COLCHESTER United head coach Steve Ball said his side’s 0-0 draw with Cheltenham Town was a ‘positive point’ after they halted their losing run.
The U’s shared the spoils with the Robins at the JobServe Community Stadium, to end a run of three straight defeats in League Two.
The result means Colchester will end 2020 in 12th spot in the table, two points off the play-off places.
Ball said: “This was our eighth game in December which is a really tough schedule with a lot of away games and to cap it off against a team who I think will go up this year in Cheltenham, to come out of it with a point it’s a positive point for me.
“Against a team like Cheltenham who just put it in there quite a lot and have a really organised team, it is incoming with Ben Tozer’s throws and crosses from all angles and areas, it is really hard to stop.
“But I was really proud with how the team stood up to it and we worked hard.
“We could have been better with the ball retention side of it and having the quality at times to secure the ball in areas of the pitch.
“But I don’t think Dean (Gerken) has had much to do as far as saves are concerned.
“He had one at the end which was probably going wide anyway and he tipped it round.”
The closest Colchester came to securing victory against Cheltenham was when Kwame Poku’s effort hit a post in the second half.
The point ended the U’s run of three successive defeats and was their first clean sheet in six matches.
“Confidence has been knocked a little bit – I think that’s a really obvious point to make,” added Ball.
“We always knew that there would be a few bumps in the road this season but I still firmly believe in us as a group and what they can do this year.
“I’ve been here a long time and I understand that in this league when you have bad runs, confidence dips and when that happens you see the effects but I think this gives us a good base.
“What I want to do is to get us back to playing the kind of free-flowing football we were playing earlier in the season.
“The winter months are here, we’ve got four or five missing – that’s not an excuse at all but it’s a fact.
“When we can get the full complement back challenging and not just playing, it gives it more intensity.”
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