FIERY POKU PROVES TOO HOT FOR O’S
COLCHESTER United boss John McGreal felt his side fully merited their win over Leyton Orient.
The U’s took were two up after 28 minutes thanks to goals from teenager Kwame Poku and Ryan Jackson.
Orient pulled one back just before the break through Conor Wilkinson but Colchester held out in the second half.
McGreal said: “It was a very pleasing win. We were the better team with some of the football we played, the goals we scored and the threat we were at times.
“When it’s only that one goal in it you don’t want to be that little bit squeaky.
“The pleasing thing was that for all of our good football in the first half, I loved the way we started the second half.
“We didn’t feel sorry for ourselves – we kept back on it again. When you don’t get the third goal, you then look to try and protect and that’s what I thought happened in the last 15 or 20 minutes.
“We had a little bit of luck at times but I also felt they had some when we went through to try and make it 3-1.”
Colchester took a thirdminute lead when Poku fired home a low left-foot shot from just inside the area from Theo Robinson’s cross. Poku almost scored again three minutes later when he fired a good chance straight at Brill but the hosts doubled their lead when Jackson drilled a long-range shot high into the net from the edge of the area from Brandon Comley’s pass.
Orient got back into the game in the 44th minute when goalkeeper Dean Gerken’s hesitancy allowed Louis Dennis to pick out Wilkinson, for an easy tap-in.
Courtney Senior’s left-foot drive flashed just wide for Colchester early in the second half but Orient also threatened, with Dennis curling an effort narrowly past the far post and then, midway through the second half, hooking a shot inches over.
Brill denied Frank Nouble from point-blank range, as Colchester claimed victory.
Orient have gone six league games without a win and manager Ross Embleton said: “I’m disappointed at the fact that we keep giving ourselves too much to do. We’re coming off the pitch again thinking ‘we got so close and near’ and that’s not good enough.
“We’re not giving ourselves a chance – that is probably the best way for me to describe it. In the first half, we didn’t get enough pressure on Colchester to try and force them into any sort of errors. “We knew where we felt we could really get after them but we didn’t do that enough to give ourselves a platform and a chance to get ourselves to contribute anything to the game. We had a couple of little spells here and there and little moments, but that’s not enough.”