Colchester United drew 2-2 with Carlisle United

Having held the lead heading into the final minutes of their six-pointer against Carlisle United, a precious victory was in the U's hands against their fellow League Two strugglers.

So it was little wonder that for Wayne Brown and his embattled players, the 2-2 draw at the JobServe Community Stadium felt more like a defeat.

A win would have taken them up to 17th in the table and seven points above the relegation zone.

As it is, they remain five points above the bottom two, after what turned out to be a rather frustrating afternoon.

All in all, this was a rather peculiar match.

Colchester were much the better side in a rather first half, without being at their best; all of the game's attacking intent came from them and the visitors hardly laid a glove on them.

But for all of the hosts' dominance in the first half, there was a feeling at half-time that the Cumbrians could not be any worse than they had been in the opening 45 minutes, regardless of whether or not they had come into the match on the back of four straight defeats.

And they weren't.

Carlisle looked a different side after the break, a far cry from a side that had been losing run.

Omari Patrick's goal that gave them the lead was a rare moment of quality, frankly not really befitting of the overall contest.

For the second match in a row, an in-game change of formation paid dividends for the U's to the credit of Brown.

A change to a flat back four helped no end and two goals in the space of five minutes through skipper Tommy Smith (pictured above) and substitute Tyreik Wright turned the contest on its head and sparked Colchester into life.

Not for the first time under interim boss Brown, the U's showed good character to battle back and turn the game around.

At that point, it felt like the game would only go one way, which made conceding a soft equalising in the closing stages even more galling.

A Carlisle counter attack, Tobi Sho-Silva's free header and Colchester were suddenly pegged back.

It was a naive goal to concede and ultimately a costly one for the U's, for whom wins are so precious in their current predicament.

For the second successive home game, Colchester allowed their visitors a route back into the game.

They need wins, not draws at the moment and this was their third successive share of the spoils at home.

But the U's form is definitely improved under the interim charge of Brown, Joe Dunne and Dave Huzzey.

One defeat in six is not relegation form and the positive thing is that they are picking up points.

And there were plenty of good things to come out of the Carlisle game.

After this weekend's tough trip to play promotion-chasing Northampton Town, the U's have four successive home games to prepare for.

Needless to say, Colchester must be more merciless against their forthcoming visitors than they were against Carlisle if they are to collect the points they desire, in their survival quest.