The sign of a good team is one that is still picking up points, when playing well below their best.

Colchester United seem to have picked up that knack, over the last few weeks, which bodes well for their promotion push during the second half of the season.

The U’s never really got out of second gear, during their gritty 1-1 draw at bottom club Newport County, as manager John McGreal admitted before the long journey home from South Wales on Saturday night.

But they still did enough to extend their unbeaten run to an impressive nine games, with seven wins and two draws, to stay in the play-off zone.

“It was all in stark contrast to last week (4-1 home win over third-placed Carlisle), but at least we kept our good run going,” enthused McGreal.

“You’ve got to give credit to Newport. They were scrapping for everything and they were well led from the line by (manager) Graham (Westley).

“We knew it was going to be a test. We had watched a couple of videos of their previous games, when they had a couple of heavy defeats, but those games were still close.

“To come back from a goal down, we’ll take it and move on.

“We’ve got to be realistic – we’re not going to win every game, but we’re keeping the points ticking along.

“We stood up to the test, although we didn’t quite click in the areas where we have been clicking, in recent weeks.

“There were a few good crosses going in, where we didn’t have people getting on the end of them, which is unlike us.

“But it was a really solid performance, and we’re on the sort of run that we have been craving all season,” added McGreal.

The U’s have taken 23 points from a possible 27, in their last nine outings, and this Saturday they are on the road again, at Exeter City.