Colchester United manager, John McGreal, labelled his side’s 2-1 home win over Barnet this afternoon as “the best of the season.”

First-half goals from Kurtis Guthrie and Brennan Dickenson extended the U’s recent run to just one defeat in 12 matches – with five home wins on the bounce - although they had Frankie Kent stretchered off early on, and fellow defender Lloyd Doyley also injured during the first quarter of the game.

John Akinde headed home an 86th minute consolation goal for the Bees, from Jamal Campbell-Ryce’s cross, but the U’s deserved to take the points.

“Speaking to (assistant) Steve Ball after the gamne, we consider this to be our best win of the season,” insisted McGreal.

“We had two defenders go down inside the first 20 minutes, following on from all our other problems during the week, and we were really scratching around.

“But the lads put in a hell of a shift. They regrouped after conceding (Akinde’s 86th minute header) and deserved the win.

“You couldn’t make it up, with all the injuries. Chris Porter went down in training yesterday (hip problem), and Owen Garvan was touch-and-go whether he would play.

“But we dug in, and we scored at just the right time with Kurtis Guthrie scoring, just after we lost our two defenders. It was a great time to score,” added McGreal.