MATT Bloomfield praised his 'goalscorer' Kwesi Appiah after came off the bench to rescue a point for Colchester United against Barrow.

Appiah bagged the U's 96th-minute equaliser in their 1-1 draw with the Bluebirds, after coming on to make his first appearance since December 10.

The on-loan Crawley Town striker has been sidelined with an ankle injury and Colchester boss Bloomfield was glad to have his experienced striker back on the pitch.

Bloomfield said: “It was great to have Kwesi back and he’s a goalscorer – he can finish and he’s scored goals throughout his career.

“We’re disappointed we haven’t had him more this season.

“He started on fire when I first came in and he’s missed a lot of football but Kwes has got an infectious enthusiasm for life and a real good personality and he can score goals.

“We just wanted one to drop to Kwes and he tucked it away.

"I wanted to get him on a bit earlier but it was just making sure we got the shape right.

"We didn't want to rush it - we went to four at the back and got Alex Newby on the pitch, who I thought made a real positive impact for the second week in a row."

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Colchester had fallen behind to Ben Whitfield's goal early in the second half, in what was at times a scrappy encounter at the JobServe Community Stadium.

John Akinde had a penalty saved by Barrow goalkeeper Paul Farman, before Appiah struck a late, late equaliser.

The draw leaves Colchester seven points above the League Two relegation zone.

"I like to find a positive out of things," said Bloomfield.

“With the missed penalty, we could have easily thought that it wasn’t going to be our day and not come back, so I was pleased we still went and found more chances.

“It was a very stop-start game and we never really got into too much flow.

“We wanted to try and get the ball down and pass it around a little bit but the game never really flowed.

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"We were obviously pleased we were able to still create those chances.

“But we have to respect a point against a play-off chasing team.

"It was a game of many, many fouls and there was umpteen things that could have gone our way or not.

"We're still in a transition period I would suggest, in terms of eight new signings in the building.

"There's been a change of shape and change of personnel and it's going to be clunky for us at times but in many ways, we've got to be pleased with the chances we've created.

"It wasn't a free flowing football match - it was very much stop start and if there's one thing I know about Pete's (Wild) teams, he's going to have them fired up to fight and scrap.

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"That's what he believes in and I have a huge amount of respect for him, for that."

Bloomfield admitted he was disappointed with the nature of Whitfield's opener.

The Barrow attacker netted at the far post, following Rory Feely's deep cross.

Bloomfield added: "We've been really good since we've gone to three at the back at defending crosses.

"We didn't do very well as a four but we feel like we've been quite strong.

"But it kind of evaded a couple of boys and he (Whitfield) is on his own at the back post, so we'll be certainly working on that next week.

"There's some things that we want to get better at and there's some bits that we've been fairly pleased about.

"But there's a constant drive for improvement and to keep moving forward all the time."