Elliott Parish produced a marvellous penalty save to earn Colchester United a superb 1-0 win at Coventry City last night.

Parish dived to his left to parry away Jacob Murphy’s 44th-minute spot kick, so ensuring that the U’s went into the interval 1-0 up, courtesy of Gavin Massey’s 17th-minute opener.

And Kevin Keen’s men held on quite comfortably in the second half, defending strongly to record what was their first clean sheet on the road this season.

Coming hot on the heels of a 4-1 home win over Doncaster Rovers on Good Friday, the U’s have at least given themselves a fighting chance of avoiding relegation, even though they are still seven points adrift of safety, with seven games remaining.

Parish, buzzing after his penalty save, certainly believes that the U’s have a chance of completing what would be an amazing escape act over the next five weeks.

“We’re absolutely thrilled with this win,” enthused Parish after his penalty heroics at the Ricoh Arena.

“We’ve got a good run going now. That’s two wins in a row, so you never know I guess.

“It could have been an even better run, as well, with the games before, but we’re still in there fighting and we’re still believing.

“We had a magnificent start to the game, probably as good as we have been all season.

“And defensively, that’s the best we’ve been all season as well. I only had one other save to make, apart from the penalty, so keep that coming.

“The penalty was a huge moment in the game, coming just before half-time. You don’t want them going in. It gave us something to hold onto in the second half.

“I was at Blackpool, with Jacob Murphy, and I think I saved a couple of penalties from him in training. So that might be 2-0 or 3-0 to me now!

“I had an idea of which way to go when he struck the penalty, but the goalkeeping coach (Ademola Bankole) had helped me as well,with some knowledge, because he knows Jacob as well,” added a delighted Parish.