EXETER City manager Matt Taylor felt his side's goals were reward for a good team performance after they saw off Colchester United.

Matt Jay gave the Grecians the lead just before half-time, before second-half strikes from Lee Holmes and Nicky Law sealed the hosts win at St James Park.

Taylor, who had a brief loan spell at Colchester during his playing career, felt his side performed well in windy conditions as they moved back into the play-off positions at the U's expense.

Taylor said: “I was pleased for the front boys. The goals were a reward on the back of a team performance.

"The work rate at the end to keep the pressure on the ball when we could against a good team and a team which are going to hurt a lot of teams this year, I was pleased with.

“We knew where the spaces were but couldn’t quite get to them in the first half because of the conditions maybe.

"But second half it was pretty obvious where the space was and I thought Ryan Bowman led the line really well.

“He’s got a physical presence but he’s mobile as well.

"It’s something we’ve been looking for in terms of running at defenders as well as beating them physically.

“That wind was a difficult aspect of any game of football and the expectation when you’ve got the wind at your back is almost to create and score and hurt the opposition but it’s never as simple as that.

“If you play any straight balls there’s a chance they’ll run through to the keeper or out of play, so we had to be patient in the first period.

“The players stuck to the plan. MJ’s goal just released a little bit of pressure in terms of expectation and then in the second half, we almost played better against the wind because we had an option in behind.

"We could play a little bit more direct to Ryan (Bowman) and get Holmes and Jay higher up the pitch.”

Exeter keeper Christy Pym made several impressive stops in the second half to deny the likes of Sammie Szmodics and Mikael Mandron, as Colchester were beaten.

“He did his job in terms of being called upon but at big moments he stood up," added Taylor.

“Colchester are a good team, have good, attacking players and will create chances.

“First-half we limited them to half sights at our goal but they cut through us at times in the second period and Christy stood up when we needed him to stand up. He’s an excellent keeper.”