TWO goals inside the first 10 minutes, from Karl Duguid and Jamie Cureton, ensured that Colchester United maintained their push for the play-offs at lowly Barnsley this afternoon.

TWO goals inside the first 10 minutes, from Karl Duguid and Jamie Cureton, ensured that Colchester United maintained their push for the play-offs at lowly Barnsley this afternoon.

And Hogan Ephraim completed the rout with a late third, to chalk up his first goal for the Essex club. It all added up to a marvellous afternoon in south Yorkshire.

The U's were in complete control, from the moment that skipper Duguid benefited from a defensive lapse to break the deadlock from close-range in the third minute.

Front-runner Cureton doubled the U's lead just six minutes later. Karl Duguid and Kevin Watson started a move inside the U's half, and Cureton finished it off with a terrific shot from just inside the box. It was his 15th goal of the season.

Ephraim then put the icing on the cake with his splendid third on 83 minutes, to seal another terrific afternoon in the Championship. It was the West Ham loanee's first ever senior goal.

This was the U's third away win of the season. They are up to eighth in the table, and have reached 51 points, which was their first real target to avoid relegation. And there are still 14 games remaining!

See this weekend's Green'Un for U's victory special