COLCHESTER United head coach John McGreal was delighted to see all three of his new additions make an impact at Northampton Town.

McGreal had been pleased with the club's transfer business late in the January window last week as Ben Stevenson, Abo Eisa and Callum Roberts all came into the club.

And the way that the trio all performed in a 4-0 win against the Cobblers with a display that re-energised their push for League Two promotion proved that early positivity from the U's boss was fully justified.

Stevenson stepped into the starting line-up after signing from Wolverhampton Wanderers and Eisa and Roberts stepped off the bench in the second half after loan moves from Shrewsbury Town and Newcastle United respectively.

The corner that led to Colchester's opening goal - from Frank Nouble - was taken by Stevenson, while Eisa scored the second of the four goals and Roberts earned a late penalty for the visitors.

“The new signings all had an impact," said McGreal.

“I could have put all three in straight away but I felt two of them were newer boys and needed to see how we perform.

“We had only had one true training session with them really and we gave the boys who have got us into this position a chance.

“But having those three coming in showed in the performance.

“The training has gone up already with the intensity and the quality of it and the performance itself has gone up."

The new additions laid to rest fears among some U's fans that their club may not make any January changes and McGreal was quick to praise chairman Robbie Cowling and their recruitment team for making sure things did get over the line.

McGreal added: “The chairman is backing the club and the club is in a fantastic position.

“Looking at the young dynamics of the club and all the younger players who are coming through, we are looking at the whole club as one.

“We all want to achieve things but we know that you can have setbacks.

“There is no divine right to win games of football, but what we do at Colchester is to do things the right way.

“For Robbie to get Ben Stevenson in and the two boys on loan, along with Tony Humes and the guys in recruitment, it shows the work that is being done behind the scenes.

“A lot of the work is such that people don’t see it but it had been going on for months.

“We missed a couple in the early part of the transfer window, but we have more about us and we kept trying to deliver.

“Robbie and the guys in recruitment have done that for us.”