham and Redbridge was the perfect test for his side.

The U’s played out a 1-1 draw with their Vanarama National League hosts at Victoria Road, in a contest where both teams were fully committed to the cause.

Diaz Wright’s late strike ensured Colchester preserved their unbeaten record in pre-season, cancelling out Michael Cheek’s first-half strike for Daggers.

Colchester head coach McGreal said: “It was a game that we’d been looking forward to.

“We had them scouted as we’re trying to get back into those habits that we have in division two and we knew it would be a sterner test than we’ve had so far and it proved it.

“Peter’s got them really well organised and they came out of the traps quickly.

“It’s only down the road for us so we knew there would be a little bit of a bite to the game and so it proved.

“We didn’t move the ball as quickly as we should have done in the first half but in the second half, we got it going a little bit more and we were really strong and more or less, camped in their half.

“It was a fantastic test for us, both physically and mentally.

“It was an away game that we needed and it was a brilliant exercise for us.

“You don’t want any injuries in friendlies but on the other hand, they can be a bit of a testimonial at times but you can’t say that about this game.

“I hope there’s no knocks – there was a lot of ice flying about but no-one asked to come off.

“Tackles were flying in - people were saying last season that we’re not big or physical enough but you could see that they started looking after themselves.

“A lot of boys got 70 minutes and that was good.

“The pleasing thing was that they stuck to it and had the mentality of knowing that when you do take a hit, just get yourself back up again and go again.”

After a rather flat first-half display, Colchester increased the tempo in the second half and finished the game strongly.

“The pleasing thing was the boys picked the pace up really well when they came on and stuck to the game plan, passing through the thirds and getting opportunities in the final third,” said McGreal.

“Azza Collins looked really lively when he came on and just picked up those little positions.

“It was the perfect pick for Diaz and he finished it really well.”

McGreal confirmed that forward Sammie Szmodics missed the game because of illness.