BEN Garner believes his Colchester United players can take confidence from their performances against some of League Two’s leading sides, heading into this season's final run-in.

The U’s battled back to score two late goals and hold leaders Leyton Orient to a 2-2 draw at the weekend, the latest in a sequence of games against some of the division’s promotion candidates.

Colchester are now preparing for back-to-back home games against Tranmere Rovers and Newport County, as they bid to climb away from relegation danger and boss Garner insists his squad should be buoyed by their comeback draw at Brisbane Road.


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Garner said: “We’ve just played five of the top six and we’ve shown that we can compete with all of them.

“I doubt Orient have had many tougher games here, this season so we’ve got to take confidence from that.

“We’ve got to take belief into next week and we’ve got to now try and follow that up with a home win and then that suddenly becomes a really good four points for us, on the back of a point (at Leyton Orient).

Gazette:

“You have to give massive credit to the players.

“There’s not many teams on the run that we’ve been on at 2-0 down that keep going and show the spirit and the quality that we did.

“They deserve massive plaudits for that.

"It shows the character and the togetherness that we’ve got in our dressing room.


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“The players have been really good so far, in terms of their openness, they attitude, their efforts in training.

“We need to keep doing that day by day and keep moving forward.”

Colchester’s substitutes made an impact off the bench in the latter stages, at Orient.

Gazette:

Matt Jay and John Akinde provided the assists for goals from Connor Hall and Noah Chilvers respectively, while Jay almost won it at the end with a strike that was saved by O’s keeper Lawrence Vigouroux.

“We used five subs and all of them were vital,” said Garner.

“Will’s come at half-time, Jayden gave us impetus when he came on – he makes things happen and he’s always looking to get the ball in the box – and MJ, Freddie and John all had an impact on the game.


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“It meant as much to every single one of them, whether they start, whether they come on and that’s going to be a big part of who we are, moving forward.

“We’re a group, we work together during the week, even the lads who didn’t travel or weren’t involved still played their part - we need to be good as a group and that’s going to be key.”

Gazette:

Garner was cautioned by referee Ross Joyce late in the half at Orient, with Fiacre Kelleher, Junior Tchamadeu and Tom Hopper also booked.

He added: “I got a yellow card for throwing my arms up in the air!

“The first half was frustrating because there were so many wrong decisions and they hadn’t created a thing and they’re given a penalty that isn’t a penalty.

“That’s just frustration and that happens at this level and I try not to do that but sometimes, it gets the better of us.”