Centre-back Frankie Kent praised the performance of his team-mate, Mikael Mandron, at the other end of the pitch following last night’s terrific 3-2 win at promotion rivals Swindon Town.
Kent bagged an equaliser on the stroke of half-time, to peg the Robins back to 1-1, and it was Mandron who then nodded Colchester United into a 2-1 lead before Sammie Szmodics finally conjured up a 78th minute winner, two minutes after the hosts had netted a leveller.
Kent was a rock at the back for the super-confident U’s, but the 22-year-old was quick to recognise the role played by target man Mandron, who has now rattled up seven goals for the season.
“I thought Mikael (Mandron) played brilliant tonight. It was probably the best he had played all season,” enthused Kent.
“He dominated their two centre-halves, winning every header. He also held the ball up really well, and he also got a great goal.
“I thought it was a great team performance, and we just want to carry that on into next week.
“We have a busy schedule coming up, with lots of games, but when you are winning you want to keep your momentum going. I feel like we have been doing that.
“We want to continue carrying that forward, without getting too carried away – we need to keep working hard in training, going about it in the right way.”
- Carl Marston’s U’s Player Ratings
The U’s have lost just two of their last 13 league games, and have won three of their last four against high-flying opposition in Lincoln, Exeter and now Swindon.
“Our recent run has sent out a statement,” confirmed Kent.
“From the start of the season we have always had the belief that we should be up in these high places, in the top seven at least. We are on a good roll.
“I thought we dominated the second half. Swindon got back into it from a nothing set piece, which we need to deal better with, but then we got the winner so we are really happy.
“My goal gave us a big lift, coming with the last kick of the (first) half. Obviously if you are going in 1-0 down away from home, it’s going to be tough to get back into the game, but I feel that my goal deflated them quite a lot.
“We knew that we had been the better team in the first half, and that we just needed to keep doing it in the second half, which I thought we did.”
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