JOHN McGreal was delighted to see his Colchester United end their League Cup hoodoo and book a meeting with Premier League opponents.

The U's registered a 3-0 win over Swindon Town in the Carabao Cup to seal a trip to Crystal Palace in the second round of the competition.

Goals from Tom Eastman, Courtney Senior and Brandon Comley secured Colchester their first victory in the competition since winning 3-0 at Hereford United, back in 2010.

U's head coach McGreal said: “The club hasn’t done it in this competition for nine years, so it’s great to do that.

“The boys are buzzing and the chairman (Robbie Cowling) will be happy! That’s the good thing about it as well.

“It was a tough game – Swindon have started really well and have had some great wins.

“We knew once the draw came out that it would be a really tough game.

“We dug it out after the first 25 minutes or so and then I felt we grew into the game.

“In the last 15-20 minutes of the first half, we did well and then we built on it.

"It's a nice reward really because I don't think we'd had our rewards for the two (league games) we'd played.

"I think we've played some terrific stuff and defended particularly well in parts of the game.

"Again there are parts where we need to brush up but I thought the boys showed great grit and determination and character after that first 25 minutes."

The only real downside to the evening for Colchester was the dismissal of left-back Cohen Bramall.

The young defender was sent off on the hour mark following an altercation with Swindon striker Jerry Yates, leaving both sides having to play the remainder of the tie with only ten men.

McGreal added: “The sending offs were disappointing - you could see both benches asking what was going on.

“It’s one we’ll have to see on the video.

"The sending off hindered them and helped us.

"I thought we started quite brightly to be fair - a lot better than we did first half, second half.

"We were able to get into it and play a certain type of shape and I thought after that, we caused them lots of problems."