WAYNE Brown is adamant Colchester United can secure the points they need to stay in League Two.

The U's survival hopes were dealt a blow after they conceded in stoppage-time to draw 2-2 at home to fellow strugglers Leyton Orient, on Tuesday night.

Colchester lie two points above the relegation zone with 12 games remaining and ahead of their home clash with Port Vale this weekend, interim boss Brown insists they can get the points they need.

Brown said: “I fully believe that we have more than enough in this team to get points on the board.

“I think there’s been enough evidence in the last few performances that that is the case.

“We’ve got a team that doesn’t know when it’s beat – we were 1-0 down against Oldham at the weekend, 1-0 down against Leyton Orient – and they keep going.

“They keep finding it out and grinding it out and even the games where we’ve lost by small margins like the Hartlepool game, they’ve kept going and they don’t know when they’re beat."

Gazette:

Colchester were denied a precious victory when they conceded a late, late goal in their draw with fellow strugglers Leyton Orient.

It looked like they were heading for a big three points after goals from Myles Kenlock and Owura Edwards had cancelled out Ruel Sotiriou’s opener.

But Ethan Coleman scored from close-range after a free-kick had not been properly cleared, to share the spoils.

“In any sport, the psychological element plays a big part," said Brown, who has now taken charge of ten matches in his third spell as interim U's boss.

“We’ve struggled to win a game at home for a number of weeks, you find yourself in the lead in the 93rd minute and you’re going to be under pressure because you’re so desperate to get over the line and get the three points.

“But what you do need in that scenario is calm heads.

Gazette:

“You don’t want to give away free-kicks but if they are given away, it’s making sure that you deal with the first and the second ball and we need to get better in those areas.

Colchester are back in home action on Saturday when they host mid-table Port Vale, at the JobServe Community Stadium.

Brown added: “We’ve got to brush and dust ourselves down and go again on Saturday, because we’ve got another game.

“The good thing about this game is that you get another opportunity to have the belief – we’ve got to keep believing that we can hurt teams, which we have shown.

“But the game is won and lost in each box and we have to be ruthless - that’s what wins you games of football."