Colchester United under-23s' fine victory over their Manchester City counterparts tonight is an indication of the work that goes on at the U's, according to coach Wayne Brown.

Brown's youngsters secured an excellent 2-1 win over City in the Premier League Cup at the Weston Homes Community Stadium, to boost their chances of progressing from Group C.

Colchester chairman Robbie Cowling has placed plenty of emphasis on the club's academy over recent years, adopting a philosophy that enables young players to have a pathway into the first team.

And under-23 coach Brown says results like the one against City are testament to the dedication of the club's staff and players.

Brown said: "This result might raise the profile of the academy at Colchester United but it's not just happened overnight.

"Robbie (Cowling) has put a hell of a lot of money into the football club and I know he's been getting a lot of stick over recent years with regard to the first team and so on.

"But hopefully, if we can continue to produce the kids and put on good performances at this level and try and get as many as we can in the first team then it'll work - there's no doubt about it.

"Robbie has asked for patience but I think this is a little bit of an indication of the work that goes on at the football club.

"We all believe in it - it's not just Robbie that believes in it.

"We've all bought into it and it's something that we work very hard at."

Goals from Matt Briggs and Dexter Peter gave Colchester an early two-goal cushion against City.

And although Paolo Fernandes pulled a goal back before half-time for the visitors, the U's went on to seal victory.

Brown added: "The result was good and it puts us in a healthy position in this competition now, after playing three games.

"It was a great shift by the lads to be fair and what makes it even better really is that we played on Monday against Watford where they worked extremely hard in that game to get the result.

"I wanted to keep the emphasis on that Monday going into the game which they did but their application after a quick turnaround was fantastic tonight.

"After the last two days, we've done a bit of work both in and out of possession and we knew that they would have a reasonable amount of the ball with the players that they have and it was just about how we handled that.

"But I thought the work ethic and the bravery from the lads tonight was exceptional."