Aidy Boothroyd admitted Hereford United's confidence in the lead-up to the tie served as additional motivation for his U's side.

Boothroyd was aware of the Bulls players talking up their chances ahead of the FA Cup second-round game, in their local media.

The Colchester United boss knew it would be tough for his side at Edgar Street.

But after John-Joe O'Toole grabbed a late winner to seal a 1-0 win and send them through, Boothroyd said he was delighted to win the game.

Boothroyd said: “There had been a few noises in their local press that they fancied their chances and they have a good home record.

“It's always good when you have things like that because it does your team-talk for you.

“I heard that at Bromley as well, which was great.

“The best way to answer questions like that is by winning matches and we did that.

“But credit to our opposition – they made it very difficult as I knew they would.”

Boothroyd conceded he thought the tie would have to be settled by a replay, after the two sides went into second-half stoppage time goal-less.

That would have been a hindrance to the U's, in the context of their on-going promotion quest in Coca-Cola League One.

However, O'Toole's winner ensured that a second game was not necessary.

“My mind had turned to a replay – it had turned to Tuesday night and Brentford if I'm honest,” said Boothroyd.

“I thought that we were by far the stronger team in the final half hour.

“They had some chances and we knew that would happen but I was pleased with how professional we were.

“We kept going right until the end and that's the mark of a good side.

“The rain started to come down and you start to wonder if there's going to be a Ronnie Radford moment.

“But thankfully we were tough enough to tough it out and it was a really good, crisp move for the goal.

“I'm delighted because it wasn't an easy game.

“To score the winner at the end was absolutely perfect and I'm pleased that we're through.”

Boothroyd made four changes to his Colchester starting line-up for the Hereford tie.

He dropped Anthony Wordsworth, Clive Platt and Phil Ifil to the bench and recalled Simon Hackney, Marc Tierney, Steven Gillespie and Kem Izzet to the team, with David Fox missing out because of a rib injury.

Boothroyd said he felt Wordsworth had not been at his best over recent games – but was pleased with his contribution as a second-half substitute at Edgar Street.

Boothroyd added: “I didn't think Woody had done that well over the last couple of games.

“He needed a bit of a reminder that no-body is safe but he came on and he did really, really well.

“I left him out because I wanted him to show me why he's in the team and he produced a really good performance when he came on.

“David Fox was due to play but he got injured in training and Kemi Izzet came in and did really well.

“To have three senior players in the team – Paul Reid, Kemi Izzet and Clive Platt – just shows you the experience and the strength in depth that we have.

“We just have to make sure that we keep everybody fit.”