Colchester United caretaker manager David Wright said his side got what they deserved in the end after Tom Lapslie's stoppage-time equaliser secured them a 2-2 draw at Barnsley.

The U's, who were relegated last weekend, looked like they would be heading for defeat at Oakwell after Ashley Fletcher's second-half brace had cancelled out George Moncur's opener.

But Lapslie headed in Joe Edwards' pass to equalise in the eighth minute of stoppage-time, after Colchester had to play the final stages with only ten men after goalkeeper Elliott Parish was stretchered off and they had used all three of their substitutes.

Forward Macauley Bonne acted as an emergency goalkeeper for the U's in the final stages and helped them hold on, before Lapslie netted their dramatic equaliser and Wright admitted it was an eventful first game in temporary charge.

Wright said: "In the end, I thought that we got what we deserved because they worked their absolute socks off.

"It was a fabulous team performance and there's a few dead bodies out there now, because they kept going for each other which is a really good sign for next year.

"I can't be more pleased for the players, especially in the first half.

"I think Elliott has made a world class save but we created chances and we looked really dangerous, especially through the middle and then isolating one versus ones.

"I just felt in the second half the game started to get a bit stretched and we had to make a few changes, just to try and get a bit of control back.

"Something we need to learn for next year is understanding when the momentum of the game is just slightly getting away from you and the players on the pitch need to recognise that and do something about it.

"But I can't ask for any more from the players - I thought they were outstanding."

Wright revealed Bonne was happy to go in between the sticks, after Parish was carried off with a back and neck injury after colliding with a post in the lead up to Barnsley's second goal.

Wright said: "Macca really wanted to go in goal - big George says he's training with him on Monday!"

"Elliott is in there (the changing room) and moving around, so we'll assess over the next couple of days.

"We'll also assess Tom Eastman, who also went off.

“When Macca went on goal, we got the message onto the pitch not to start flying all over the place and looking for that second goal, because then I think we would have been picked off.

“It was very important that we tried to keep the two banks of four, because we had ten minutes, which is plenty of time.

“An old manager of mine once told me that there’s plenty of time to score a goal, so we showed patience and in the end, I think we got what we deserved because they worked their absolute socks off.”

For five pages of coverage of the U's game with Barnsley, see Monday's Daily Gazette.