KEM Izzet, Colchester United's longest serving player, has highlighted the contrast in styles of former boss Paul Lambert and current caretaker manager Joe Dunne.

Carl Marston

KEM Izzet, Colchester United's longest serving player, has highlighted the contrast in styles of former boss Paul Lambert and current caretaker manager Joe Dunne.

Normal first team coach Dunne plotted the downfall of his old club Gillingham on Tuesday night, celebrating his first match in temporary change with a 2-1 win to keep the U's on top of League One.

Izzet had begun this season on the bench, under Lambert, but he was recalled by Dunne for the midweek clash, due to skipper Dean Hammond's transfer to Southampton.

“Joe (Dunne) was very calm about everything. He has been in this position before, alongside Kit Symons, so he knows what to expect,” said Izzet.

“His calmness is totally different to Paul Lambert's style. Paul wears his heart on his sleeve. He tells you when you're wrong.

“I first found out about Paul's departure on Sky Sports on Tuesday morning. It obviously led to an unsettling 24 hours, but we said to ourselves that these things happen in football all the time.

“Managers and players come and go. You just have to roll on, and get on with it, though I suppose it was a little bit more difficult being just before a game.

“It just shows the kind of characters we have got in the dressing room, that we managed to come out and bounce back so well in the second half (against Gillingham).

“We started off pretty poorly, but there were a few skeletons in the closest and a few cobwebs to blow away,” added Izzet.

A goal in each half, from strikers Scott Vernon and Kevin Lisbie, wiped out Gillingham's early opener from Curtis Weston, to secure a third league win on the bounce.

This guaranteed the U's their best start to a season for five years - Phil Parkinson's men also won their first three league games at the start of the 2004-05 campaign.

Izzet was a key member of that squad as well, having signed for the U's from Charlton in 2001. The 28-year-old is naturally delighted with the start, and also the role of the U's crowd in Tuesday night's win.

“That's as loud as our home fans have been since we've been at the new ground,” confirmed Izzet.

“In the first half, the fans get on our backs a bit, and deservedly so, because I thought defensively we looked na�ve in the first half-hour, like we hadn't been all season.

“Gillingham had two or three chances in the first half, and could have been out of sight.

“But our fans were brilliant in the second half. They were right behind us, and that really helped,” added Izzet.

Fellow midfielder and U's skipper Hammond officially signed for Southampton yesterday, after making 56 league appearances for the Essex club. He has penned a three-year deal, for a fee to be believed approaching �400,000.

Izzet: “I'd like to say good luck to Dean on his move to Southampton.”