Ben Garner proud of Colchester’s ‘complete performance’ against Tranmere

Ben Garner felt his Colchester side produced the “complete performance” after beating Tranmere 2-0 to claim their first home win of the Sky Bet League Two season.

Joe Taylor gave Colchester an 11th-minute lead when he dinked the ball past keeper Luke McGee after Arthur Read’s superb pass had picked out the striker’s run.

Bradley Ihionvien then sealed the hosts’ win in the 87th minute when he followed up to score from close range after fellow substitute John Akinde’s effort had deflected into his path.

Colchester boss Garner said: “I’m really proud of the performance. I think from start to finish we were excellent in pretty much all departments today.

“If I’m being really critical, we should have scored a lot more goals, but other than that, it was a really complete performance and it’s one that the players and their families can be really proud of.”

On Taylor’s goal, he added: “Joe Taylor is great in those situations. It’s brilliant movement first and foremost, it’s a super pass from Arthur Read and it’s such a clever finish. He makes it look easy and it’s not.

“I thought we should have been three or four up at the break; we weren’t but we stayed calm and the players went and delivered again in the second half.

“I was pleased when the second one went in that’s for sure. I was delighted with Brad’s goal. It was a forward’s instinct and he’s a natural goalscorer.”

Colchester were well worth their win, registering 27 shots on goal, 12 of which were on target.

Rovers were indebted to their goalkeeper McGee for keeping Colchester out on a number of occasions.

Tranmere lie third from bottom with just one win to their name and manager Ian Dawes admitted their performance was “unacceptable”.

Dawes said: “It’s always going to be a question I’m going to get asked (about his future).

“Losing games of football, it doesn’t matter what level you’re at, you get asked those questions and you get a reaction from the fans at the end and they’re completely just in their views.

“They’ve got the right to vent and they’re as frustrated as I am with the results but I still think we can turn it around.

“It was a disappointing start to the game. I thought we were OK in the first few minutes but we gave away the goal and the manner in which we did made it an uphill battle.

“We never got to grips with the game at all – it was unacceptable.

“We didn’t create enough chances, we didn’t pass the ball well enough and ultimately, we lost the game and we can’t complain about the result.”