Colchester United manager, John McGreal, was satisfied with his side’s performance during tonight’s latest pre-season friendly, against Premier League outfit Crystal Palace.

The U’s faced their stiffest test of the summer, against Alan Pardew’s big guns in a 1-0 defeat.

Palace secured the win, thanks to an early goal from Jordon Mutch.

“It was a good work-out again. We’ve hand-picked the games for this pre-season, and that was obviously our strongest test, being a Premier League club and when you look at the players that they actually brought along,” explained McGreal, after tonight’s game.

“It’s a compliment to our boys really, to put in a good shift. Over the 90 minutes, we had the better chances to score.

“I know that Crystal Palace are just getting up to speed and are a week behind, but it gives our boys a lot of confidence.

“It took 15 to 20 minutes to combat them, and from then on we were quite comfortable and we counter-attacked quite well,” added McGreal.

For a match report, and more reaction, see Tuesday’s East Anglian Daily Times newspaper