Stanley bank on Barlaser to edge U’s

JOHN COLEMAN felt his side could have been more clinical – but is delighted they are in the hat for the FA Cup second round draw after their win over Colchester.

“It was always going to be a difficult game,” said Coleman. “Colchester are flying high in League Two and they had some chances early on.

“A lot of it was from our making though as we gave the ball away in silly areas and our keeper had to make some good saves.

“We then played some good stuff and we would have been good value for a bigger win as we created a few more chances.

“We do have to be more clinical in front of goal, though. We just hope we get a good draw in the second round now.”

While their opponents haven’t made it into the second round since 2015, they were unlucky at Wham Stadium as they forced the early pressure and had to cope with a double injury blow.

They lost both defender Tom Eastman and keeper Rene Gilmartin to injury in the opening 30 minutes and couldn’t take their chances.

Harry Pell’s seventh minute curling effort was pushed out by Connor Ripley while the Stanley keeper also had to keep out a powerful strike from Sammie Szmodics.

Ripley also denied Frank Nouble who raced clean through from midfield.

Stanley grew into it and one of substitute keeper Barnes’s first actions was to pick the ball out of the back of the net after Dan Barlaser’s strike looped up off Pell and into the bottom corner after 34 minutes.

Stanley looked for a second with Sean McConville not far off with his 30-yard strike, and Jordan Clark was kept out by Barnes.

Barnes also superbly held onto a Ben RichardsEverton point-blank header in the final 10 minutes. Colchester, remained a threat with Szmodics going close in injury-time but they couldn’t find the equaliser.

U’s boss John McGreal said: “In the first part of the game we had some great chances and we did not take our opportunities. You have got to take them.

“In the second half we rolled our sleeves up and I didn’t see a big difference between the sides.

“They have been flying in League One and they are a marker for us. We did well against them.”