Kane Vincent-Young's superb strike deep into stoppage-time secured Colchester United a dramatic 1-0 win at Cambridge United this afternoon.

Vincent-Young struck home magnificently from the edge of the area after being picked out by substitute Mikael Mandron to secure a well-deserved win for the U's, in front of nearly 1,200 of their fans, at the Abbey Stadium.

It was no more than Colchester deserved, having dominated the game and created the bulk of the opportunities throughout the 90 minutes.

Colchester head coach John McGreal made one change to his side for the game against Cambridge.

Luke Norris was recalled in attack in place of Mikael Mandron, who dropped to the bench.

Mandron was joined among the substitutes by new signing Sam Saunders, who has joined the U’s on a free transfer from Wycombe Wanderers.

Colchester were by far the better side in the first half and all of the chances, in the opening 45 minutes.

The closest Cambridge came to scoring was in the fourth minute through Jevani Brown’s snap-shot from 25 yards that flew just wide of the near post, after former U’s striker Jabo Ibehre had headed on.

But between then and half-time, the hosts were seldom seen as an attacking force and it was Colchester who dominated the offensive play.

Some fancy footwork by Sammie Szmodics on the edge of the Cambridge area saw him fire a seventh-minute effort just wide of the target.

Abo Eisa sent a weak low left-foot shot wide of the far post in the 19th minute, after Luke Norris's clever header had sent him clear of the home defence.

And barely a minute later, Szmodics’ diving header flashed inches wide of the target after Courtney Senior had dinked a fine cross into the area.

Another chance went begging for the visitors just after the half hour mark.

Frankie Kent's header from Eisa's inswinging free-kick into the area was brilliantly saved by keeper Dimitar Mitov and Norris somehow fired the close-range rebound over when he should have scored.

Senior’s curled effort deflected wide for a corner after he had glided past a couple of defenders before the break, as McGreal’s side finished the first half strongly.

A similar pattern emerged in the second half, although Cambridge did offer a little more going forward than they had in the first period.

Nevertheless, Colchester still looked the more likely to break the deadlock and came close again nine minutes after the break through Ben Stevenson’s first-time effort from the edge of the area which was gathered from under his own bar by Mitov after Ryan Jackson and Courtney Senior had exchanged passes well.

And with 20 minutes remaining, another gilt-edged chance went begging Norris blazed over first time from 12 yards after Szmodics had done brilliantly to race down the right and pick him out.

Cambridge were forced to replace a substitute soon after when Paul Lewis, who had only come on a few minutes earlier, was forced off with a hamstring injury, to be replaced by David Amoo.

With 12 minutes remaining, the U's sent on Mandron for Norris in a bid to find a winner as the clock ticked down.

New signing Saunders was sent on for his debut with seven minutes to go in place of Lapslie and Brennan Dickenson also came on for the final few minutes, as both sides looked for a winner.

Six minutes of stoppage-time were added at the end of the game and Szmodics' scuffed effort rolled agonisingly wide deep in time added on.

And Vincent-Young popped up with the precious winner to secure Colchester a valuable win.