Crewe boss Lee Bell saluted his players for showing gritty resistance as the Railwaymen held firm in the face of a strong Colchester fightback to claim a 2-1 victory.
Chris Long struck twice in the opening minutes to put Crewe in early control but Samson Tovide set up an intriguing second half when he cut the arrears soon after the break at Gresty Road.
Crewe were hanging on at times as Colchester dominated before the hosts were able to record their third win in four games.
Bell, whose side were indebted to captain Luke Offord’s goal-line clearance from Joe Taylor, said: “These are the best type of wins when you have to work your way through to get a result. We couldn’t stop Colchester’s flow, but we worked so hard.
“They played some good football and I don’t think their current position is a reflection on them at the moment. After the early goals we wanted to carry on with our attacking but we sat back a bit and let them back into the game.
“We did stay strong in the second half and our skipper cleared that one off the line late on with a brilliant recovery. We under a bit of pressure, but the lads kept their heads and discipline which was really pleasing.
“I was delighted with the early goals. Mickey’s [Demetriou] throws are a real threat and then Longy took his penalty really well. But I thought everyone in the team put in great effort and they were all excellent.”
Demetriou’s long throw caused problems for the Us defence and Long fired the loose ball into the corner of the net to give the hosts a third-minute lead.
Long then took his tally for the season to five by converting from the spot in the seventh minute after Shilow Tracey was bundled over in the box.
Colchester’s response saw Taylor volley over and Noah Chilvers crack an effort onto the post.
But it was after the break the Essex side stepped up their onslaught after Tovide finished off Taylor’s driven cross over the six-yard box in the 53rd minute.
Tovide, Arthur Read and substitute Jay Mingi all went close before Taylor was thwarted in stoppage time.
Colchester boss Ben Garner said: “We won’t concede a worst goal all season for their first and I thought the penalty was really soft. But after that we were brilliant and we absolutely killed them.
“The number of chances we created, we dominated the ball and for 80 minutes that was our best performance of the season.
“When we got the goal I thought we’d go on and win the game, but we couldn’t just get the next goal. We got into some really good positions and had one cleared off the line.
“If we’d performed like that over the whole 90 minutes we’d have won the game comfortably.
“The second half was as dominant display as you will have seen. It was just a case of whether we’d get the goals, but I thought Crewe defended set-pieces well and threw their bodies on the line, but we should have taken at least a point.”
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