DICKENSON DOES THE BUSINESS
BRENNAN Dickenson enjoyed a home debut to remember after starring in Colchester United’s deserved win over Cambridge United.
Dickenson scored one goal and made another on his U’s league bow, as the home side made it four points out of six in League Two under new head coach John McGreal.
McGreal was full of praise for the winger, who joined Colchester from Gillingham in the summer.
McGreal said: “It was a terrific performance by Brennan and he’s delighted.
“He’s got pace, he’s good with the ball, he’s got a wonderful left foot and he’s got a hammer of a shot.
“If he gets a sight of the goal, the keeper isn’t going to save it and that proved the case.
“It’s a great start for our team and our fans and it was good to put in that kind of performance against a good Cambridge side.
“It’s four points out of six which is a great return and what we did at Hartlepool last week gave us that little bit of a foothold to try and kick on with our first home game.”
In contrast, Cambridge boss Shaun Derry was less than impressed with his side’s lacklustre display.
He said: “It was a real low for everybody, for all the fans who came to watch us, the players and the management team alike.
“You hope there aren’t too many of those experiences left in the season because as poor as we could be, I thought we were today.
“I thought it was a very, very poor display. After the highs of Tuesday night (beating Sheffield Wednesday in the EFL Cup) you can quickly get a different feeling thrown back in your face and it has.
“It’s fine lines, even when you’re playing as poor as we did, we still could have got something out of the game but we’ll take our medicine.”
Colchester started well and needed just seven minutes to take the lead.
After Cambridge keeper Will Norris had scuffed his attempted clearance, the hosts pounced and Dickenson unleashed a superb left-foot strike that flew inside the far post.
Norris tipped over Sammie Szmodics’ swerving 20-yard effort soon after but Cambridge almost equalised against the run of play in the 16th minute when Joe Pigott was denied by Colchester keeper Sam Walker’s magnificent reflex save. Cambridge almost fell further behind eight minutes after the break when Leon Legge nearly diverted Chris Porter’s low cross into his own goal. And although substitute Medy Elito’s header skimmed the top of the bar for Cambridge, Norris denied Porter before sub Denny Johnstone headed in Dickenson’s cross with eight minutes remaining, to wrap up Colchester’s welldeserved win and seal the points.
COLCHESTER UNITED: (4-1-4-1): Walker 7, Brindley 7, Prosser 8, Eastman 8, Kinsella 7, Lapslie 8, Wright 8, Guthrie 8 (Slater 90 N/A), Szmodics 7 (Loft 66 7), Dickenson 9, Porter 7 (Johnstone 71 7) Subs not used: Vincent-Young, Wynter, SembieFerris, Bransgrove CAMBRIDGE UNITED: (4-4-2): Norris 6, Long 5, Dallison 5 (Roberts 41 6), Legge 6, Taylor 5, Mingoia 5, Berry 5, Dunne 5, Maris 5 (Newton 46 5), Pigott 5, Williamson 5 (Elito 58 5) Subs not used: Clark, Adams, Gregory, Keane