Colchester United head coach John McGreal felt his side's friendly at Braintree Town was the perfect test for his players, as they gear up for the new League Two campaign.

The U's made it two wins out of two in pre-season after strolling to a comfortable 5-0 win in their friendly at National League new boys Braintree Town.

Frank Nouble gave them a first-half lead, before further strikes from Mikael Mandron (2), Sammie Szmodics and Junior Ogedi-Uzokwe wrapped up their victory in the second half, at Cressing Road.

McGreal told the Daily Gazette: “I was really pleased.

“We knew that it would be a really tough test again and it was playing against opposition who are a few divisions up from the Maldon game.

“It was a dry pitch as they are at the moment and we changed the shape, as we have done over the last couple of years and I thought it was an excellent performance for a pre-season game.

“They came at us really hard in the first six or seven minutes and were really robust and in our faces.

"That’s the type of game that we want really and more accustomed to division two, so it was an excellent exercise for us.

“It was an ideal venue for us to come to and the way they played, especially in the second half was a bit more conducive to division two football.

“I’m really pleased with the work that we’ve done on the training ground and it came together quite nicely.

“You want to get into your standards quite early on and with the clean sheet and all of the forwards scoring, which gives them a confidence boost as well.

“They were pretty clinical, although they were still a bit wasteful at times.

“As well as the work has gone at this moment in time, that proves that we still have a lot to work on.”