IT was an amazing that Johnnie Jackson had never savoured the double delight of scoring a goal while celebrating a Colchester United victory - until Tuesday night that is.

Carl Marston

IT was an amazing that Johnnie Jackson had never savoured the double delight of scoring a goal while celebrating a Colchester United victory - until Tuesday night that is.

Midfield maestro Jackson had netted six previous goals in a U's shirt, but on each occasion there was no happy ending, just two draws and four defeats.

However, for once a Jackson strike really meant something. He had scored important goals in the 1-1 draws against Leicester City and Burnley this season, but nothing compared to the joy and satisfaction of earning three precious points for his side against Preston.

The ex-Tottenham 25-year-old smashed home an unstoppable first-time shot from the edge of the box to seal a 2-1 win, as late as the 88th minute.

"At least I scored too late for Preston to come back. It's about time that we won a game in which I scored," admitted Jackson.

"Things are going well for me at the moment. A couple of my free-kicks have gone in off deflections (against Sheffield United and at Burnley), and I caught this latest shot really nicely.

"I'm feeling very positive about the rest of the season," added Jackson.

Looking back further in his career, Jackson had actually scored in victories while on loan at both Swindon Town and Coventry City.

The Camden-born midfielder scored in Swindon's wins over Northampton

(2-0) and Southend (6-1) in 2002, the latter in the LDV Vans Trophy, and he bagged a last gasp winner for Coventry just two minutes after appearing as a substitute in a 1-0 success over West Brom on December 20, 2003.

Meanwhile, favourable results elsewhere have meant that the U's are now just two points adrift of safety, and with a game in hand over fourth-from-bottom Preston.

In fact, Colchester were the only team in the bottom half of the table to win on Tuesday night, and they achieved this result even without their two leading scorers, Kevin Lisbie (twisted ankle) and Mark Yeates (dislocated shoulder).

Both will be pushing for a return to the squad at Hull City this Saturday.

JOHNNIE Jackson's goal-scoring record for the U's:

v West Brom (Feb 13, 2007) 2-1 defeat at Derby County (March 2, 2007) 5-1 defeat v Leicester City (Nov 3, 2008) 1-1 draw v Crystal Palace (Nov 24, 2007), 2-1 defeat at Cardiff City (Dec 8, 2007), 4-1 defeat at Burnley (Feb 9, 2008), 1-1 draw v Preston (Feb 12, 2008), 2-1 win