WAYNE Brown praised the character of his Colchester United players following their 1-0 win at Leyton Orient this afternoon.

Freddie Sears' fourth-minute strike secured the U's victory at Brisbane Road, extending their unbeaten run under interim boss Brown to four matches.

Colchester were without the services of John Akinde due to Covid and Emyr Huws, because of injury.

And playmaker Alan Judge also missed out, after his wife was called into labour.

In addition, Tom Dallison suffered an injury in the warm-up forcing Colchester to make a last-minute change to their starting line-up, with skipper Tommy Smith drafted into the side.

But what followed was a fine team performance, as the U's stayed eight points above the League Two relegation zone.

Brown said: "It's brilliant for the lads.

"There was a lot stacked against us today, in regards to wives giving birth, Covid, players going down in the warm-up and the few injuries that we've got.

"We were light in numbers today and it just highlights the trust that we have first and foremost in the youngsters with Gene (Kennedy) coming on, when (Cole) Skuse had to come off with a head injury and a little bit of strength in depth.

"More importantly, it should show the individuals in the group the character that we have within the squad to come in and do a job and win ugly.

"Any successful team and any successful club can have depth - we've got numbers on board and strength in depth.

"We trust in our own as well and that's vitally important.

"We did our homework on them and the way that they play.

"We knew that there were going to be areas to exploit in different positions and to get a goal after three or four minutes was obviously a bonus.

"There was a little bit of combination play which is something we worked on, on Thursday and Friday.

"It's always nice when something comes to fruition and you get a bit of joy from that.

"What pleased me the most was the way that we dug in at times, the way that we had to battle.

"We knew that it was going to be a bit of a fight, a war with their directness.

"Not for the first time since we've come in, we did it at Salford and we've done it again today.

"We'll have to keep doing it, to get the points on the board."

Gazette:

Colchester created plenty of chances and deserved their victory.

However, they were nevertheless indebted to goalkeeper Sam Hornby, who made two key saves to twice deny Aaron Drinan.

"Sam has come in and done great," said Brown.

"He's made a couple of important saves but that's what he's there for.

"That's what he's paid the money to do - keep the ball out of the net and he's done that.

"It's great for him for a bit of confidence as well, with the clean sheet and loads and loads of positives to build on."

Brown was full of praise for the large U's away following that made the trip to East London for the game.

He added: "The support was unbelievable.

"They were first class and the amount of numbers they brought down the A12 and that's what we need.

"We keep saying that we're in this together but when you've got that sort of support behind you, the lads thrive off it.

"When the backs are against the wall a little bit and they're dealing with the first and second balls, that's massive.

"We can't thank them enough for coming down the road but we need to continue that."