COLCHESTER United boss Paul Lambert praised Steven Gillespie for his crucial goal in the U's comeback win against Cheltenham.

Carl Marston

COLCHESTER United boss Paul Lambert praised Steven Gillespie for his crucial goal in the U's comeback win against Cheltenham.

Gillespie headed the U's in front against his old club on 78 minutes, after Dean Hammond had cancelled out Chris Westwood's opener for the Robins. Man-of-the-match Mark Yeates sealed the win with a marvellous third late on.

Lambert enthused: “The biggest compliment I can give Steven (Gillespie) is that he always gets chances.

“In every game that I've been involved in, he's always had chances to score. That's down to his great movement, which is first class.

“He had already missed a decent chance, which I felt he should have scored from. I thought that was the easier of the two chances, but the second was a terrific header.

“Steven came on and gave us some energy, though I expect that from a substitute, especially as he was playing against his old club.

“Hopefully, he's getting there, and getting closer to starting matches.

“Overall I thought we showed great character, and it didn't matter that Cheltenham were down to 10 men. MK Dons were down to 10 men and they scored against us!” added Lambert.

Cheltenham boss Martin Allen rued: “I thought we looked quite comfortable at 1-0 up with 11 men.

“But then five minutes of madness cost us. Our club captain (John Finnigan) came on and got himself sent off, which I'm very disappointed with.

“Lewis Montrose was beginning to tire, so I brought on John hoping for him to carry on the good work by winning some tackles and passing the ball. But two mis-timed tackles and he's got himself sent off.

“He's very upset in the dressing room and has apologised to everyone. But all of us have lost this match, not just him. No full blame goes to him,” added Allen. Finnigan was sent off in the 72nd minutes, having been on the pitch for just seven minutes.