Johnson keeps his emotions in check

GARY Johnson admitted he had to resist charging down the touchline and ‘doing a Conte’ after Cheltenham Town ended their goal drought to defeat ten-man Colchester United.

After four-and-a-half hours without Johnson’s men finding the net, Kevin Dawson headed in the opener after ten minutes from Jordan Cranston’s cross from the left, then added the second five minutes later – with Johnson close to emulating the Chelsea boss as the tension was lifted.

Colchester’s Sammie Szmodics pulled one back from the penalty spot midway through the first half, but Jamie Grimes made sure of Cheltenham’s second win of the season with his first goal for the club.

“I couldn’t do a Barry Fry or an Antonio Conte at Chelsea, flying up the line to slide on my new trousers, but it was definitely a big relief after a frustrating few games,” Johnson said.

“We aren’t a bottom-half-of-the-table team and at the end of the season, we’ll see how it all pans out.

“We have been playing well but on this occasion, we put our chances away and it was a decent game.

“It was nice the lads got clapped off and we move on after three points that I feel we deserved – and we could have scored more.”

Colchester boss John McGreal saw Mikael Mandron sent off in the 54th minute for a deliberate handball in the penalty area.

His side were 2-1 down at the time and Sam Walker kept out Brian Graham’s spot kick to keep them in the game.

But big defender Grimes tapped in Mohamed Eisa’s pass in the 58th minute to seal the points for the home side.

“I need to see the incident again because I didn’t see him handball it, but he (Mandron) said he had to do it,” McGreal said.

“You know you are running the risk when you raise your hands.

“The boys were looking for offside because we caught them a few times and then it was another great penalty save, but he’s still conceded three.

“We were so wasteful and we had two strikers, created plenty of opportunities and we should have put the ball in the net, but we aren’t taking the chances at the moment.

“I sensed this was the day of turning things around and we started well before suddenly finding ourselves 2-0 down. We adjusted and started the second half well, but they used their extra man to get the third goal.”