COLCHESTER United manager John Ward’s joy at his side’s win at Bristol Rovers – their first away win in 11 – was tempered by the fact it should have been by a far more convincing margin.

The U’s won 1-0 thanks to Kayode Odejayi’s 22nd minute goal, but they should have had a hatful against the woeful Pirates.

“I just don’t like the fact that we had to keep a clean sheet to win by a goal,” said Ward, whose side have moved up to seventh and within four points of the top six.

“We’ve had twice as many shots as the opposition so that’s an area that, if we can improve upon, will make us a far better team.

“We’re creating a huge amount of chances and we’ve got to start taking more of them sooner rather than later.

“We wanted more goals out of it but we’ve played very similar to what we did on Saturday (2-1 loss at Plymouth) when we didn’t win the game.”

The U’s boss, who injected some more height into his side by bringing in Andy Bond, Anthony Wordsworth and Lee Beevers, continued: “We’ve done a strong job tonight. I made a few changes to make us a bit more powerful and that’s exactly what we did.

“Sometimes we didn’t play the prettiest of stuff but we got forward enough times and restricted them to six shots on goal.

“We had Kayode (Odejayi), Steven Gillespie and Lloyd James all who have Bristol links and we’ve used their determination to do well.”

Colchester now host play-off rivals Southampton on Saturday.