Colchester United manager, John McGreal, hailed the “terrific performance” of his side following their impressive 2-0 home win over Port Vale this afternoon.

The U’s dazzled in their first home fixture of the new season, bagging first-half goals by Courtney Senior and Ryan Jackson to secure a comfortable win over Port Vale this afternoon.

Senior’s eighth minute opener was a class goal. He ghosted past a couple of challenges and exchanged a slick one-two with Brennan Dickenson, before dinking the ball over the advancing Scott Brown from 10 yards out.

Jackson’s goal was just as good, handing the U’s a 2-0 lead in the 23rd minute.

Szmodics was the creator, his deft back-heel release the onrushing Jackson, who burst into the penalty area before directing his low shot beyond Brown and into the far corner of the net.

McGreal enthused: “I thought it was a terrific performance.

“We changed our shape and our personnel (two changes from the 0-0 draw at Notts County), and we proved that we can adapt very well.

“We thought we could have scored more goals, but we didn’t achieve that. However, we still managed the game very well late on.”

McGreal said of star man Courtney Senior: “There is no denying Courtney’s quality, and even his temperament. He’s maturing, and he’s learning how to play when out of possession as well.

“Port Vale tried to get tight to him, but they couldn’t during the first half and he scored a good goal.”

Port Vale boss Neil Aspin was full of praise for the U’s.

Aspin admitted: “You have got to give credit to the opposition, some managers don’t always do that.

“Rather than start by saying how poor we were, I thought Colchester United were very good. They caused us a lot of problems.”