Colchester United head coach John McGreal said it was a sweet feeling to secure a late winner and see off Coventry City thanks to a 2-1 victory.

Mikael Mandron headed home Junior Ogedi-Uzokwe's cross in the 88th minute to bag the U's a vital victory and boost their hopes of finishing in the top seven in League Two, against one of their play-off rivals.

Ogedi-Uzokwe had earlier marked his first-ever professional start with a goal after scoring from the penalty spot for Colchester in the first half, before Tom Bayliss equalised for the Sky Blues with a deflected strike ten minutes after half-time. 

The win leaves Colchester three points off the play-off places, ahead of their trip to play Crewe Alexandra this weekend.

McGreal said: "It was a really important win for us tonight, against one of our rivals in the league.

"I thought that we deserved it overall and we played some terrific football at times.

"The goal came late and it was nice to get a late one - we don't tend to get them.

“It was great to draw level with them on points – we’re three points off the play-offs and it’s all to play for.

“We got the goal and you’re always looking for a second, which we didn’t get.

“I thought we should have been a couple of goals to the good but they changed it a little bit in the second half and got a goal.

“Coventry are a tough team to play and we conceded but we didn’t drop our heads and we showed a bit of character.

“I love the personality of the team and what we showed in the second half.

“We’ve got a window of what we want to try and do and it’s one game at a time.

“We’ll try and get the wins if we can but this was a really important win and I thought that we deserved it.”