Colchester United keeper Dean Gerken was in fine form

The experienced U’s shot stopper produced a number of fine saves in the 1-1 draw, including two excellent stoppage-time saves to ensure his side recorded a point.

Gerken and his team-mates received criticism in some quarters following Colchester’s 6-1 defeat at Exeter City, last week.

But the 35-year-old keeper, who has more than 350 professional appearances under his belt, was certainly back to his best against Crawley and boss Ball says he was not surprised by Gerken’s performance.

Ball said: “Dean was calm - he’s not the sort of kid to get too carried away with it when a couple of things go against him and he’s certainly not getting over the moon about the saves he’s made.

“That’s what Dean does.

“He’s been great, from the minute he came to the football club.

“Any goalkeeper is going to get some stick when a couple of goals go in which they’d normally save – that’s the life of the goalkeeper.

“But Dean’s a balanced kid who knows his game and knows his trade and that’s why he’s been so long in the game.

“He made two brilliant saves, towards the end.

“Dean got a bit of stick after the Exeter game and I think some people got a bit carried away last week.

“People are there to be shot at as a team and but it didn’t faze him.

“He trained really well all week and Dean has had a long career in the game.

“His two saves at the end got us that point.”

Colchester lie three points off the League Two play-off places, following their draw with Crawley.

They will now turn their attention to this weekend’s visit of Grimsby Town, where the U’s will play in front of fans for the first time in more than nine months.

“I think the Exeter game knocked us all a little bit, because we didn’t see it coming,” added Ball.

“We’re still three points off the play-offs with a game in hand over Tranmere so we’re in a good place.

“Now we move on to another game on Saturday where we’ll be looking to get three points.”