Colchester United head coach John McGreal on Macclesfield win

COLCHESTER United boss John McGreal described his side's win over Macclesfield Town as 'brilliant' after they got back to winning ways this afternoon.

Callum Harriott's superb long-range strike and Fiacre Kelleher's own goal put the U's in control in the first half, at the JobServe Community Stadium.

And although Ben Stephens pulled a goal back for the Silkmen with 18 minutes remaining, Colchester claimed victory to end a run of four successive draws and extend their unbeaten League Two run to 13 matches.

McGreal said: “I’m delighted for the boys – it’s a brilliant win for the team.

“I thought we were very good in the first half hour.

“It was a great goal by Cal (Harriott).

"I turned around to the fans and they were in gasp as well.

“The technique and the dip on the ball for it to loop into the top corner was excellent and it’s a fantastic strike.

“It was good play for the own goal.

"The skill from Kwame (Poku) was excellent and he's got that.

"He's only 18 years of age and he has tricks in abundance; you've seen that for that second goal.

“We were on the front foot; we came off it a little bit at 2-0 but then we started the second half and were unlucky not to score again.

“There were a couple of offsides that didn’t go for us and we didn’t deal with a couple of long balls coming in, hence with the goal that they scored.

“That just put a little bit of disappointment on it, because the goal changes all types of emotions in the last 20 minutes and you could feel the tension knowing that we've drawn our last four games.

"You wouldn't believe that we're on a 13-match unbeaten run but we had to try and relieve that pressure, rather than add to it.

"The boys were desperate to get the win but we've got to try and help to alleviate that pressure too."

Colchester are only outside of the top seven on goal difference in League Two, after they claimed their first win of 2020.

"I thought our pressure today was excellent - it was off the scale," added McGreal.

"That's down to the things that we've been working on and we've been trying to get the ball into certain areas.

"They want to play but Macclesfield a very hard team to beat and you only have to look at their results, of late.

"They got a last-minute equaliser last week and they won against Cambridge and drew with Port Vale.

"I know Mark (Kennedy) from his days at Ipswich and I'm sure he thought there was an equaliser coming but I thought our boys did well."