Colchester United skipper Connor Hall happy with team spirit

The U’s had to stand down their interim head coach Matty Etherington from duty at the weekend, after contractual issues emerged with his former club Crawley Town.

Colchester were led by assistant boss Scott Marshall and first-team coach Dave Huzzey at Accrington Stanley and came away with an impressive 1-0 victory, their second successive win.

And skipper Hall says the developments surrounding Etherington’s status that emerged the day before the game only served to make them stronger.

Hall said: “It’s absolute turmoil and it feels like it’s one thing after the other.

“But we’ve proved out there that we can be together and be as one.

“It didn’t bother us or faze us – the other club clearly wanted it to faze us but it gave us more incentive and more hunger to go out there and get the job done, so it didn’t affect us.

“We spoke about it at the hotel before the (Accrington) game.

“It was about coming together as a team even more through the hard times and I think we’ve managed to do that, especially this week.

“It’s been a massive week for us an hopefully, we’ve turned the corner but you can definitely see that there’s a togetherness out there.

“Some would argue it wasn’t there beforehand but we didn’t want to lose matches every time we went out on the pitch, no matter who was in charge.

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“It just happens that there’s been a change and we’ve managed to get two wins but that’s the way football goes.”

Hall was outstanding in Colchester’s win at Accrington, leading a fine all-round defensive performance by the team at the Wham Stadium.

The 30-year-old helped the U’s claim a first clean sheet in nine league games, as they moved six points above the relegation zone.

“It felt good out there and it felt like I was back to my normal self,” said the former Port Vale centre-back.

“I’ve been criticised enough times this season by supporters which is fine; I’ll happily take that instead of the lads.

“I’m old enough and big enough to swallow it and try and keep going and stay positive.

“Luckily that proved the case (at Accrington) with a big away win, where we all played our part.

“They’re the best ones, winning 1-0 away from home.

“It was backs to the wall for a lot of the second half but the boys defended for their lives.

“We prided ourselves on that the last few games and we’ve been rewarded for that with the clean sheet and the win.

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“We got that goal and we wanted to hold on to it; it makes you work that extra bit harder and play with that bit more intensity, to defend the box and throw yourself in front of challenges, not that it should ever change anyway but it does give you something to hold onto an everyone, including the subs that came on, played their part.

“It’s League Two football, at the end of the day – that’s what it’s all about.”

Hall says Colchester have had a ‘reset’ following Ben Garner’s departure as head coach.

Garner was dismissed after four successive league defeats, which left the U’s languishing in the League Two relegation zone.

Hall added: “You never want to see someone leave or get sacked.

“But football moves on and it moves on quickly.

“Matty’s come in and we’ve just had to reset – the season’s started again.

“I reiterated that to the lads.

“Now’s the chance to start the season, forget about what’s happened and start from (the Grimsby game) and give everything.”