Matthew Etherington hails Colchester’s second-half fightback

Posted Wednesday, November 08, 2023 by PA

Matthew Etherington praised Colchester’s reaction to half-time boos as they came from behind to win 3-1 at home to Swindon.

The hosts trailed at the break to a 23rd-minute strike from Jake Young, who netted with a low shot from the edge of the area from Frazer Blake-Tracy’s pass.

But they levelled in the 49th minute when Cameron McGeehan bundled the ball home from near the goal-line following Jayden Fevrier’s cross into the six-yard box.

And Colchester went ahead in the 64th minute when Samson Tovide fired home a first-time finish from Will Greenidge’s cross.

Noah Chilvers sealed the victory in the third minute of stoppage time when he latched on to fellow substitute Bradley Ihionvien’s pass and slotted past goalkeeper Murphy Mahoney.

Colchester interim boss Etherington said: “It was a good night’s work, in the end.

“Obviously the first half wasn’t good enough – the players knew that.

“We changed a bit of the structure in terms of the way we were in possession and I thought that helped.

“The first half wasn’t good enough in terms of not enough pressure on the ball and they could play at ease so that was disappointing.

“But the second half was really good and a really pleasing performance.

“There were a few boos at half-time and rightly so. We were poor and I’ve got no issue with that whatsoever, but the reaction was pleasing.

“The players knew that and I told them that as well.

“I’m more pleased for the players – I genuinely don’t care about myself.

“It’s good for the players at this football club that we have managed to give ourselves a little bit of breathing space now.”

Swindon boss Michael Flynn bemoaned his side’s naivety after they slumped to a fourth straight defeat in all competitions.

Flynn said: “We’re too easy to score against at the moment.

“We’ve let a lead slip five times this season.

“In the first half I thought we were very, very good and on the front foot, but we’ve got to be better in both boxes.

“For their first goal, the cross is too easy and he peels off too easily and we shot ourselves in the foot – we didn’t defend it right.

“We’ve got to be better in both boxes.

“Even when we were winning, playing well – look at the Wrexham game etc, Morecambe, Salford, Crewe and now here tonight, there’s the five games where we’ve thrown leads away.

“We need to be a lot more savvy, wise and the only way to do that is to keep working hard and together.

“The effort and the commitment was there tonight, but we were very, very naive and we dropped too deep.”