DANNY Cowley hailed his Colchester United side’s mentality after their 1-0 win over promotion-chasing Milton Keynes Dons this afternoon.
Jack Payne’s stoppage-time penalty against his former club clinched the U’s victory in front of a crowd of nearly 6,500 at the JobServe Community Stadium.
Payne stroked home from the spot in the fourth minute of time added on, after MK Dons substitute Connor Lemonheigh-Evans had fouled Kyreece Lisbie in the area.
U’s boss Cowley said: “I thought it was so deserved.
Colchester 1 MK Dons 0 - match report as U's claim dramatic win
“Nicky [Cowley] just said it in there, balls of steel.
“With everything that went against us, losing Teddy [Bishop] so early on, losing Harry [Anderson] in the last game, already being without our captain Tom Flanagan to a long-term injury and Ben Perry, having so many boys out.
“We had problems with the irrigation before the game – the pipes had frozen so we couldn’t get water on the pitch which makes it really difficult for the way that we want to play.
“It made it a really awkward game, because our game plan was to take the ball off them and try to hit them on the space that they left.
“It was hard for us to do that but the players approached it with no excuses and a really strong mentality and I thought we’d win today.
“They’re a group that when it gets tough, I can see the minerals in them.”
Referee Stephen Parkinson took his time before awarding Colchester their penalty deep into stoppage time.
“It was a penalty – I’ve watched it back,” said Cowley.
“He [Connor Lemonheigh-Evans] just pulls him to the floor.
“It was I think unnecessary from their perspective and I’m sure Paul will be frustrated with that but no more than we deserve.
“We have Reidy as our only central midfielder, Hunty went there and did great for us, the boys at the back, Tucks, Harvey, Ellis and Kane were really, really good.
Colchester United 1 Milton Keynes Dons 0 - as it happened
“I thought Harvey was exceptional.”
Cowley had made four changes to his Colchester starting line-up with one of those alterations enforced, following winger Harry Anderson’s knee injury at Gillingham on Monday night.
The U’s also lost Teddy Bishop to a calf injury after only 20 minutes, with the former Ipswich Town midfielder replaced by Rob Hunt.
“We’ve got eight points from the four games over Christmas thus far,” continued Cowley.
“It’s a brilliant return for us.
“We have such a small squad.
“Even our young ones in midfield Ronnie Harvey and Milton Oni are injured so we’re really up against it and it would be easy for us to be weak in the moment but we just stayed really focused and determined and when you do those things, you get the rewards you deserve.
“I think naturally the third game in six days in this crazy schedule, lots of tired bodies, it’s pretty dangerous for the players.
“Their centre-half comes off with a hamstring, we had Teddy [Bishop} with a calf – we do have to look at this.
“We have all of these safeguarding policies and all of these things in place in the EFL for the safety of the players and then we play a ridiculous schedule, in such a short space of time.
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“In the first half of the season, we’ve had a lot of Saturday-Saturday; we’ve not had many Tuesday nights.
“All we know is that we have to keep turning up and keep trying to perform to our best.
“It’s not just about the 90 minutes; it’s all about the sacrifice, all the commitment that the players have made over this Christmas period, parked Christmas, parked New Year’s Eve and just focused on trying to perform at our best.
“To take eight points from four games is a brilliant return.”
Colchester’s win over MK Dons took them to within three points of the League Two play-off places, after they claimed victory in their first game of 2026.
Cowley added: “It’s a good feeling; I can feel it growing.
“I’ve experienced this before a couple of times and I can see the energy in the stadium and in and around the local community.
“I think they see a group just going to the well.
“I said at half-time ‘this is going to get tough, it’s going to get hard – your body’s going to be screaming and it’s going to be telling you no but you’ve got to say yes and you’ve got to keep going but you have to keep running and working for each other’.
“The harder it gets, the more you’re going to enjoy it and that was kind of the approach that we had.
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“Look at the squad they have! It’s not an even playing field.
“It got hard at 70-80 minutes and we had to really bite down on the gumshield but I was so proud of the efforts of the group.
“To get the win at the end was our rewards for what’s been some really good performances, over the Christmas period.”
