It might not be pretty, but Colchester United defender Sean Clohessy loves the feeling of digging out a result, even in preference to coasting to victory.

Clohessy returned to the U’s starting line-up, after being dropped for a couple of league games, to play a big part in Saturday’s crunch 1-0 win at fellow strugglers Yeovil.

The 28-year-old had been surprisingly left out of the squad, for the 6-0 hammering at MK Dons, and only appeared as a second-half substitute for the following league game, a 4-1 home reverse at the hands of Rochdale.

But manager Tony Humes recalled the influential Clohessy at Huish Park, and the trusty right-back hardly put a foot wrong.

“The way we won against Yeovil, showed what we are about,” insisted Clohessy.

“We never played well as a team, and it certainly wasn’t a good passing game to watch.

“But we needed to dig a result out, which is what we did.

“It’s more satisfying to win a game like that, than to boss a game and win. And it was a long time coming, that league victory.

“We needed that win to kick-start us in the league. It was a massive win and, alongside a couple of other results, has closed the gap now.

“We have two more massive games coming up, against Gillingham (at home on Boxing Day) and Crawley (away on Sunday), who are both only two points ahead of us.

“We want to get some good results against them, because that would then take us above them, while pushing them down. Maybe then we can catch some of the other teams.”

Summer signing Clohessy, recruited from Kilmarnock by former U’s boss Joe Dunne, admitted that the U’s might have to be cautious, and patient, against his old club Gillingham this afternoon.

The Gills are lumbered with the second worst away record in the division – just six points accrued from 10 away games.

But that does not mean that the U’s will be going gung-ho.

“Our problem at home has often been that we have gone too attacking,” continued Clohessy.

“We’ve been asked to dictate the play, and I think we’ve been caught quite a bit.

“So I think we need to find a medium between obviously bossing a game, and having a good shape defensively as well.

“Rochdale were able to get down the sides of us, and we have to make sure we are solid. We will have to be patient, like we were at Yeovil.

“We played a lot more direct in that game, and played a lot more channel balls, to get in behind them.

“Maybe that won’t work at home, if Gillingham sit deep, so sometimes we might have to draw them out and mix our game.”

Former Arsenal Academy player Clohessy actually began his professional career at Gillingham, making 43 league appearances for the Kent club between 2005 and ’09.

Clohessy said: “I went through a couple of managers when I was there, but it’s a club that, if it went up the leagues, then it has a great fan-base to be successful.

“They seem to get into League One and then don’t kick-start from there, but if they got promoted, they could go quite big.”