Stockport County boss Dave Challinor on win at Colchester

Paddy Madden's goal on the hour proved the winner for the Hatters, after Cameron McGeehan had cancelled out Nick Powell's first-half opener, which came courtesy of an error by U's goalkeeper Owen Goodman.

McGeehan saw his penalty saved by goalkeeper Ben Hinchliffe midway through the second half, while just prior to that Stockport defender Fraser Horsfall had a header ruled out for offside.

Stockport moved to within a point of promotion with the win and Challinor admits they got the job done, despite not being at their best.

READ MORE: U's can stay up...but must stop contributing to own downfall

Challinor said: “Colchester are scrapping for their lives and we weren’t great.

“We knew it would be a physical battle against their front two (Akinde and Hopper).

"They're a big team.

“Am I surprised that they get chances from set-pieces and from putting the ball into the box? No, absolutely not but we dug in there.

"Do I want us to show more quality? Absolutely, I think we're better than that.

“But I think it’s the sign of a good team that we can not play very well but still win.

"There's plenty of times during a season where we do play well and win convincingly.

"As a game, it probably had a little bit of everything, didn't it?

"Goals, disallowed goals, penalties, all sorts but the big thing is we go home with three points."

Stockport's win at Colchester was their fifth in a row but Challinor admits they failed to reach the kind of heights they have shown consistently, this season.

READ MORE: Colchester fans have their say on Stockport County defeat

"It's different, at this stage of the season," added the former Tranmere Rovers defender.

"There's all sorts going on between people's ears because the jeopardy is different.

"People know that mistakes or missed opportunities, there's maybe not time to get them back depending on what games are left.

"There's more on the line and this group have been ridiculously motivated to be champions of this league.

"When you get the opportunity to potentially get promoted, there always going to be a little bit of edginess and that was certainly the case.

“I’m still going to be the boring fellow who’ll say ‘you’ve worked so hard to get to this situation’ and when we do get promoted, we want to go up as champions.

“That’s still an objective and we need two wins to be able to do that.

“So if we are going to enjoy it, let’s make sure we enjoy it properly and put everything we can into the next ten days or however long it may be and have a proper celebration.