ColchesterUnited head coach John McGreal praised his side’s character after they scored a late equaliser to draw 1-1 at Crawley Town tonight.

Substitute Chris Porter, who needed acupuncture on a hamstring problem this morning, fired into the roof of the net to salvage a point for the U’s at the Broadfield Stadium after they had trailed for much of the match to Adi Yussuf’s strike.

McGreal said: “We thoroughly deserved the point – we just kept going and I’m really pleased for them.

“I think the boys have shown tons of character again.

“It was a great finish by Ports – we have boys who are suffering from injuries and he had acupuncture on a hamstring injury this morning to try and get himself fit and got the goal.”

Colchester had gone in at half-time behind and came out for the second half nearly ten minutes before the restart, something their players chose to do according to McGreal.

“They said “we’re done” and they just wanted to get out there,” said McGreal.

“We thought that we were the better team in the first half and at half-time, we had a chat and the boys just wanted to get out there, in stark contrast to what happened on Saturday really (against Accrington Stanley).

“If we had scored early in the second half where the keeper has made a good save, I think there was a chance for us to win the game.

“We played well in the first half without overly creating good opportunities, apart from a couple of free-kicks around the box where we should have been hitting the target.

“We got into the attacking third but just failed in certain areas whether it was a free-kick or the final ball into the box.

“We thought Sammie Szmodics’ header was in – there were a lot of bodies there so the goalkeeper must have done unbelievable to save it.

“Had that gone in then, there would have been ten to 15 minutes to go and suddenly, you have a head of steam built up.”